Showing papers on "Credibility published in 2003"

Credibility for the 21st Century: Integrating Perspectives on Source, Message, and Media Credibility in the Contemporary Media Environment

Abstract: Technological capabilities and features of the Internet and World Wide Web have prompted concerns about the verity of online information, the credibility of new media, and the new responsibilities placed on media consumers. Reflecting these concerns, scholars have shown a renewed interest in the credibility of sources, their messages, and the media that carry them. Nonetheless, researchers who are currently reengaging the issue of information credibility have yet to take full advantage of the rich heritage left by credibility research conducted over the last half century. The primary aim of this chapter is to show how past research can inform present attempts to understand credibility in the new media environment, focusing particularly on Web-based information. Toward that end, this chapter reviews, synthesizes, and integrates the substantial literature on source, message, and media credibility; addresses issues of credibility conceptualization, operationalization, and measurement; suggests strategies to ...

How do users evaluate the credibility of Web sites?: a study with over 2,500 participants

Abstract: In this study 2,684 people evaluated the credibility of two live Web sites on a similar topic (such as health sites). We gathered the comments people wrote about each siteis credibility and analyzed the comments to find out what features of a Web site get noticed when people evaluate credibility. We found that the idesign looki of the site was mentioned most frequently, being present in 46.1% of the comments. Next most common were comments about information structure and information focus. In this paper we share sample participant comments in the top 18 areas that people noticed when evaluating Web site credibility. We discuss reasons for the prominence of design look, point out how future studies can build on what we have learned in this new line of research, and outline six design implications for human-computer interaction professionals.

The Limits of Delegation: Veto Players, Central Bank Independence, and the Credibility of Monetary Policy

Abstract: Governments unable to make credible promises hinder economic development and effective policy making. Scholars have focused considerable attention on checks and balances and the delegation of authority to independent agencies as institutional solutions to this problem. The political conditions under which these institutions enhance credibility, rather than policy stability, are still unclear, however. We show that checks – multiple veto players – enhance credibility, depending on the extent of uncertainty about the location of the status quo, on how agenda control is allocated among the veto players, and on whether veto players have delegated policy making authority to independent agencies. In the context of monetary policy and independent central banks, we find evidence supporting the following predictions: delegation is more likely to enhance credibility and political replacements of central bank governors are less likely in the presence of multiple political veto players; this effect increases with the polarization of veto players.

Political hazards, experience, and sequential entry strategies: The international expansion of Japanese firms, 1980-1998

Abstract: We find support for the role of experiential learning in the international expansion process by extending the stages model of internationalization to incorporate a sophisticated consideration of temporal and cross-national variation in the credibility of the policy environment. Using a sample of 3857 international expansions of 665 Japanese manufacturing firms, we build on the concepts of uncertainty and experiential learning, to show that firms that had gathered relevant types of international experience were less sensitive to the deterring effect of uncertain policy environments on investment. One implication of our results is that research on international strategy should emphasize understanding the political institutions that constrain or enable political actors, just as entry mode research has done. A second implication is that research in the stages model of internationalization should give the same weight to the policy environment as a source of uncertainty to a firm, as it has given to cultural, social and market institutions. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Role of Supplementary Statements with Management Earnings Forecasts

Abstract: We investigate managers' decisions to supplement their firms' management earnings forecasts We classify these supplementary disclosures as qualitative “soft talk” disclosures or verifiable forward-looking statements We find that managers provide soft talk disclosures with similar frequency for good and bad news forecasts but are more likely to supplement good news forecasts with verifiable forward-looking statements We examine the market response to these forecasts and find that bad news earnings forecasts are always informative but that good news forecasts are informative only when supplemented by verifiable forward-looking statements, supporting our argument that these statements bolster the credibility of good news forecasts

Salience, Credibility, Legitimacy and Boundaries: Linking Research, Assessment and Decision Making

Abstract: The boundary between science and policy is only one of several boundaries that hinder the linking of scientific and technical information to decision making. Managing boundaries between disciplines, across scales of geography and jurisdiction, and between different forms of knowledge is also often critical to transferring information. The research presented in this paper finds that information requires three (not mutually exclusive) attributes - salience, credibility, and legitimacy - and that what makes boundary crossing difficult is that actors on different sides of a boundary perceive and value salience, credibility, and legitimacy differently. Presenting research on water management regimes in the United States, international agricultural research systems, El Nino forecasting systems in the Pacific and southern Africa, and fisheries in the North Atlantic, this paper explores: 1) how effective boundary work involves creating salient, credible, and legitimate information simultaneously for multiple audiences; 2) the thresholds, complementarities and tradeoffs between salience, credibility, and legitimacy when crossing boundaries; and 3) propositions for institutional mechanisms in boundary organizations which effectively balance tradeoffs, take advantage on complementarities, and reach thresholds of salience, credibility, and legitimacy.

College student web use, perceptions of information credibility, and verification behavior

Abstract: Concerns about the potentially dubious nature of online information and users' ability to evaluate it appropriately prompted this research on college students' use of Web-based information, their perceptions of information credibility, and their online verification behaviors. Two studies were conducted to address these issues. Results of the first study show that college students rely very heavily on the Web for both general and academic information, and that they expect this usage to increase over time. Results of the second study indicate that students find information to be more credible than do those from a more general adult population, across several media and considering many different types of information. Nonetheless, students verify the information they find online significantly less. Implications are discussed in light of current efforts of educators to improve Internet literacy.

Which Side Are You On? Bias, Credibility, and Mediation

Abstract: Mediators are often thought to be more effective if they are unbiased or have no preferences over the issue in dispute. This article presents a game theoretic model of mediation drawing on the theory of “cheap talk” which highlights a contrary logic. Conflict arises in bargaining games because of uncertainty about the resolve of the parties. A mediator can reduce the likelihood of conflict by providing information on this score. For a mediator to be effective, however, the parties must believe that the mediator is telling the truth, especially if the mediator counsels one side to make a concession because their opponent has high resolve and will fight. An unbiased mediator who is simply interested in minimizing the probability of conflict will have a strong incentive to make such statements even if they are not true, hence the parties will not find the mediator credible. Only mediators who are effectively “on your side” will be believed if they counsel restraint.

Transparency and Assurance Minding the Credibility Gap

Abstract: There is a growing realisation that the current upward trend in levels of disclosure of social, ethical and environmental performance by corporations and other organisations is not being accompanied by simultaneous greater levels of public trust. Low levels of confidence in the information communicated in public reporting is probably undermining the impetus for this disclosure. This article suggests that this credibility gap can be narrowed through the use of third party independent assurance. However, this is not an unqualified panacea. Much verification and assurance practice itself has to date been of questionable robustness, reliability and consistency, and has been framed by financial assurance models that are inadequate for the broader, qualitative dimensions of social, ethical and environmental performance. The paper argues that there is need for a universal standard for the provision of assurance of social, ethical and environmental reporting, and indeed for the credibility of the assurance providers themselves. The new AA1000S Assurance Standard, developed by the Institute of Social and Ethical AccountAbility, offers an approach and a tool for addressing these gaps.

Prominence-interpretation theory: explaining how people assess credibility online

Abstract: Four years of research has led to a theory that describes how people assess the credibility of Web sites. This theory proposes that users notice and interpret various Web site elements to arrive at an overall credibility assessment. Although preliminary, this theory explains previous research results and suggests directions for future studies.

The Effects of Source Credibility and Message Framing on Exercise Intentions, Behaviors, and Attitudes: An Integration of the Elaboration Likelihood Model and Prospect Theory1

Abstract: This study examined the influence of source credibility and message framing on promoting physical exercise in university students. Participants were randomly assigned to reading a positively or negatively framed communication that was attributed to either a credible or a noncredible source. Exercise intentions and attitudes were measured immediately following the delivery of the communication and following a 2-week delay. Exercise behavior was also measured following the delay. There were Source Frame interactions for the exercise intentions, exercise behaviors, and cognitive response/elaboration measures such that participants receiving a positively framed communication from a credible source elaborated more and reported more positive exercise intentions and behaviors than participants in the other conditions. The results of the present investigation indicate that it might be beneficial for health professionals to provide exercise-related information stressing the benefits of participating in exercise, rather than the traditional fear appeals, to motivate clients to engage in regular physical exercise. Implications for future research are discussed.

Services quality dimensions of Internet retailing: an exploratory analysis

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to extend what is know about service quality in realm of the context of Internet retailing. As a result of content analyzing 1,078 consumer anecdotes of online shopping experiences, 14 service quality dimensions representing 42 items were identified. The unique contents of each service quality dimension relate to Internet commerce are examined and discussed. Further, the analysis uncovered a number of contributors to consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction. The most frequently‐mentioned service attributes resulting in consumer satisfaction were responsiveness, credibility, ease of use, reliability, and convenience. On the other hand, different dimensions including responsiveness, reliability, ease of use, credibility, and competence, were likely to dissatisfy online consumers. Finally, this paper provides various managerial implications and recommendations which may suggest avenues for improving service quality in Internet retailing and, as a corollary, expanding experiences by consumers.

Self-citation and self-reference: credibility and promotion in academic publication

Abstract: Author self-citation has long been of interest to those working in informetrics for what it reveals about the publishing behavior of individuals and their relationships within academic networks. While this research has produced interesting insights, it typically assumes either that self-citation is a neutral form of reporting not unlike references to others' work or an unsavory kind of academic egotism. By examining self-citation in a wider context of self-mention, however, the phenomenon can be seen as part of a more comprehensive rhetorical strategy for emphasizing a writer's personal contribution to a piece of research and strengthening his or her knowledge claims, research credibility, and wider standing in the discipline. These meanings are not easily revealed through quantitative bibliometric methods and require careful text analyses and discourse-based interviews with academics. In this paper I explore the use of self-citation and authorial mention in a corpus of 240 research articles and 800 abstracts in eight disciplines. Through an analysis of these texts and interviews with expert informants I show how self-mention is used and the ways these uses reflect both the promotional strategies of individuals and the epistemological practices of their disciplines.

Negotiated Collusion: Modeling Social Language and its Relationship Effects in Intelligent Agents

Abstract: Building a collaborative trusting relationship with users is crucial in a wide range of applications, such as advice-giving or financial transactions, and some minimal degree of cooperativeness is required in all applications to even initiate and maintain an interaction with a user. Despite the importance of this aspect of human--human relationships, few intelligent systems have tried to build user models of trust, credibility, or other similar interpersonal variables, or to influence these variables during interaction with users. Humans use a variety of kinds of social language, including small talk, to establish collaborative trusting interpersonal relationships. We argue that such strategies can also be used by intelligent agents, and that embodied conversational agents are ideally suited for this task given the myriad multimodal cues available to them for managing conversation. In this article we describe a model of the relationship between social language and interpersonal relationships, a new kind of discourse planner that is capable of generating social language to achieve interpersonal goals, and an actual implementation in an embodied conversational agent. We discuss an evaluation of our system in which the use of social language was demonstrated to have a significant effect on users' perceptions of the agent's knowledgableness and ability to engage users, and on their trust, credibility, and how well they felt the system knew them, for users manifesting particular personality traits.

Raising Response Rates in Mail Surveys of Small Business Owners: Results of an Experiment

Abstract: Mail surveys of small business owners have notoriously low response rates, creating the potential for substantial error in surveys of this population and diminishing the credibility of research conducted on small firms. The author recently carried out an experiment as part of a larger project involving 16,000 small business owner/members of the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB). The experiment's purpose was to ascertain survey treatments that might enhance mail survey response among small business owners. Results showed that none of the six treatments examined improved response rates enough to warrant its routine use over the alternative, nor did any combinations of treatments help. The implication is that commonly used treatments, for example prenotification, often are unproductive.

The function of credibility in information processing for risk perception.

Abstract: This study examines how credibility affects the way people process information and how they subsequently perceive risk. Three conceptual areas are brought together in this analysis: the psychometric model of risk perception, Eagly and Chaiken's heuristic-systematic information processing model, and Meyer's credibility index. Data come from a study of risk communication in the circumstance of state health department investigations of suspected cancer clusters (five cases, N = 696). Credibility is assessed for three information sources: state health departments, citizen groups, and industries involved in each case. Higher credibility for industry and the state directly predicts lower risk perception, whereas high credibility for citizen groups predicts greater risk perception. A path model shows that perceiving high credibility for industry and state-and perceiving low credibility for citizen groups-promotes heuristic processing, which in turn is a strong predictor of lower risk perception. Alternately, perceiving industry and the state to have low credibility also promotes greater systematic processing, which consistently leads to perception of greater risk. Between a one-fifth and one-third of the effect of credibility on risk perception is shown to be indirectly transmitted through information processing.

Media Credibility Reconsidered: Synergy Effects between On-Air and Online News:

Abstract: This experimental investigation of media credibility examined the combined, or synergistic, effects of on-air and online network news exposure, placing student and adult news consumers in broadcast news, online news, and telewebbing conditions. Results indicate that perceptions of network news credibility are affected by channel used. Perceptions of credibility were enhanced when the channel used was consistent with the news source being evaluated, suggesting a channel congruence effect. In addition, evidence is offered for the existence of a synergy effect between on-air and online news.

Questioning the credibility and capacity of community‐based resource management

Abstract: Introduction Land-use planning--and, more specifically, the process by which scarce natural resources are allocated--has always been a controversial and difficult task for governments in Canada, as else where. This has become especially true of late giver the troubled existence of many resource-dependant communities as a result of market downturns, tariffs limiting market access, resource collapse, and heightened conflict among resource users. To many observers, a contributing cause of this troubled existence is the conventional system of resource management in most Western countries a system which Dryzek (1997) characterizes as 'administrative rationalism' owing to its reliance on professionals working within centralized and disaggregated agencies responsible for fish, forests or flooding, who employ systematic techniques to arrive at decisions deemed to be in the public interest. (1) Critics of the top-down approach have increasingly called for the devolution of management responsibility for natural resources from distant-centred professionals to those people directly impacted by resource-management decisions. IN this sense, devolution implies not only a downward shift along Arnstein's (1969) ladder but also a scaling down of management responsibility from large, centralized agencies to smaller agencies and organizations at regional and even local levels. Among environmental stakeholders, support for devolution has largely been based upon the belief--or perhaps assumption--that transferring resource-management authority to local communities better ensures the sustainable use of those resources. Indeed, this opinion has increasingly been advanced in the literature, be it with respect to water, fisheries, forestry or wildlife (see, e.g., Fellizar 1993; Burda et al. 1997; Clapp 1999; Milich 1999; Newell and Ommer 1999 Serageldin 1999; Gunter and Jodway 2000; Egan et al. 2001; Martin 2001). Such a regulatory shift would clearly represent an innovation in resource and environmental management with great potential for improving its practice. However, this desired end will not be achieved if newly empowered communities are not credible in their management of local resources or have insufficient capacity to do so. That is, communities must display a genuine desire to steward local resources in the interests of all stakeholders--including future generations and nonlocals--and have sufficient capacity to manage the resource base in order to achieve adequate and stable returns. These hypothesized contingent conditions of effective community-based resource management are the primary foci of this paper. The larger aim of the paper is to review and critique the concept of community-based resource management, paying attention to its purported strengths and limitations as expressed in recent scholarship. Following a brief review of the current practice of and rationales for community-based resource management, the paper turns its attention to the issues of community credibility and capacity. In the two subsequent sections, these necessary conditions of effective community-based resource management are described and illustrated based on two examples in western Canada in which communities have been empowered to determine the use of local resources. The first, which highlights the issue of community credibility, centres on the 1984 siting of a hazardous-waste treatment facility near the town of Swan Hills, Alberta, while the second, which highlights the issue of community capacity, traces the development of the Community Forest Pilot Project in British Columbia. These illustrations represent an initial attempt to critique the practice of community-based resource management. The many concerns and questions that they raise, which are summarized in the paper's conclusions, suggest a need for further, in-depth investigation. The use of the illustrations necessitates two disclaimers. First, neither provides an extreme example of devolution, given the retention of some authority by provincial agencies. …

Evaluating the Credibility of Online Information: A Test of Source and Advertising Influence

Abstract: When the U.S. public logs on to find information, they choose from billions of Web pages produced by everyone from fringe activists to respected media outlets. Research experts advise Internet users to carefully examine a variety of cues when evaluating the credibility of online information. This study isolates 2 cues (source and advertising) that individuals might rely on when judging online information and examines whether they are used by Web audiences, at least in an experimental setting. In a 2 x??2 factorial design, participants were shown an online news story from either a high- (nytimes.com) or low- (a personal home page) credibility Web source surrounded by either high- or low-credibility advertising. It was hypothesized that, in the absence of a brand-name news source, participants would look to surrounding advertising as a secondary cue. Although source credibility was significantly tied to participants' ratings of the story, advertising credibility was not. Further, participants paid little at...

The importance of being earnest: displayed emotions and witness credibility

Abstract: Participants viewed one of six video-recorded versions of a rape victim's testimony, role-played by a professional actress in one of six versions: Two versions of the testimony, representing a strong and a less strong rape scenario, were given in a free-recall manner with one of three kinds of emotions displayed, termed congruent, neutral and incongruent emotional expressions. Credibility judgements were strongly influenced by the emotions displayed, but not by the content of the story. When video watching was compared to reading a transcript of the testimony, results indicated that perceived credibility was reduced when the witness displayed neutral or incongruent emotions. Story content and displayed emotion contributed equally to estimates of the probability of a guilty verdict. We conclude that perception of credibility is strongly influenced by social stereotypes regarding appropriate emotional expression. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Inflation Targeting Regimes

Abstract: This paper classifies countries that define their monetary policy framework by an inflation target into full-fledged inflation targeters, eclectic inflation targeters and inflation targeting lite regimes. This classification is based on indicators of the clarity and credibility of the commitment to the inflation target. The three regimes can be viewed as corresponding to different welfare maximizing combinations of policy objectives, each conditional on a country's "endowed" level of credibility. The credibility of the regimes is related empirically to structural differences. Policy implications are drawn, especially for emerging market countries aiming at full-fledged inflation targeting.

Sovereign risk, credibility and the gold standard: 1870–1913 versus 1925–31*

Abstract: Author(s): Obstfeld, Maurice; Taylor, Alan M. | Abstract: What determines sovereign risk? We study the London bond market from the 1870s to the 1930s. Our findings support conventional wisdom concerning the low credibility of the interwar gold standard. Before 1914 gold standard adherence effectively signalled credibility and shaved up to 30 basis points from country borrowing spreads. In the 1920s, however, simply resuming prewar gold parities was insufficient to secure benefits. Countries that devalued before resumption were treated more favorably, and markets scrutinized other signals. Public debt and British Empire membership were important determinants of spreads after World War One, but not before.

Exploring the audit trail for qualitative investigations.

Abstract: The audit trail helps to establish the credibility of qualitative studies and serves to convince the scientific community of their rigor. The author describes the activities of the audit trail and explores the creation of its structures and processes. Excerpts of audit trails from qualitative studies are presented for faculty and students.

Dealing with Stakeholders: How Reputation, Credibility and Framing Influence the Game

Abstract: Reputation is clearly a growing area of research and practitioner interest. Models that assist in our understanding of research and that aid practitioners in managing reputation are to be encouraged. In this paper, a model of reputation formation is proposed and the notion of reputation in issue, stake-holder, and process areas is addressed. Examples of these elements of reputation are offered, to help sharpen our understanding of reputation in action. In addition, the impact of credibility and framing on reputation is closely reviewed. Credibility refers to the organization's past history and how it develops reputational expectations over time. Framing is a process of ordering beliefs around an issue. In this paper, three questions are raised for consideration and suggestions are offered for further research and practitioner action.

Why Do Emerging Economies Borrow in Foreign Currency

Abstract: This Paper explores the hypothesis that the dollarization of liabilities in emerging market economies is the result of a lack of monetary credibility. I present a model in which firms choose the currency composition of their debts so as to minimize their probability of default. Decreasing monetary credibility can induce firms to dollarize their liabilities, even though this makes them vulnerable to a depreciation of the domestic currency. The channel is different from the channel studied in the earlier literature on sovereign debt, and it applies to both private and public debt. The Paper presents some empirical evidence and discusses policy implications.

A Target-Centric Ontology for Intrusion Detection

Abstract: We present an approach to some security problems in multi-agent systems based on distributed trust and the delegation of permissions, and credibility. We assume an open environment in which agents must interact with other agents with which they are not familiar. In particular, an agent will receive requests and assertions from other agents and must decide how to act on the requests and assess the credibility of the assertions. In a closed environment, agents have well known and familiar transaction partners whose rights and credibility are known. The problem thus reduces to authentication – the reliable identification of agents’ true identity. In an open environment, however, agents must transact business even when knowing the true identities is un-informative. Decisions about who to believe and who to serve must be based on an agent’s properties. These properties are established by proving them from an agent’s credentials, delegation assertions, and the appropriate security policy. We begin by describing our approach and the concepts on which it is built. Then we present a design that provides security functions (authorization and credibility assessment) in a typical agent framework (FIPA) and describe initial work in its realization using the semantic web language DAML+OIL.