The influence of disposition and social ties on trust in new virtual teammates

• Published in: Computers in human behavior Vol. 37; pp. 41 - 48
• Main Authors: Kuo, Eric Weilin, Thompson, Lori Foster
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.08.2014
• Subjects: Digital media; Group membership; Human behavior; Integrity; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Perception; Social distance; Social media; Social networking; Social networks; Swift trust; Trustworthiness; Virtual teams; Social distance; Swift trust; Group membership; Social media; Social networking; Virtual teams
• ISSN: 0747-5632; 1873-7692
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2014.04.030

•Social media websites display the social distance among users.•Prospective team members can view shared social ties prior to collaboration.•We modeled the path from social ties to trust in a new, unknown teammate.•The data fit the overall proposed model.•However, social ties did not significantly affect perceptions of trustworthiness. With the increased presence of social media tools such as LinkedIn and Facebook, social network information is now commonplace. Social media websites prominently display the social distance or so-called “degrees of separation” among users, effectively allowing people to view their shared social ties with others, including prospective teammates they have not met. Through the presentation and manipulation of social network information, this longitudinal experiment investigated whether dispositional and relational variables contribute to “swift trust” among new virtual teammates. Data from 74 participants were collected to test a path analytic model predicting that social ties and propensity to trust influence perceptions of a new teammate’s trustworthiness (ability, benevolence, and integrity) as well as the willingness to trust that new teammate when given the opportunity to do so. Path analysis indicated good model fit, but showed no significant evidence that social ties or propensity to trust affect perceived trustworthiness at the initial point of team engagement. Additionally, only one component of perceived trustworthiness (perceived ability) and propensity to trust were found to predict trusting behavior towards a new, unknown, teammate.