The attribution of success when using navigation aids

Abstract

Attitudes towards geographic information technology is a seldom explored research area that can be explained with reference to established theories of attribution. This article reports on a study of how the attribution of success and failure in pedestrian navigation varies with level of automation, degree of success and locus of control. A total of 113 participants took part in a survey exploring reflections on personal experiences and vignettes describing fictional navigation experiences. A complex relationship was discovered in which success tends to be attributed to skill and failure to the navigation aid when participants describe their own experiences. A reversed pattern of results was found when discussing the navigation of others. It was also found that navigation success and failure are associated with personal skill to a greater extent when using paper maps, as compared with web-based routing engines or satellite navigation systems.