Effects of Virtual Work on Trust: Role of Monitoring Norms and Age

Abstract

Interpersonal trust is critical for collaboration, and particularly so in virtual work settings. Research, in both co-located and virtual work settings, has identified many behaviors initiated by trustors to help them gather trustworthiness information and, in turn, develop trust in trustees. However, we know less about how the context affects trust development. In this study, we examine the effects of a key contextual factor – team monitoring norms, and of age on team members’ trust of their virtual teammates. We draw on research on virtuality, control, trust and generational differences to develop our predictions and test them in a study of 292 members of virtual teams. We find that when monitoring norms are strong, virtuality negatively affects a team member’s interpersonal trust; when monitoring norms are weak, virtuality positively affects team member’s interpersonal trust. This increased trust with weak monitoring norms, is stronger for older rather than younger virtual team members.