The Effect of External Safeguards on Human-Information System Trust in an Information Warfare Environment

This research looks at how human trust in an information system is influenced by external safeguards in an Information Warfare (IW) domain. The military command and control environment requires decision-makers to make tactical judgments based on complex and conflicting information received from various sources such as automated information systems. Information systems are relied upon in command and control environments to provide fast and reliable information to the decision-makers. The degree of reliance placed in these systems by the decision-makers suggests a significant level of trust. Understanding this trust relationship and what effects it is the focus of this study. A model is proposed that predicts behavior associated with human trust in information systems. It is hypothesized that a decision-maker's belief in the effectiveness of external safeguards will positively influence a decision-maker's trusting behavior. Likewise, the presence of an Information Warfare attack will have a negative affect a decision-maker's trusting behavior.