Understanding requisite trust factors for shareholders of ASX listed banks using artificial intelligence in online public relations communication

Understanding requisite trust factors for shareholders of ASX listed banks using artificial intelligence in online public relations communication

The literature review revealed the absence of a set of factors that influence stakeholder trust in an organisation for online communication. Without a complete set of prescribed trust factors for public relations, what appeared was a series of factors that influence people to trust within an organisational setting. These were gathered from public relations, organisational and artificial intelligence literature. What emerged was a framework summary of fifteen unique trust factors that could be considered when developing AI-generated content. Following the pilot interviews, this was reduced to fourteen unique trust factors.

Chapter 2 of this Thesis presents a literature review that examines definitions, theories and empirical evidence exploring trust themes. This chapter highlights the identified gaps in the existing research on trust factors specific to online public relations content that are then linked to the research model and the research questions. This literature review investigated perceptions of trust by shareholders and the potential impact on Australian Stock Exchange-listed banks’ AI-generated public relations communication. It reported theories and frameworks that contribute to understanding of the factors contributing to an audience’s trust of online communication. A primary aim of the literature review was to identify trust themes in public relations literature, particularly those that enhance online communication.

Chapter 3 of this study aims to address the identified gap by investigating the extent AI-generated public relations content is trusted by shareholders of Australian Stock Exchange-listed banks using the trust factors extracted from literature. Using the theoretical framework and the research model based on Information Literacy Theory, TAM2 and the Shannon-Weaver Model, drawn from the literature, helped understand the dominant themes that contribute to participant trust in online communication. The aim of the interview was to understand what influences whether ASX retail shareholders trust online public relations communication and then to understand to what extent ASX bank retail shareholders trust AIgenerated public relations content and what influences their trust in AI-generated content.

Chapter 4 of this Thesis reports the findings following the completion of the in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews undertaken with thirty participants. This study explored perceptions of trust by shareholders and the potential impact on Australian Stock Exchangelisted banks’ AI-generated online public relations communication. The data from the interviews was analysed using thematic analysis with key themes extracted: expected communication, balanced view, factual content, secondary source verification, secure delivery, and human intervention. The application of the pragmatic paradigm allowed prediction of trends that impacted the manner in which ASX-listed bank shareholders would trust AI-generated online communication (Bennett et al., 2001; O'Brien & Meadows, 1997).

Chapter 5 of provides a discussion on the resultant framework that came out of the indepth qualitative interviews that answered research questions about what influences whether ASX retail shareholders trust online public relations communication? (RQ1) and to what extent do ASX retail shareholders trust AI-generated public relations content? (RQ2) and what influences their propensity to trust AI-generated content? (RQ3), is stated in this chapter.

Chapter 6, the final chapter provides conclusions with connection to theory and practice outlined. The chapter presents conclusions arrived at from the research results, as well as a review of the process of the resultant framework that helps embed trust in online communication generated by AI. It establishes how the research questions were answered and how the framework for public relations and investor relations practitioners was built, and in doing so, explains the usage for the framework and discusses its further development in practice.

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