Abstract

The paper uses the dramaturgical perspective for conceptualising trust development within temporary virtual teams. The underlying assumption is that temporary teams do not have the luxury of time, which according to the traditional trust theories, enables familiarity among project participants and promotes trust development. Yet, in these teams, trust needs to develop quickly and it is important that it lasts throughout the short duration of the project lifecycle. Using the metaphor of a theatre, the dramaturgical model of trust relationships is developed and is used to present actors, co-actors and audience as all playing a key role during the scripting, staging and performing phases of virtual plays. Particular importance is given to the interactions between these players at the performance stage. As it is argued, these interactions elicit the process of trust development within the temporary setting of virtual teams constituting to a type of trust relationship that is mutually negotiated and jointly constructed. This type of trust is called situated trust and emerges from the scripted and unscripted computer-mediated interactions of virtual players.

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