Trust generated by aid agency web page design

Two experiments examined how material presented on an aid agency web homepage influenced perceptions of trust in the organisation. Experiment 1 manipulated whether the agency's homepage showed photographs of a crisis‐need, photographs of the crisis‐need and the agency's response or photographs of the agency's response. Experiment 2 held the crisis‐need‐response information constant, but manipulated information on the proportion of donated funds which the agency used to cover administration versus those used to deliver services. In both experiments the participants' dispositional (personality) level of trust and altruism was significantly related to rated trust in the charity. Analysis of covariance was used to control for dispositional trust and altruism, and found that the manipulations in both experiments produced significant changes in rated agency trust. The results are discussed in relation to designing aid agency web pages, and to encouraging individuals to make on‐line donations. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.