Trusting Online: Nurturing Trust in Virtual Teams

Internet-mediated virtual teamworking is increasingly becoming an integral part of the work life for many people in information societies. This paper reports an investigation on the development of trust relationships in virtual teamworking. The main objectives of this study are to identify forms of trust relationships in virtual teamworking and to understand how such trust relationships operate in this context. The study was carried out in a large company that uses internet-mediated virtual teamworking. This paper offers a theoretical account of trust relationships in virtual teamworking that considers trust as a property of both organizational members and abstract structures of organizations.