Do I trust thee? An approach to understanding trust in the domain of air traffic control

We are concerned with the role of trust in air traffic controllers' interaction with other agents, use of technology, and acceptance of changes in technology. This paper summarises the result of the initial phase of our research. We first introduce our conceptualisation of trust, related to the dimensions of belief and dependence. A brief summary of our observations from visits to control centres is followed by a case study that illustrates our understanding of trust. The results of the cooperation questionnaire are presented and discussed. The questionnaire was developed to collect information on air traffic controllers' beliefs and expectations of their colleagues and technology, as well as anecdotes where trust played a role. The results are encouraging with regard to supporting our conceptualisation of trust. In our future work we hope to widen the scope in the domain of interest, and carry out an experimental evaluation of our conceptualisation.