Monitoring the Monitor: Determinants of Trust and Usage Intention of Drone-Based Surveillance
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Drone-based surveillance increasingly supports high-risk domains, but shifting to supervisory monitoring raises challenges like vigilance decrements and complex decision-making. This study examined psychological determinants of usage intention for drone-based surveillance, the impact of explainability, and validated a shortened Trust in Automation (TiA) scale. In an online experiment (N=131; 62% firefighters), participants monitored a simulated flight, receiving either a vague warning, an action recommendation, or a recommendation plus explanation. Trust, perceived usefulness, and perceived risk significantly predicted usage intention with small to moderate effects. Providing an explanation increased perceived usefulness, though it did not alter trust or usage intention. Further, the new 6-item TiA short scale showed excellent model fit and high convergent validity. Overall, trust, usefulness, and risk perception seem to be key drivers of drone acceptance, explainable interfaces specifically enhance perceived usefulness during critical events, and the short TiA scale offers an efficient, reliable tool for safety-critical automation research.
Source: Gesellschaft für Informatik (GI)
Language: English
Subfield: Human Factors and Ergonomics
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7203914252