Browsing by Subject "trust"

Now showing 1 - 14 of 14
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    Administrative Reform to Overcome Institutional Racism: Exploring Government’s Trust Building Tactics to Renew Relationships with Community-based Organizations
    (2021-08) Cheng, Yuan (Daniel); Sandfort, Jodi
    Institutional racism embedded in the existing public management practices has systematically created distrust between community-based organizations serving Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC). However, little is known about how the government could reform public bureaucracies to renew their relationship with these important community-based organizations. Through a process-oriented inductive study of Minnesota’s 2-Generation Policy Network, we find that government’s intentional tactics both inside the bureaucracy and with BIPOC community-based organizations allowed them to create new collaborative infrastructure that both changed organizational routines and built power to address racial inequities in the existing human service system. This study documents the importance of public managers’ intentionality in addressing the historical legacy that is an outgrowth of conventional practice and assessing their own identities to assess and challenge the mechanism of traditional, bureaucratic authority. Trust between the government and BIPOC community-based organizations needs to be earned and rebuilt.
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    Behavioral Economics of Persecutory Delusions
    (2022-06) Kazinka, Rebecca
    Persecutory delusions cause significant distress in the individuals who experience them, yet as a field we are still working to understand their etiology. Persecutory delusions and suspiciousness have some overlap with mistrust, and thus this dissertation focuses on the use of trust games to examine behavior and neural mechanisms of spite sensitivity. Spite sensitivity is the fear that a partner is willing to take a hit in order to ensure that you do as well, as opposed to rational mistrust, in which a partner can make a gain but at your expense. The benefit of using social decision making tasks such as the Trust Game and its adaptation, the Minnesota Trust Game, is that 1) a computational model can be developed based on the given parameters of the task to understand beliefs and motivations and 2) it can provide a well-controlled task to examine principles of trust and spite sensitivity in neuroimaging. The goal of this dissertation is to provide evidence that spite sensitivity is an important construct to understand persecutory ideation and distrust, both in psychiatric populations but also the general population. I show that while the Trust Game identifies decreased trust in individuals with psychosis, the Minnesota Trust Game identifies that spite sensitivity is distinct from rational mistrust and can be measured computationally. Further examination in a group of individuals with psychosis show a neural dissociation between spite sensitivity and rational mistrust as well. We did not find this dissociation in a community sample of twins, yet did find a relationship between twin discordance in a computational measure of spite sensitivity and a personality measure of suspiciousness. Altogether, this dissertation provides a foundation for the use of spite sensitivity as a construct to understand persecutory ideation.
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    The Effects and Underlying Mechanisms of Sponsorship Disclosure in eWOM
    (2018-08) Pfeuffer, Alexander
    Using a set of two experimental studies, this dissertation’s objectives were twofold. The first study examined the effects of sponsorship disclosure modes (written-only, spoken-only, and written-and-spoken disclosure) in sponsored online consumer product reviews on consumers’ attention to and perceived persuasive intent of sponsored eWOM. The second study explored the level of detail (low vs. high) and extent of disclosed commercial gain (general sponsorship, free product, payment for review, or sales commission) on attitudes toward the reviewer and a brand via proposed competing mechanisms of cue-based trust and persuasion knowledge. In both studies, effects were explored for search goods and experience goods. Study 1 found that, consistent with limited cognitive capacity theory and the Limited Cognitive Capacity Model of Mediated Message Processing, the spoken-only and written-and-spoken conditions generated incrementally higher attention when compared to written-only. However, perceived persuasive intent was not affected by disclosure mode. Key insights from Study 2 furthermore identified that, for experience goods, high detail level disclosures led to a more favorable attitude toward the reviewer, while the level of detail did not affect attitudinal responses for search goods. The results also showed that, in terms of extent of disclosed commercial gain, only the disclosure of receipt of a free product affected persuasion knowledge, trust, and attitude toward the brand. The receipt of a free product condition emerged as the only condition that did not exhibit lower trust and less favorable attitude toward the brand. Furthermore, persuasion knowledge, not trust, emerged as the indirect mediator facilitating extent of disclosed commercial gain effects on attitudes toward the brand and the reviewer for the disclosures of the receipt of a free product or a sales commission. The study contributes to the understanding of limited cognitive capacity, sponsorship disclosure effects, and to persuasion knowledge model and trust literature. Practical implications for eWOM stakeholders including advertisers, content creators, and policy makers are also discussed.
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    Effects of Incorporating Citizen-Eyewitness Images into the News on Audience Trust in News Organizations and News Engagement
    (2019-06) Kim, Jisu
    Recently, news organizations have actively been requesting and endorsing private citizens’ contributions to the news production through eyewitness images so as to circulate up-to-minute information and draw more audience attention to the news. Despite anecdotal evidence of growing numbers of citizen-eyewitness images in the news, there has been little systematic research on the extent of using citizen-eyewitness images by news organizations and the impact of incorporating citizen-eyewitness images into news content. In order to fill this gap in the research on citizen-eyewitness images, this study aims to examine: (1) the extent to which U.S. newspaper organizations incorporate images captured by private citizens into their news articles, and (2) the effects of incorporating citizen-eyewitness images in the news on audience trust in the news organization and audience engagement with the news. To achieve the goals, this study first conducted a machine-coded content analysis of news images published by 71 U.S. newspaper organizations to calculate the percentage of citizen-eyewitness images out of all news images with identifiable and classifiable sources (Study 1). This study then collected and analyzed user behavioral data on Twitter to compute a proxy measure representing trust in the news organizations using the Trust Scores in Social Media (TSM) algorithm and audience engagement with news (Study 2). The effects of the extent to which a news organization uses citizen-eyewitness images on audience trust in the news organization and audience engagement with news articles published by it were tested. The results showed that U.S. newspapers tended to incorporate a rather small number of citizen-eyewitness images in their news reports, and there were some variations in the degree of using citizen-eyewitness images in news reports among different groups of news organizations. In addition, the findings demonstrated that the extent to which a news organization incorporated citizen-eyewitness images in its news articles was positively related to the level of audience engagement with its news posted on Twitter. In contrast, there was no significant effect of incorporating images captured by private citizens into the news on audience trust in the news organization. This study contributes to advancing the participatory journalism research by providing systematic data depicting the current state of the newsroom practice using citizen-eyewitness images in the U.S. and examining the effects of citizen-eyewitness images in the news on audience trust in news organizations and engagement with news. Additionally, this study offers useful practical implications for news organizations as they develop strategies to deal with audience’s participation in the news production.
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    The Impact of the Minnesota Principals' Academy on High School Principal Decision-Making
    (2018-08) Knuth, Joann
    Abstract High school principals make numerous decisions daily. Decision-­‐making is a complicated process requiring multiple pieces of data, synthesizing them, looking at the big picture, setting targets, and strategically thinking through actions, looking at risks, assumptions, and belief systems. If a wrong decision, even a seemingly minor one, is made, it can haunt the principal’s leadership for a long time. This research investigated the impact of the Minnesota Principals’ Academy (MPA), an 18-­‐month long executive professional development program for practicing principals on their perceptions and skills with regard to decision-­‐making. Fourteen of seventeen eligible principals who had completed the MPA agreed to be interviewed, representing a cross-­‐section of high schools from urban, suburban, and greater Minnesota schools, with student populations from under 600 to over 2,200. Using a structured interview protocol, with probes to expand responses and report experiences, principals’ responses were coded and analyzed, looking for both common and unique themes. Findings revealed that the more experienced the principal, the greater the pattern of consulting with others before making difficult decisions. Another concept that emerged from the data was the key role of vision to principals’ leadership. Having a vision appeared to shape and influence all aspects of principals’ decision-­‐making and leadership. A striking aspect of the data was the commonality of principals’ vision across all participants and their commitment to the commonality of that vision. Every principal interviewed noted that participating in the MPA deepened their belief in the importance of vision to their leadership and making sound decisions for their schools and students.
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    An Investigation Into The Neural Nature Of Persecutory Ideation
    (2016-12) Wisner, Krista
    Persecutory ideation is a common and distressing symptom that exists on a continuum with persecutory delusions. Although associated with severe negative consequences the neural mechanisms underlying persecutory ideation remain unclear. Contributing factors in this research deficit include i) low rates of studies specifically examining persecutory ideation, favoring instead broader symptom measurement, and ii) a lack of paradigms that sufficiently engage or examine specific mechanisms associated with the symptom. In this dissertation, a wide range of literature is reviewed to identify brain regions consistently associated with delusions or positive symptoms in order to aid development of a model of persecutory ideation and stimulate research. Brain regions highlighted by the review represented a convergence of neurobiological models of delusions, and were the focus of two empirical studies. In the first study we employed a novel economic social decision-making task in two samples during neuroimaging. We demonstrated a dorsal anterior cingulate and anterior insula (dACC-AI) network, a left frontal-parietal (lF-P) network, and a ventral medial orbital prefrontal (vmPFC/OFC) network were associated with distinct forms of distrust. We then revealed only the connectivity between the vmPFC/OFC and lF-P networks predicted persecutory ideation, suggesting a role of weakened top-down control on subjective valuation. Moreover, we established this mechanism was associated with unique environmental influence in community monozygotic twins. In our second study we aimed to replicate the task-based finding in two resting-state samples to demonstrate generalizability of the mechanism; however, confirmatory analyses did not replicate. In summary, the posited vmPFC/OFC - lF-P interconnectivity mechanism of persecutory ideation appears to be uniquely evoked by the economic social decision-making task. While this provides a novel perspective on persecutory ideation, replications in larger samples are needed.
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    Measuring Psychological Effects of Peer-to-Peer Reputation Systems Involving In-Person Exchanges
    (2019-07) Yousef, Mark
    Reputation systems such as those used by peer-to-peer services have proven significant in helping companies better understand and manage their users. Seemingly the new credit scores for the digital economy, these personal rating systems have unexplored consequences on human psyche. Using a case study of Uber passengers and drivers, this study examines stress and control levels associated with personal rating scores. We found that while drivers indicated more difficult experiences in response to the control of their scores, passengers had issues with distress in relation to factors commonly associated with bias, such as age and ethnicity. Both groups exhibited lower perceptions of distress the more times they had used Uber. Overall, the use of peer-to-peer reputation systems can be improved to provide users a higher level of control and lower distress in response to ratings.
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    The Minnesota Model: How Trust and Collaboration Rebuilt the Minnesota Orchestra
    (2019-08) Jelinek, Clayton
    A major shift in organizational culture brought new life to the Minnesota Orchestra in the years following a devastating 16-month musician lockout. This case study sought to answer two research questions: 1) How does the Minnesota Orchestra’s ‘Minnesota Model’ demonstrate effective ways for artists, board members, and administrative staff to embrace shared goals and collaboratively address challenges facing their organization? 2) Is this ‘Minnesota Model’ informative to other performing arts organizations? Data collected from interviews with 17 board members, musicians, and administrative staff revealed four key themes of the 'Minnesota Model'—trust, collaboration, abundance mindset, and community—and a set of promising practices that can be replicated by other organizations to encourage organizational culture change.
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    Parental Trust of Schools and Its Role in Postsecondary Readiness
    (2015-05) Palan, Rosalie
    Postsecondary education is increasingly important to achieving a middle-class lifestyle, but many students are entering college unprepared and are not graduating. The role of parents in postsecondary preparation could make a difference in preparation. In this study, the author used surveys of parents and students in a Midwestern suburban high school to determine the relationships between parents' level of trust in the school, parents' own educational experiences, parents' knowledge of the postsecondary process, and students' perceptions of their postsecondary readiness skills. A significant correlation was found between parental trust of school and parental postsecondary knowledge (r (126) = .322, p< .05). In linear regression models, student gender and grades were found to be significant predictors of postsecondary readiness skills. The model functioned better for males and lower achievers than for females and higher achievers. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.
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    Private landownership and Walk-In Access program enrollment: Motivating factors of landowner attitudes and participatory decision-making
    (2019-06) Salcido ,Evan Louis
    Hunter recruitment and retention could be improved by securing public hunting access to private properties, especially for members of the public without means to purchase hunting lands of their own. However, private landowner participation in such “walk-in access” (WIA) rely on the willingness of landowners to relinquish partial control over lands that are often invested with emotional or utilitarian significance. To persuade landowners to open their lands and resources to the public, it is first necessary to gain a deeper understanding of what internal factors will most effectively impact their intent to do so. We conducted a self-administered mail-back questionnaire of private landowners in Minnesota with properties eligible for or enrolled in the state’s WIA program, and data were analyzed through linear modeling using multi-item variables constructed from individual survey items. We based our variables upon factors demonstrated through previous research to be integral to landowners' conservation decision-making, and used hierarchical regression to measure the influence of place attachment and trust variables on landowner attitudes. Landowners' land ethic and willingness to trust exerted significant positive influence on their attitudes toward WIA, while place dependence negatively impacted landowner attitudes. Future studies may consider further measurement and analysis of subjects’ land ethic and willingness to trust in order to corroborate whether these factors can serve as powerful and reliable predictors of attitudes.
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    A Rhetorical Perspective on Trust in E-Health Websites
    (2015-07) Bakke, Abigail
    This dissertation is centered on the issue of trust in e-health, a product of the internet opening access to information at a broad scale. Medicine, as a discipline whose authority has traditionally been based upon expertise and hierarchy between physician and patient, is one domain in which this increased access has led to special concern. My study intervenes in ongoing discussions about e-health information by asking "How does trust operate in e-health sites?" �and does so from a rhetorical perspective. Through a comparative rhetorical analysis of three e-health sites that represent a continuum of informational to interactive, I found that trust operates in e-health sites in ways one might expect such as the use of credibility features to construct an expert ethos, but trust also operates socially in newer ways that are based upon community and personal experience, aligning with the broad shift to Web 2.0. This study has implications for the field of rhetoric and technical communication, in that it poses trust as a viable framework for understanding online information rhetorically and views e-patients as citizen technical communicators. This study also has implications for the design of trustworthy e-health communication.
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    “Somali-Americans’ Media Use and Trust in News Sources”
    (2019-06) Kelley, Debra
    This dissertation is the culmination of a 10-year ethnographic study of immigrant news consumption, providing an in-depth view of Somali-American’s criticisms of mainstream news representation of their community, and examining the role of trust in media consumption. The results from this study inform traditional news media about different worldviews and what is needed to engage immigrant audiences. Data from this dissertation also sheds light on what the immigrants who participated in this study do to create their own media forums and build community. This document includes analyses from interviews, social media posts, public events, a pilot survey and newspaper coverage of Somalis.
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    Trust, Power, and Organizational Routines: Exploring Government’s Intentional Tactics to Renew Relationships with Nonprofits Serving Historically Marginalized Communities
    (Public Administration Review, 2023) Cheng, Yuan
    Existing public management practices and organizational routines in the contracting regime have systematically created power asymmetry and distrust between government agencies and nonprofits serving historically marginalized communities. However, little is known about how the government could reform public bureaucracies to renew relationships with these important organizations and build trust. Through a process-oriented inductive study of Minnesota’s 2-Generation Policy Network, we find that government’s cascading trust-building tactics both inside the bureaucracy and with nonprofits serving Black, Latino, Indigenous, and Immigrant/Refugee communities allowed them to create a new collaborative infrastructure that both changed organizational routines and built power to address racial inequities in the existing human service system. Power is not a zero-sum game. By sharing resources and building trust with their nonprofit partners, government agencies and nonprofits collectively access more power for genuine public management reform to address systematic inequities.