In today's data-intensive work environments, information systems are crucial for supporting workers. However, workers often do not rely on these systems but resort to workarounds. We argue that trust is essential for workers' reliance on information systems, positively affecting workers' cognitive resources, performance, and well-being. Moreover, we argue that the organisational context (accountability, distractions) and user-related factors qualify trust-outcome associations by affecting workers' trust calibration. In a preregistered study, we asked N = 291 employed users of information systems to re-experience prior everyday usage events (event reconstruction method) and assess event-specific trust in the system, work outcomes, and context conditions. Results confirmed the assumed association between trust in the information system and workers' ratings of both performance and well-being. Moreover, workers' technology competence and need for cognition - but not contextual conditions - qualified trust-outcome associations. Our results offer specific suggestions for achieving successful use of information systems at work.
Keywords: Information systems; event reconstruction; organisational context; trust.
This preregistered study with 291 employees demonstrates the importance of trust in information systems for workers’ performance and well-being in everyday work events. User-related factors, namely, users’ technology competence and need for cognition, further qualified these effects. Practical implications for active trust management are drawn.