Francesca Marzo

Trust as Individual Asset in a Network: A Cognitive Analysis

One of the most addressed kinds of relationships able to generate value in a network is trust (studied in different ways, for different purposes, by different disciplines). While it is very important to keep on investigating this issue using an interdisciplinary and integrated approach, it is also crucial to study the value-generation involved from a perspective able to disentangle what happen both at macro and micro level. In other terms we need a clear distinction between what is commonly called social capital and what is better known as relational capital. In this chapter we focus on the latter by analysing the point of view of the trustee on the bases of the goal oriented theory of trust. We developed a cognitive model of trust to explain why it represents a form of power and, then, a strong asset for individuals acting in a network. Finally, we propose some experimental future works based on this analysis and involving both laboratory experiments and multi-agents systems simulations.

Modeling Dependence Networks for Agent Based Simulation of Online and Offline Communities

Far from simply being a concept useful in investigating social relationships, social networks are rapidly becoming a diffuse phenomenon to deal with in everyday life. The goal of this paper is to provide insights from the design research perspective, both for online and offline communities. Starting from the idea that the phenomenon under investigation emerges from the interaction of autonomous agents in an environment in which other agents interact with each other in order to reach their own goals, we adopt a Multi-Agent Simulation (MAS) approach to study social networks dynamics of online and offline communities. In particular, we built an agent-based simulation of dependence networks, considered crucial for the interaction of cognitive agents and for the exchange of resources between them. As results we have been able both to better define some hypotheses on dependence networks dynamics and to highlight possible future research particularly useful for the design of digital platforms.

Agent Based Simulation of Trust Dynamics in Dependence Networks

Online communities can be seen as service systems, in which actors interact providing, requesting or sharing resources for [co-]creating value. On the basis of the resources needed/owned for achieving a goal it is possible to draw several dependence links among the actors (agents), creating a dependence network. On the other hand, since trust is the key coordinating mechanism in community based organizations, by analyzing the dynamics of trust in dependence networks is possible to better understand the behavior of this kind of service system, viewed as a complex social systems. In this paper we develop an architecture of cognitive agents and of the environment in which they act and interact. This architecture will be the basis for implementing a platform for agent based simulation that serves as a tool for investigating the dynamics of information sharing, collaboration, and collective action within different service systems.

Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants Behaviour in Trust Choices: An Experimental Study on Social Trust Attitudes and Cognition

With the objective of studying the influence of technology on digital natives’ behaviour in professional context focusing on trust and control dynamics, this paper presents the design of an experiment for providing first laboratory data on this topic. After the introduction of the theoretical background for both digital natives and trust, we present the experiment designed by formalizing a one-shot modified trust game in which both trust and control dynamics between two players can be observed. The data gathered through the preliminary experiment sections are analysed in order to answer basic research questions concerning the investigation of potential differences in trust and control dynamics in homogeneous (all composed by digital natives or digital immigrants) and heterogeneous groups (composed by one digital native and one digital immigrants).

Information, Technology, and Trust: A Cognitive Approach to Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants Studies

This paper presents the design of an experiment to investigate digital natives and digital immigrants trust and control behavior in teams. The paper discusses the theoretical background for both digital natives, and trust. The design of the experiment is motivated by the fact that in order to improve digital natives studies empirical investigations are required by the literature. The experiment designed is a formalization of a one-shot modified trust game in which both trust and control dynamics between two players can be observed. The idea is to use data gathered through several experiments executions to investigate potential differences in trust and control dynamics in homogeneous groups (all composed by digital natives trustors and trustees or digital immigrants trustors and trustees) and heterogeneous groups (all composed by a digital native trustor non digital native trustee or the opposite).