The construct of state-level suspicion: a model and research agenda for automated and information technology (IT) contexts.

Objective: The objective was to review and integrate available research about the construct of state-level suspicion as it appears in social science literatures and apply the resulting findings to information technology (IT) contexts.

Background: Although the human factors literature is replete with articles about trust (and distrust) in automation, there is little on the related, but distinct, construct of "suspicion" (in either automated or IT contexts). The construct of suspicion--its precise definition, theoretical correlates, and role in such applications--deserves further study.