Title: Combining bases of trust development in virtual teams

Authors: Torkil Clemmensen, Maria Khryashcheva, Olga Podshibikhina

Addresses: Department of Informatics, Copenhagen Business School, Howitzvej 60, 3.18, DK-2000 Frederiksberg C, Denmark. ' Private Sales Administration, Saxo Bank, Tuborg Havnevej 18, DK-2900 Hellerup, Denmark. ' Copenhagen Business School, Solbjerg Plads 3, DK-2000 Frederiksberg, Denmark

Abstract: In the setting of a virtual team where cooperating team members are not physically co-located and where technology is used as the major means of communication, trust plays a vital role – the glue that holds the entire team together. We suggest that the key assumption in conceptualisation of trust is its dynamic nature, and analyse the formation and maintenance of trust. The purpose is to look holistically at a number of bases including calculative-, cognition-, value-norm-, affect-, and impersonal-based trust. Our conclusion is that most of the trust bases are important in making a decision to trust in the initial phases of the virtual group|s life. However, as trust has a very dynamic nature, the bases of trust change their relative importance through time under the influence of people|s interactions among themselves. We present a framework for further empirical research into trust formation and maintenance in virtual teams.

Keywords: virtual teams; virtual organisations; trust development; trust base; teamwork.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2008.015999

International Journal of Networking and Virtual Organisations, 2008 Vol.5 No.1, pp.17 - 34

Published online: 02 Dec 2007 *

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