Media and Familiarity Effects on Assessing Trustworthiness: “What Did They Mean By That?”

Abstract

This chapter explores the role media effects and familiarity play in the development of trust in CMC environments. As team members interact with one another via technology, each team member assesses information and makes assessments about the trustworthiness of their teammates. Such trustworthiness assessments are known to influence trust, a factor which has been established to have significant effects on the functioning of teams. This research uses media synchronicity theory and the concept of interpersonal familiarity to examine virtual team interactions and the formation of trust. Implications are drawn for researchers and managers as they seek to understand how teams operate in virtual environments.