An Exploration of Trust in Virtual Teams Using Three Perspectives

With the recent advancements in technology and the development of sophisticated tools for collaborative work, the use of computer-mediated groups in organizations has increased rapidly. Further, the need for globalization has forced members of such teams to be dispersed in both time and space, and has paved the way for the development and implementation of the concept of “virtual teams.” In this paper, we examine one of the primary factors leading to virtual team effectiveness, namely, the issue of trust. One of the objectives of this paper is to investigate the applicability of the research findings on trust in traditional face-to-face teams in a virtual context. Drawing on prior literature, the present study uses three perspectives to trust and proposes a model for trust development in virtual teams. Further, prior research has always treated trust as a static concept, and researchers appear to have assumed that it is always the same factors that influence trust at any point in a cooperative interaction. In this paper, a more dynamic model is proposed, which suggests that, different factors explain the level of trust in different points of team development. By uncovering some unique concepts leading to trust development in virtual teams, it is hoped that a contribution will be made to the existing literature on factors leading to virtual team effectiveness and success. Future research directions include an attempt to validate this dynamic model in a quasi-experimental setting of virtual teamwork