What We Know and What We Do Not Know about Trust in Work Teams: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

Trust in work teams is a growing field of research. Numerous studies research trust in work teams in connection to team effectiveness and team performance. But this substantial amount of work lacks continuity and systematization in terms of conceptualization and operationalization. With this research project we take stock of the knowledge from previous studies and carry out a systematic review of the literature on trust in work teams. We analyze a total of 64 papers addressing trust in work teams, published between 1999 and 2019 (inclusive). In our review we focus on how trust in teams has been conceptualized and operationalized, how trust develops and is maintained in work teams, and on the tangled relationships between trust, distrust, and control. With this paper we contribute to the field of management and organizational studies by offering a theoretical framework of the antecedents of trust in work teams and by identifying current research gaps and future research directions.