Fostering trust in virtual project teams: Towards a design framework grounded in a TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema |
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| Authors: | Ellen Rusman Jan van Bruggen Peter Sloep Rob Koper |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Chalmers University of Technology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Construction Management, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden;2. Aalto University, School of Science, Industrial Engineering and Management, BIT Research Centre, P.O. Box 15500, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland;1. Department of Business Administration, College of Business, Delaware State University, 1200 N. Dupont Highway, Dover, DE 19901, USA;2. Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor of Information Systems and Operations Management and Director, McDowell Research Center for Global IT Management, Information Systems and Operations Management, Bryan School of Business and Economics, The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC 27402-6165, USA;1. The University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia;2. University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia;1. Department of Social Psychology, University Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Avenida Blasco Ibáñez 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain;2. Department of Methodology of Behavioral Sciences, University Research Institute of Human Resources Psychology, Organizational Development and Quality of Working Life (IDOCAL), University of Valencia, Avenida Blasco Ibáñez 21, 46010 Valencia, Spain;1. Information Systems, Al Albayt University, P.O. BOX 130040, Mafraq 25113, Jordan;2. Information Systems, University of Colorado Denver, 1380 Lawrence Street, Denver, CO 80204, USA |
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| Abstract: | Several collaboration problems in virtual project teams that work in knowledge-intensive contexts can be attributed to a hampered process of interpersonal trust formation. Solutions to trust formation problems need to be based on an understanding of how interpersonal trust forms in face-to-face project teams as well as on insight into how this process differs in virtual teams. Synthesizing literature from various disciplines, we propose a model for the formation of interpersonal trust between project team members. Taking this model as a starting point, we analyse how virtual settings may alter or even obstruct the process of trust formation. One method to improve the formation of interpersonal trust in virtual settings is to facilitate the assessment of trustworthiness. This can be done by making information available about individual virtual project team members. Previous research in virtual project teams focussed principally on the medium by which information is spread, for example, by phone, mail, or videoconferencing. Most researchers failed to take the specific content of the information into account, although there is general agreement that personal, non-task-related information is important to foster trust. For this, we propose to use the antecedents of trustworthiness, which until now have mainly been used as a framework to measure trust, as a design framework instead. This framework of antecedents can also be used to determine which type of information is relevant to assess each other’s trustworthiness. We review existing literature on the antecedents of trustworthiness and extend the well-accepted antecedents of ‘ability’, ‘benevolence’ and ‘integrity’ with several other antecedents, such as ‘communality’ and ‘accountability’. Together, these form the TrustWorthiness ANtecedents (TWAN) schema. We describe how these antecedents can be used to determine which information is relevant for team members assessing others’ trustworthiness. In future research we will first verify this extended cognitive schema of trustworthiness (TWAN) empirically and then apply it to the design of artefacts or guidelines, such as a personal identity profile to support the assessment of trustworthiness in virtual project teams. |
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