Developing and validating a Chinese human-automation trust scale: Advancing trust measurement of emerging automation in sustainable ergonomics

Abstract

Measuring humans’ learned trust in emerging automation systems across different trust development stages is important for fostering a sustainable and human-centered human-automation interaction. Given the notable differences in human-automation trust between Chinese culture and other cultures, particularly Western cultures, the development of an effective measurement tool for human-automation trust within Chinese cultural context is indispensable. This study aimed to develop a Chinese version of the Human-Automation Trust Scale (C-HATS) with reasonable reliability and validity, based on several existing theories and scales related to human-automation trust. Following three phases of assessments, including exploratory factor analysis, item analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, the scale demonstrated reasonable reliability and validity for both initial and post-task trust assessments. However, certain items of our C-HATS should be separately applied when assessing initial and post-task trust. Furthermore, it is crucial to acknowledge the structural differences between initial and post-task trust. Post-task trust consists of three factors: performance, process, and purpose-based trust, whereas initial trust consists of only two dimensions: cognition-based and affect-based trust. These distinctions should be considered when evaluating the subfacets of initial and post-task trust. Although further validation is required, the developed C-HATS has the potential to assess initial and post-task human-automation trust within Chinese cultural context across various automation systems. © 2025 Elsevier Ltd