Advancing the presentation of IS certifications: theory-driven guidelines for designing peripheral cues to increase users’ trust perceptions

ABSTRACT

Whereas the importance of information system (IS) certifications is increasing to prove compliance with regulatory and industry requirements, research reveals inconsistent findings concerning the effectiveness of IS certifications. Prior studies have concluded that such inconsistent findings stem partly from users’ limited understanding of the nature and role of certifications due to ineffective certification presentations. We follow a three-phase, theory-driven design science approach to examine how to design effective certification presentations. First, we identified sources of users’ limited understanding and formulated a revised certification presentation that facilitates users’ peripheral information processing. We tested our design proposal in an online experiment with 300 participants. Second, we derived meta-requirements and design guidelines by validating a theory-driven model of certification presentations through an online survey with 352 participants. Third, we implemented three certification presentations complying with example guidelines and ran an online experiment with 400 participants to test whether these presentations are effective. We contribute to research and practice by proposing a design theory for certification presentations composed of peripheral cues inducing authority, social proof and likeability to increase users’ trust perceptions.

KEYWORDS:

• Certification
• elaboration likelihood model
• authority principle
• social proof principle
• liking principle
• design science research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Please note, the breadth of research on IS certifications has led to varying terminology (e.g., web seals, assurance services, certifications). We follow recent conceptualizations of certifications in the IS discipline (e.g., Lansing, Benlian, and Sunyaev 2018; Löbbers and Benlian 2019) that attest qualities of IS (e.g., security and data protection) and related management practices and principles.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by German Research Foundation: [Grant Number SU-717/10-1].