Coexistence of trust and distrust in technology: a mobile health monitoring systems comparative case study across time

Abstract

Emerging technologies challenge organizations by introducing information systems that transform processes and introduce a series of risks and uncertainties for stakeholders. These conditions make trust and distrust important in the adoption and implementation of technology. Most of the trust in Information Systems literature has focused on building the constructs of trust and distrust between an artifact and the final user, but there is a gap in the analysis of changes in trust and distrust beliefs and their possible coexistence across time. This case study illustrates how trust and distrust manifest across a mobile health monitoring system implementation: the attitudes, objects of trust/distrust, and the changes they exhibit across four stages. The results point at the objects of trust/distrust corresponding to the technology frames that shift during the implementation from an artifact-centric to a more encompassing technology involving other users, programmers, and themselves. The actual technology use leads to changes in perceived risks and expectations, which are fed by the interaction of all users with the system. Behaviors are shaped by coexisting trust and distrust in technology beliefs, which usually compensate for the elements of the technology they distrust. The study concludes that the coexistence of trust and distrust in technology is a constantly shifting phenomenon, leading to a complex yet stabilized use of technology.