Trusting Artificial Intelligence: How Perceived Situational Risik and Digital Mindset Can Influence lndiuiduals Decision to Rely

Abstract

In this thesis, we aim to investigate how domains of perceived situational risk will influence an individual’s decision to rely on an artificially intelligent decision aid to perform a decision-making task. We also aim to investigate how an individual’s digital mindset beliefs can make the risk factors inherent in the situation more salient. We draw from research on organizational trust, trust in AI technology and decision aids, and implicit theories of mindsets to explore this connection. Our study examined 192 participants’ digital mindset and their perceptions of situational risk using an experimental vignette design survey. In our results, we uncovered that there is a negative relationship between specific domains of perceived situational risk and the decision to rely on artificially decision aids. However, our results suggesting that an individual’s fixed digital mindset can make certain risk factors inherent in a situation more salient were not supported. These results are reviewed and discussed in terms of their limitations, directions for future research, and practical implications.