JOHANNES KEPLER UNIVERSITY LINZ Altenberger Straße 69 4040 Linz, Austria jku.at

Author Tamara Kildiushova Submission Institute of Innovation Management Thesis Supervisor Univ.-Prof. Dr. Robert Breitenecker Assistant Thesis Supervisor Mag. Andreas Krawinkler Month Year March 2021

BUILDING TRUST IN VIRTUAL TEAMS

Master’s Thesis to confer the academic degree of

Master of Science Global Business in the Joint Master’s Program

Global Business – Canada/Taiwan

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SWORN DECLARATION

I hereby declare under oath that the submitted Master’s Thesis has been written solely by me

without any third-party assistance, information other than provided sources or aids have not been

used and those used have been fully documented. Sources for literal, paraphrased and cited

quotes have been accurately credited.

The submitted document here present is identical to the electronically submitted text document.

Linz, March 18, 2021

Tamara Kildiushova

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Acknowledgements

Firstly, I would like to express my gratitude to my family and friends for their emotional support

while I was doing the research. Secondly, I want to thank all the interviewees for agreeing to take

part in the research and providing insights which helped to complete this study. Finally, I would

like to thank my supervisor Univ.-Prof. Dr. Robert Breitenecker and co-supervisor Mag. Andreas

Krawinkler. Thank you for your collaboration, guidance, advice and help in answering all the

questions I had during the process of writing this thesis.

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Abstract

After the start of the global pandemic, the number of people working remotely is increasing every

day. For team leaders and organizations, it is crucial to understand the methods of building up

and keeping trust in remote teams to keep the effectiveness of team members after shifting to

decentralized workplaces. This thesis examines the process of building trust in virtual teams by

analyzing the factors that have negative influence on trust in virtual teams and the way to cope

with them by using activities and tools that are used to build up trust.

To answer the research question, the author built a theoretical based framework which identified

the most influential factors and tools that affect trust in virtual teams. Furthermore, qualitative

interviews with people who are experienced in working remotely were conducted to gain further

insights for the framework. The results of the study show that it is significant to identify negative

factors at an early stage of virtual collaborations and to introduce appropriate activities and tools

that will help to cope with certain negative factors.

Key words: virtual teams, trust, trust-building, virtual communication, information and

communication technologies

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Problem definition and objective of the thesis ............................................................... 9 1.2 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 10 1.3 Research Structure ...................................................................................................... 10

2. Literature review ............................................................................................................................ 12 2.1 Virtual team characteristics .......................................................................................... 12 2.2 Factors that influence trust in virtual teams ................................................................. 16 2.3 Strategies on trust development in virtual teams ......................................................... 19 2.4 Activities and tools: practical implications .................................................................... 22 2.5 Theoretical Framework ................................................................................................ 28

3. Methodology ................................................................................................................................... 32 3.1 Research Method .............................................................................................................. 32 3.2 Selection of Interview Partners .......................................................................................... 32 3.3 Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 34 3.4 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 35 3.5 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 36

4. Findings ........................................................................................................................................... 37 4.1 Sub-question 1: What influences trust in virtual teams? .................................................... 37

4.1.1 Digital communication ................................................................................................. 38 4.1.2 Physical distance ........................................................................................................ 41 4.1.3 Organizational barriers ............................................................................................... 43 4.1.4 Individual barriers ....................................................................................................... 45

4.2 Sub-question 2: What are the tools and activities that help to establish trust between the

people in the virtual team? ...................................................................................................... 46 4.2.1 HR policy: selection, onboarding and training ......................................................... 47 4.2.2 Facilitation of virtual meetings .................................................................................. 49 4.2.3 Extensive communication ........................................................................................ 51 4.2.4 Appropriate use of technology ................................................................................. 52 4.2.5 Rich and reliable technology .................................................................................... 52

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4.2.6 Positive environment and organizational culture ..................................................... 53 4.2.7 Team-building activities ........................................................................................... 55 4.2.8 Providing clear tasks and guidance ......................................................................... 56 4.2.9 The use of project management tools ...................................................................... 56 4.2.10 Regular feedback .................................................................................................... 58

4.3 Discussion and revised framework .................................................................................... 60

5. Conclusion ...................................................................................................................................... 65 5.1 Implications ........................................................................................................................ 65 5.2 Limitations and Future research ........................................................................................ 67

6. References ...................................................................................................................................... 69

7. Appendix .......................................................................................................................................... 74

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Table of Tables Table 1. Characteristics of media that determine richness of information processed ................. 13 Table 2. Factors that influence trust at different stages of trust formation ................................... 18 Table 3. Appropriate Use of Technology ..................................................................................... 25 Table 4. Interviewee overview ..................................................................................................... 33

Table of Figures Figure 1. Research Structure ...................................................................................................... 10 Figure 2. Theoretical framework .................................................................................................. 29 Figure 3. Code system ................................................................................................................ 35 Figure 4. Factors that have negative influence on trust in virtual teams ..................................... 46 Figure 5. Activities and tools used in virtual teams to build up trust ............................................ 59 Figure 6. Conceptual Framework ................................................................................................ 63

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1. Introduction

Technology has significantly influenced our modern society, and digitalization has become a

crucial part of our lives. It has enabled us to collaborate with people all over the world. During the

recent years the number of people working remotely was on the increase and spiked in March

2020 due to the global pandemic. Only in the US alone the percentage of the remote employees

grew from 31% to 62% in three weeks (Harter, 2020). Covid-19 urged companies to adapt in

different ways, and some of the changes will remain after the pandemic is over for the companies

that will choose to continue providing a work-from-home opportunity for their employees (Kier,

2020).

The possibility to work remotely has saved companies a lot of financial resources because of

decreased expenses on offices, the ability to attract and retain talent, increased productivity of the

employees, etc. Members of virtual teams do not need an office - they collaborate with each other

from different locations using digital tools to communicate and attain a common goal (Nader,

2009). However, telecommunicating is not that easy. The way that a member of the virtual team

creates trust with his colleagues through different time zones, locations, cultural backgrounds, and

professional disciplines is a challenge that many companies are already facing (Holton, 2001).

To name a few, the disadvantages of telecommuting or working-from-home (WFH) include the

lack of emotional support, communication, the feeling of isolation, lack of social interaction and

bonding, lack of one-on-one meetings to build rapport and trust (Maher, 2014). These feelings

decrease the morale of the team making the members feel disconnected from each other

(Shebbeare, 2020). Hence, the most critical factors for success in managing virtual teams are

communication, organizational support, and the establishment of trust (Kowalski, 2005). Trust

must be established by the managers or team leaders at both interpersonal and organizational

levels by the employment of different tools and strategies.

The importance of trust is undoubtful for any kind of team. It has been proven that in companies

with high trust «employees report 50% higher productivity, 76% more engagement, 74% less

stress, 40% less burnout and 29% more life satisfaction» (Smith, 2020). Yet it is a crucial element

of the virtual team since employees have less context to access the behavior of others. Trust acts

as a «glue» for the dispersed team (O'Hara-Devereaux & Johansen, 1994). It develops through

daily meaningful interaction, where everyone can share their ideas or disagreement openly, where

the ideas and thoughts can be challenged by other team members without any fear of judgement,

and where the diversity of opinions is valued.

Frequent conversations via video calls, sharing anecdotes can help to establish and build trust to

foster this open communication. Yet it is not the case for newly formed teams where compliance

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and compromise are more encouraged. Therefore, building trust is vital to the high performance

of the virtual team. It boosts teams’ creativity and allows companies to innovate, which results in

higher performance of virtual teams where trust has been established (Holton, 2001).

In a virtual team, however, the traditional opportunities of establishing trust through physical

contact and socializing are restricted. Moreover, the members of virtual teams are usually located

in different time zones and have various cultural backgrounds, which makes it even more difficult

to establish trust among such members. Nevertheless, the research shows that such diversity can

have even higher positive influence on creativity and innovation in the teams where trust has been

established (Holton, 2001). Therefore, the strategies on how to build trust in virtual teams need to

be examined.

1.1 Problem definition and objective of the thesis

As mentioned above, many researchers claim that trust is a factor of high importance for reaching

success in virtual teams (Brewer, 2015; Greenberg, Greenberg & Antonucci, 2007; Jawadi,

Daassi, Kalika & Favier, 2007; Leeds, 2008; Lencioni, 2002). Furthermore, resent studies have

proven that trust is going to be one of the main challenges in the future organizations since the

team members have to rely on interpersonal trust because of the absence of traditional methods

of coordination and control (Lukić, 2018).

The works which are related to the topic mainly focus on the challenges that occur in the remote

teams in regard to trust, which resulted in the development of the conceptual framework for

building trust in remote teams but not strategies that can be applicable (Dangmei, 2016). Very few

researchers take a glance at those. Moreover, the studies that are focused on strategies do not

cover day-to-day strategies that can be applicable. The research of Lukić, for instance, highlights

the tools and methods that can be used in virtual teams to establish trust, such as creating positive

organizational climate and culture, choosing a special approach to the recruitment and selection

process, hiring an effective team leader (Lukić, 2018). Yet they are too general.

There are other limitations of the previous studies, including geographical restriction of the

research, interviewing only the leaders of the teams, and a sample of only one organization for

the purpose of research in one specific industry (Kwaye, 2018).

In another research on building trust in remote teams the focus was on the applicability of the

certain tools that can be used to establish trust. Even though team members were geographically

dispersed, they were members of one organization, so these findings cannot be scaled to other

professional fields (Egler, 2019).

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The aim of this research is to dig deeper into the topic and create day-to-day strategies which will

help managers in leading a virtual team on a daily basis more effectively. This set of activities such

as regular check-ins and updates, special approach to the recruitment and selection process,

team-building activities will help companies to build and nurture trust in remote teams in order to

enhance collaboration and increase the productivity of virtual teams. This study also examines

both the perspective of the employees and the managers and covers multiple organizations and

locations to bring more insight to the topic. This is the representation of the knowledge gap that

needs be filled. In order to accomplish this goal, the factors that influence trust in the remote teams

the most are examined as well as the challenges that occur when managers start the process of

trust establishment in virtual teams.

1.2 Research Questions

As it has been mentioned above, few studies have been conducted on the day-to-day strategies

that companies should use in order to develop and maintain trust between the members of the

remote teams. Hence, the aim of this thesis is to give the answer to the main research question:

- What strategies should be used to build up trust between the members of virtual teams?

To provide an answer to the main research question, two sub-questions have been identified. The

first sub-question is:

- What influences trust in virtual teams?

And in order to develop the right strategies, another sub-question has been identified.

- What are the tools and activities that help to establish trust between the people in the virtual

team?

1.3 Research Structure

This master thesis is divided into six chapters.

Figure 1. Research Structure

Literature Review

Theoretical Framework

Semi-structured Interviews

Analysis

Conceptual Framework

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The first chapter is introduction. The current chapter introduces the research question and explains

how it has been established. Moreover, it sheds the light on the existing research gap in the

literature: not enough research on day-to-day strategies to establish trust between the members

of the remote team in order to enhance collaboration.

In the second chapter - literature review – the most relevant literature to the topic is presented and

discussed. Starting from the factors that influence trust in the remote teams, moving to the

characteristics of the remote teams and the tools and activities that can have a practical implication

in the process of building trust. This chapter ends with the theoretical framework based on the

existing strategies on developing trust in remote teams.

Chapter three covers the methodology behind the thesis.

This chapter presents the rationale behind the purposive sampling methods, the background

information on the participants. Afterwards, the reasoning for semi-structured interviews as the

data gathering method together with content analysis of the transcribed interviews as the method

of analysis are presented.

In the chapter four the main findings from the interviews are presented.

Chapter five presents the analysis of the interviews and the answer to the research questions

based on the conducted research. The conceptual framework is developed.

Finally, in the chapter six the conclusion is presented, the implications and possible limitations of

the research are discussed, as well as the possibilities for further research.

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2. Literature review

This chapter offers an overview of what has been developed in the academic literature about the

virtual teams: its characteristics and factors that have impact on trust. It is important to give a clear

definition to the term «virtual team» and to define it characteristics as different researchers have

different understanding of the word «virtual». Another significant term defined in this chapter is the

term «trust» as well as different types of trust. Based on characteristics of the virtual teams,

common factors that have impact on trust in virtual teams are recognized as well as factors that

are specific for a certain stage of trust formation – dispositional trust, swift trust, cognitive and

affectionate trust. Based on the factors that influence trust in the virtual team, strategies are

developed, which address the problems and barriers connected to characteristics of virtual teams.

These strategies will provide the overview of the elements that successful strategies on trust

formation consist of. Then, certain steps including various activities and tools from the strategies

are described to help leaders and organizations implement the strategies. Lastly, theoretical

framework based on factors, strategies and practical activities is formed, which connects all the

parts of the chapter together and plays a significant role in finding the answer to the research

question.

2.1 Virtual team characteristics

To understand how the trust is developed in the virtual teams it is important to give a definition to

the term «virtual team» and describe its major characteristics.

Virtual teams consist of geographically dispersed members who collaborate with each other using

digital technologies in order to accomplish a common goal (Lukić, 2018; Bisbe, 2017; Martins et

al., 2004). The definition of this term has been changing throughout the history. Early definitions

of the term put virtual teams in contrast to face-to-face teams. Face-to-face interaction has

different definitions, but for the purpose of this research the following definition will be used –

«face-to-face interaction is a «synchronous social interaction between individuals co-present in

the same physical location, normally through speech and nonverbal communication» (Oxford

Reference, 2020).

The early definition focuses on the geographical location of the members and use of technologies.

However, later the definition has been transformed. The common concern was related to the

degree of virtual communication that was needed to use the term «virtual team». According to

Bouas (1996) virtual teams can be defined as those only if there is no face-to-face interaction

between the members. On the other hand, other researchers (e.g., Jarvenpaa & Leidner, 1999;

Maznevski & Chudoba, 2000) believe that face-to-face communication is possible in virtual teams

if the majority of the interaction is digital. The recent studies highlight the fact that one hundred

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percent face-to-face communication is almost impossible these days, which makes it even harder

to give a definition to virtual teams (Martins et al., 2004). For the purpose of this research, the

virtual team will be defined as a group of people who use technology as a major way of

communication and work interdependently with each other across geographical, time and

organizational boundaries to reach a common aim.

Therefore, virtual teams are characterized by four main attributes which will be described below:

the extent usage of digital technologies, physical distance of the team members, the temporary

lifespan, and work across organizational boundaries.

Digital technologies. Virtual teams use digital technologies so as to replace face-to-face

communication. These technologies appear to be different in their extent of media richness and

the speed of given feedback or feedback capability (Daft & Lengel, 1984). E-mail,

videoconferencing, instant messaging, scheduling systems are just a few of the technology

examples that can help the employees to facilitate the execution of the project and communicate.

Depending on the initial goal, employees use different methods.

Daft & Lengel (1984) developed the hierarchy of media richness in traditional teams or

organizations. The explanation of the media richness in virtual teams based on the former

hierarchy is shown in Table 1. Each medium is different from another based on feedback

capability, the technology or channel used, the type of source (personal or impersonal), and

language (the style of the person).

Information medium Information richness

Feedback Channel Source Language

Video conferencing Highest Immediate Visual, Audio

Personal Body, Natural

Telephone, audio conferencing

High Fast Audio Personal Natural

Written, Personal (email, instant

message)

Moderate Slow Limited Visual

Personal Natural

Written, Formal (documents)

Low Very Slow Limited Visual

Impersonal Natural

Numeric, Formal (computer output)

Lowest Very Slow Limited Visual

Impersonal Numeric

Table 1. Characteristics of media that determine richness of information processed (own illustration based on Daft & Lengel)

Therefore, if the task requires an immediate feedback and high understanding among the team members, for instance, in the brainstorming session, where the complexity of the task and

uncertainty among the team members are high, the most suitable technology will be video

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conferencing as it is the highest in media richness among other digital technologies (Daft & Lengel,

1984). It allows to read the body language of the speaker, the tone of voice, facial expression and

thus, it makes it easier to solve a complex problem with this medium. All in all, the research of Daft

& Lengel (1984) shows that rich media are needed for solving difficult problems or discussing

complex topics such as company’s strategy, goals, employee motivation; media which are low in

richness are suitable for simple topics, and numeric media are suitable for the mechanic,

measurable tasks such as inventory control or employee attendance.

The research of Kaufmann & Carmi (2014) shows that it is crucial for the manager to use the most

suitable communication channels for certain purposes and to encourage the team members to do

the same to increase trust. Another vital factor in building trust is the frequency of such

communication. As face-to-face encounters do not happen often in virtual teams, they need to be

replaced with more frequent communication to increase trust among team members. Social media

is the tool that fosters a small talk and helps to make communication more frequent. It has created

a new form of technology-based communication, which helps to build rapport and create a trusting

environment (Kaufmann & Carmi, 2014).

Physical distance of the team members. Geographic disparity causes some challenges to the

remote teams. The challenges include delays due to different time zones, coordination difficulties

because of the absence of overlapping work hours, and unawareness of the actions of the

employees or coworkers (Cummings, 2011). According to Cummings (2011), physical distance is

divided into two parts – spatial dispersion and temporal dispersion.

Temporal dispersion occurs in teams which are not only dispersed but are also located in different

time zones. Therefore, according to the research, the coordination delays are more likely to occur

in the teams which have no overlapping work hours rather than in teams where there is at least

one-hour overlap. Over a period of time, such coordination delays lead to the poorer work

performance: delays in completing the work on time or achieving the final goal (Cummings, 2011).

These factors lead to a lower morale of the team and the decrease in trust between the members.

Moreover, since video conferencing is impossible between the members of the team with high

temporal boundaries, it becomes extra difficult to build trust as video conferencing is one of the

tools which is very close to face-to-face communication and helps to establish trust.

Geographical distance occurs when the team members work from different locations – buildings,

cities, countries, and continents. The research proves that teams where members are located in

different cities or countries benefit more from allocation more time to the team than the teams

which members are spread across one building (Cummings, 2011). Geographic dispersion

decreases the level of social support and social closeness as the physical closeness is absent.

Therefore, e-leaders are required to respond quickly to the requests of the team members, support

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and motivate employees using advanced technology in order to increase the level of social

closeness and trust (Snellman, 2014).

Temporary lifespan. Virtual teams are often project teams which are formed to achieve a specific

goal and disbanded when the task is achieved both inside an organization or outside of it. In other

words, they are formed to exploit emerging opportunities (Wong & Burton, 2000). These teams

are flexible and agile in responding to the market demands. However, there is little prior history of

collaboration between the team members which means that the ties between the team members

are weaker in comparison to traditional teams. These weak ties can have a bad influence on

mutual confidence and reciprocity of the team, which may disrupt coordination (Wong & Burton,

2000). Moreover, project-based nature means that the roles and responsibilities of the team

members change depending on the project they are working for. The tasks tend to be non-routine

and have to be completed under time pressure.

Organizational boundaries. Members of virtual teams usually work across internal and external

organizational boundaries. Internal boundaries mean different functions and divisions within one

company, and external boundaries mean work with vendors, clients, and even direct competitors. To create strategic alliances, joint ventures, and partnerships a group of small teams from different

organization are required (Lipnack & Stamps, 1997). The easiest way (and sometimes the only

possible way) for them to communicate is virtual communication.

The research of Wong & Burton (2020) suggests that the structures of the virtual teams are not

hierarchical, which means that the team members mostly rely on informal information exchange

to achieve the project goals. Virtual teams consist of independent members; therefore, the

leadership tends to be informal. Furthermore, each member of the virtual team has expertise in a

particular field (technical, financial, marketing) during cross-boundary work and takes the lead at

some point in the process, which makes the shared leadership the norm in the virtual teams

(Lipnack & Stamps, 1997).

Apart from the factors above, there are some factors that occur in global virtual teams in particular

– cultural and language differences. National culture can have a major effect on how the individual

perceives information and behaves in a working environment. People from different countries filter

the information through their cultural lenses, which creates potential misunderstandings.

Depending on different team contexts and conditions, both positive and negative outcomes are

possible. Based on research, cultural diversity can have a positive impact on creativity and

increase team effectiveness. On the other hand, diverse teams may lead to low team performance

because of differences in values, beliefs, attitudes, misunderstandings due to language

differences, which lead to conflicts between the team members (Jeoung, Crystal & Beyerlein,

2018).

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2.2 Factors that influence trust in virtual teams

People working in virtual teams can share their opinions and ideas freely, achieve projects’ goals,

collaborate effectively as a team when the trust between the team members is established.

Research has proved that the teams with high degree of trust are more optimistic, goal-oriented,

effective and tend to provide more valuable feedback (Ford, Piccolo & Ford, 2017). The process

of the establishment of trust has a significant importance in virtual teams as the characteristics of

the virtual teams (such as physical distance of the members, infrequency in communication,

differences in backgrounds and experience) make it harder to do it. Trust acts as «the glue»

between the members of dispersed teams and the organization. Therefore, it should be

established between the team members, the leader and the team, and between the team and the

organization (Greenberg, Greenberg & Antonucci, 2007).

There are different ways of defining trust. For the purpose of this research two definitions of trust

will be used. Trust can be defined as «the extent that a person believes another person (or

persons) to be benevolent and honest» (Larzelere & Huston, 1980). In other words, it is a desire

of one party to be vulnerable to another party based on the assumption that this party will fulfill the

given promise without monitoring and control from the trusting party. All researchers believe that

trust consists of three main components: integrity, ability, and benevolence, which means that a

trustworthy team member is honest, capable, and caring (Greenberg et al., 2007).

Trust traditionally consists of two types: cognitive and affective (Khan, 2012). Cognitive trust is

based on the evaluation of reliability, competence, skills of another party, or in other words, on the

assessment of ability and integrity. Affective trust, which has been originally labeled as

benevolence, arises from empathy and emotional ties with another party (Greenberg et al., 2007).

The research of Jarvenpaa, Knoll & Leidner (1998) proves that cognition-based trust occurs in the

earlier stages of the trust formation. However, the perceived benevolence of team members has

a stronger effect over time.

It has traditionally been assumed that trust forms based on the history of frequent interactions,

which does not happen often in the virtual teams due to its dispersed nature and the use of

communication technologies. However, high levels of trust are indicated in the early stages of

short-term virtual teams, whose members have never worked together, have little history of

interaction and have no prospects of working together in the future. Members of such teams should

suspend all the uncertainty about the abilities and integrity of the other team members and work

together in order to achieve a common goal. This type of trust is called swift trust (Greenberg et

al., 2007). This type of trust is different from the traditional type of trust based on shared

experience, fulfilled promises, and demonstrations of vulnerability as it is based on quick responds

of the team members, positive stereotyping and initial interactions (Clark, Clark & Crossley, 2010).

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When people work at the same location, team members have more opportunities to form trust –

there are coffee breaks, short interactions in the hallway and common lunches which help to get

to know each other better. Team members can discuss work-related and non-work-related topics

leading to bonding and the development of professional respect. Moreover, these messages can

be conveyed verbally (through the content and tone) and non-verbally (through gestures, posture,

eye contact). Unfortunately, it is not that easy in virtual teams (Greenberg et al., 2007).

There are two main factors that make it more difficult to develop trust in virtual teams: physical

distance between the team members and the communication through digital tools. Different

locations can lead to disruptions and misunderstandings as the members are unaware of the

contextual factors that influence other members as they cannot observe them (Greenberg et al.,

2007). Furthermore, cultural differences may take place and increase the chances of

miscommunication and misinterpretation as the members of virtual teams sometimes come from

different countries. In cultures that are more «task-based» such as the USA, Denmark, Germany,

Australia, people develop working bonds based largely on cognitive trust. In contrast, in the

countries like China, Brazil, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia trust is «relationship-based», and it is built

through personal bonding (Meyer, 2016). Lack of social presence is another barrier that takes

place in virtual teams because of the dispersed nature of the virtual team. Social presence is a

feeling of belonging to the group, which encourages team members to provide mutual assistance

and support. Yet it can be hard for the virtual team to feel that they are a part of a team since it is

only visible electronically (Germain & McGuire, 2014).

Communication via digital technologies is also the main factor that has an impact on trust in virtual

teams. Team members cannot use the highest in media richness way of communication – face-

to-face communication. Therefore, not all the signals, emotions, cues (such as head shaking,

nodding) are conveyed, which means that it takes more time to create social bonds in comparison

to traditional teams. Also, the messages sent by email or through instant messaging can be

perceived differently by different people.

Communication using digital tools consists of other sub-factors that can have a negative effect on

trust: the accessibility of the tools, types of interactions and the continuity and frequency of

communication. Firstly, it is critical that the information and communication technologies (ICT)

should be accessible to every team member and easy to use. User-friendly interface will help the

team members to get used to the unfamiliar environment faster, perform better and assist in

establishment of confidence and trust. Secondly, the types of interaction between the team

members play an important role (Germain & McGuire, 2014). All the tools for synchronous and

asynchronous communication should be provided and the right tools should be chosen for certain

types of communication (Mitchell & Zigurs, 2009). Another obstacle in effective online

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communication is lack of continuity of communication and its frequency. It can result in frequent

conflicts between the team members that can be hidden from the team leader because of the

digital communication via the means unavailable to the team leader (Germain & McGuire, 2014).

What is more, it has been proven that frequent interaction leads to higher levels of trust and

improved performance of virtual teams and rare interactions and lack of feedback lead to lower

level of trust (Mitchell & Zigurs, 2009).

There are other factors that have an impact on the team trust which are likely to occur at certain

stages of trust formation. The stages include dispositional trust (a tendency to trust), swift trust,

cognitive (with focus on ability and integrity) and affective trust (with focus on integrity and

benevolence) (Greenberg et al., 2007). These stages and factors typical for them are represented

below.

Dispositional Trust

Swift Trust Cognitive Trust Affectionate Trust

Personal characteristics of team members: qualifications,

predisposition to trust

Individual barriers: lack of attachment, fear of disclosure, defensive

routines

Organizational barriers: lack of guidance,

individualistic reward structure

Assessment of team members’

capabilities

Perception of team members’ integrity

Recognition of individual accomplishments and

common achievements

Extensive communication between

team members

Table 2. Factors that influence trust at different stages of trust formation (own illustration)

At the stage of the dispositional trust the main factor that influences trust is the personal characteristics and skills of the person. It is vital to find a team member who is qualified and has

the tendency to believe others. The qualifications of the member will stimulate other team

members to access his abilities positively and develop cognitive trust. The predisposition to trust

will help a new member to evaluate the performance more positively if the delays or mistakes

occur, which will also have a positive impact on trust formation (Greenberg et al., 2007).

Here are some factors that affect the establishment of the swift trust: individual and organizational

barriers (Germain & McGuire, 2014). Individual barriers include such factors as lack of attachment,

fear of disclosure, and defensive routines. Since members of short-term teams do not have

confidence in the trustworthiness of the team members, they start judging each other based on

their past experience. Moreover, in the early stages team members tend to evaluate each other

not based on the performance but based on the responsiveness of the team member. Fear of

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disclosure is another factor that can influence trust due to the lack of common history between the

members. Finally, defensive routine, which is any action that can help an individual to prevent the

embarrassment or threat, and any further discussion connected to the cause, can occur in order

to protect the status of a team member. Such mechanism can take different forms, including

concealing information and refusal for cooperation (Germain & McGuire, 2014).

Organizational barriers consist of such elements as reward structure and the lack of clear

guidance. A cooperative reward structure based on overall team performance should be

developed in order to stimulate knowledge sharing and communication between the team

members and encourage trust. The lack of clear guidance also has a negative effect on the trust

between a team leader and a team member or co-workers. Leaders must ensure that there are

defined roles in the team and clear responsibilities and reporting structures (Germain & McGuire,

2014). Furthermore, a special training should be provided on the group communication norms to

avoid misunderstandings (Greenberg et al., 2007).

Cognitive trust is being formed later on and other factors have influence on trust formation here.

Trust of the team members to each other here will be based on the assessment of each other’s

abilities to accomplish goals and on the perception of the integrity of each other during their

interactions. To enhance accurate perceptions team leaders should encourage appropriate

behavior of the team members by making sure that every team member takes part in the

organizing stage of the project (research, task assignment), by monitoring communication about

the project between team members and by encouraging non-work-related communication which

will allow the emotional bonds required for benevolence to develop (Greenberg et al., 2007).

Affectionate trust is the last type of trust to be formed after each team members assessed the

competences of other members, got acquainted with the responsibilities and developed working

relationships with other members. The factors that influence trust here are the availability of a

team leader who can clarify the goals once again, appreciation of team members’

accomplishments, recognition of common achievements and continuation of supportive

communication between the team members (Greenberg et al., 2007).

2.3 Strategies on trust development in virtual teams

Based on the factors such as communication via digital technologies, physical distance and some

other factors typical for certain stages of trust formation discussed above that influence trust in

virtual teams, two main strategies on building trust in virtual teams have been developed to

overcome the main barriers: an organizational strategy and a leadership strategy.

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Organizational strategy. Organizational strategy consists of the provision of reliable

technological resources, special HR policies, team composition, clear task definition and expected

outcome and team support.

Technological recourses. Communication technologies are used in the virtual teams every day,

which makes it fundamental for the organizations to provide reliable technologies in order to avoid

disruptions at work and increase the trustworthiness of the company. The technology that is used

to connect team members should fit the given task and should be reliable and rich. It is almost

impossible for a virtual team to be effective if the corporate expertise base does not have the

required information or when it takes hours to login in the system in order to start the day. The

following strategy is suggested for building trust through technological cues: purchase and

maintain the right technology; make sure that the technology works among all the users; develop

a plan В for emergency situations in case of technological crash; make sure that everybody has

access to the resources where all the necessary information can be found; provide accessible

storage of team documents, data, decisions; obtain conferencing facilities for teams to meet and

see each other (Ford, Piccolo & Ford, 2017).

HR policies and procedures. The most important component when it comes to HR policies and

procedures is to help a new member to become a part of the team through developed training and

onboarding. The introduction to the virtual team is as important as to the face-to-face team. Along

with other actions, the key activity is to give a new member of the virtual team some additional

information about the backgrounds of the team members, their work experience and

responsibilities in order to make a new team member familiar with all the members and increase

trust towards them. In addition, it is crucial not to forget to include a newcomer in all the

communication channels with announcements of organizational events and activities (Ford et al.,

2017).

Another ingredient of the HR policy is the selection and training of an effective leader. The leader

will have to deal with all the challenges of leading a dispersed team, including cultural differences,

physical distance of the members, different time zones, communication exclusively via digital

technologies. Consequently, a special training should be provided to the team leader in order to

learn how to address these challenges and cope with the tasks like goal setting, delegating, conflict

resolution. Also, it is crucial to hire a leader who has broad experience in leading virtual teams

successfully as it will increase the level of trust between the team members and the organization

(Ford et al., 2017).

Team composition. During the selection process it is also important to choose the person who will

fit the team personality-wise. First of all, these should be people who are predisposed to trust, who

have positive expectations about the results of other members and tend to be open, cooperative

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and helpful. Secondly, it should be a person who is similar to others in terms of personality,

communication skills, work habits as people tend to trust more those who are similar to them. At

the same time the candidate should have background and experience which is different from the

rest of the team to stimulate creativity and better decision-making process. Lastly, a selected team

member should have experience in working in a virtual team (Clark et al., 2010).

Clear task definition and expected outcome. One more important factor that increases trust

between the team and the organization is setting clear goals to the team members that go in line

with the mission of organization and that are achievable. Assigning ambiguous tasks can be

frustrating for a traditional face-to-face team as well but it is crucial to set obtainable, measurable

and time-bound aims with defined parameters and outcomes to virtual team members in particular

as electronic communication makes it difficult to complete them (Ford et al., 2017).

Team support. The organizations need to recognize the challenges that virtual team members

face and come up with the solutions to address their social-emotional needs. These challenges

include working in different time zones, cultural differences, various work styles and sometimes

languages. Organizations should recognize these challenges and create programs to cope with

them. The steps can include such actions as providing courses for those team members who don’t

speak the language, reminding the leaders to adjust to different time zones or showing awareness

of the national holidays (Ford et al., 2017).

Leadership strategy. Leadership strategy is another type of strategy which is vital for virtual

teams. A leader of the virtual team should have outstanding communication skills to make every

team member feel engaged in the process despite the physical distance. Apart from providing

work-related information, the team leader should make sure that team members are aware of each

other’s informal news and the events happening in the organization. The team leader should also

take care of the conflicts that take place in a team and should have necessary skills to resolve

them. In addition, in global virtual teams it is crucial for the team leader to be culturally aware in

order to solve disagreements connected to culture (Ford et al., 2017).

An effective team leader recognizes the accomplishments of the team and provides the access to

the required information for the team members. The leader is the one who defines the mission of

the team’s project and how it is connected to the mission of the organization. In addition, the team

leader defines the goals that should be achieved and allocates responsibilities to each member of

a team. The team leader should recognize both individual and team achievements in order to

motivate the team. Some team leaders even throw parties to bring awareness towards the

progress that the team has achieved (Ford et al., 2017). However, defining group norms and

recognizing social loafers is another part of team leader’s responsibility. Research shows that

ignoring social loafers leads to lower trust in the team (Clark et al., 2010).

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Finally, a team leader should be sensitive to the personal needs of the team members. For a

virtual leader it is a challenge to notice that something is wrong with a team member as a virtual

team leader does not have the same cues such as facial expressions or body language, which

are available to the leaders of traditional face-to-face teams. To overcome this problem, daily or

weekly virtual meetings should be introduced as well as informal interactions (Ford et al., 2017).

All in all, the leadership strategy includes: boost the skills of a team leader in setting goals,

communication, conflict resolution, team building and rewarding of the employees; providing

special training to ensure that the team leader is familiar with communication technology, knows

how to cope with different time zones and cultural backgrounds of the team members and how to

recognize an early stage of a conflict or a feeling of isolation of a team member; organizing weekly

meetings with each team member to provide feedback; demonstration of great collaboration skills

and ensuring that every member takes part in organization’s life to avoid feelings of lack of

belonging to a group (Ford et al., 2017).

2.4 Activities and tools: practical implications

Based on organizational and leadership strategies mentioned above, certain activities and tools

have been developed and put into action steps to help the organizations establish trust in remote

teams. Since parts of the strategies are interconnected, there is no line between the activities and

tools used exclusively as a part of the organizational strategy or leadership strategy.

HR policies

HR policies include special selection and recruitment as well as onboarding processes. The

selected participants of the virtual team should be accessed based on different criteria including:

the ability to work with the technology that the team uses, high competence, cultural sensitivity,

great communication skills, openness to innovation and ideas of other people (Lukić, 2018). For

an HR manager it is also important to identify if the candidate is trustworthy or not. The basic

criteria that should be evaluated consist of the punctuality of a candidate, candidate’s

communication skills, their similarity to their resume, honesty about their weak points and their

agreeableness (Lukić, 2018; Clark et al., 2010). In general, to help a new member of the team to

feel trusted a leader should follow simple rules: be available for a new member as much as

possible to answer all the questions that a new person has; be sincere and to communicate

frequently in order to provide feedback; give meaningful work from day 1 and assume that a team

member is capable of completing the task; define clear expectations, goals and realistic timelines.

Another onboarding tool in a virtual team is assigning a mentor to a new employee who will answer

all the questions and help to ease the transition and learn quickly about a new environment (Loury,

2020).

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Choosing the right leader

Another important part is taking on an effective team leader who will be able to establish trust

among the team members. Leader in the virtual team plays a vital role as he is the one who creates

a pleasant working environment that can even prevent conflicts (Lukić, 2018). It is crucial for the

company to hire an effective leader who will be able to guide and lead the virtual team and the

projects effectively. The selected leader should: inspire team members to do the best they can for

the success of the project; build strong relationships between the team members and other

stakeholders, share the information openly, honestly, and regularly; foster an atmosphere of

collaboration; motivate people and keep them engaged and committed (Abudi, 2012).

Furthermore, this person should be honest and avoid miscommunication while giving feedback by

using rich medium (for instance, videoconferencing); be attentive and present on a call and

respond quickly; be trusting to those team members who perform well without micromanaging

their actions (McCarthy, 2020). As for responsibilities of the team leader, they should include: the

development of the official communication guidelines; outlined objectives and clearly defined

responsibilities and roles. Moreover, a strong leader should take into account the cultural

differences between the team members and social aspects of team development (Lukić, 2018).

To start off the project, the team leader should gather all team members together to specify the

goals and objectives of the project, assign roles and define responsibilities. During the same

meeting a team leader should determine how problems will be overcome and decisions made,

what technologies will be used at work and how to use them, a schedule for team meetings and

use of communication technologies for the meeting and for daily communication. Another main

purpose of the team meeting is to start building the relationships between the team members.

There are a large number of activities that are used to initiate the first acquaintance of the team

members. For instance, the basic introduction statements can be enlarged with a suggestion to

complete the sentences that start with: I take pride in _______; my favorite sport is _________;

what frustrates me the most is _____. Such statements from each member will help to establish

the connection between them. Besides, other personal questions and stories can be discussed at

the meeting for the team to bond. For the team members to understand each other better work-

related questions should also be considered. In particular, the things or activities that motivate

members the most, strengths and weaknesses, what is important and less important for each team

member at work (Abudi, 2012).

Another factor that can help to boost the effectiveness and commitment of virtual team members

is a Team Charter with clear vision, mission and goals of the project that should be achieved. In

addition, team guidelines and norms should be provided to the team members for them to

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understand how the responsibilities will be shared and work will be passed from one member to

another, which leads to the next action step – behavioral controls (Abudi, 2012).

Behavioral controls

Behavioral controls should be established. To increase trust between the members of the virtual

team a set of rules should be developed and roles within a project as well responsibilities of each

member should be defined. This way employees will be aware of the result of the work that is

expected from them and their colleagues and potential misunderstandings will be removed (Lukić,

2018). Moreover, role clarity will increase the motivation of team members to achieve group goals

and have a positive influence on benevolence between the members of the team (Clark et al.,

2010). Daily activities should be controlled and managed by providing the status updates from all

team members, visible project timeline and deadlines of each team member, necessary

documentations, materials and information provided by an organization or a team leader (Nickman

& Fredstrom, 2018).

To manage and control day-to-day activities, it is vital for a leader and an organization to establish

a collaboration portal (for instance, Microsoft Share Point) for team members to communicate and

share necessary information. Such portal will be a common place where everybody can share

their status updates, ask questions, find project information and schedule/deadlines, documents

and tools (Abudi, 2012). Other project management tools include Trello, Asana, Basecamp, and

Notion which supports databases of content that can be shared among team members (Rysavy &

Michalak, 2020).

Managing day-to-day activities using virtual meetings

An effective tool that helps virtual teams to manage day-to-day activities except for the project

management tools is facilitation of the virtual meetings, which start with the preparation for them.

A simple plan will help to conduct an effective virtual meeting: setting the goal for a meeting,

preparation of the agenda with the items to discuss and the time limit, prioritization of the items on

agenda from the most important to the least important, distribution of the agenda to all participants

in advance, technology check-up for the meeting, start on time with the recording of the meeting,

assignation of a timekeeper and notes taker, provision the summary of the meeting to all the

members at the end (Abudi, 2012).

Choosing the right communication technologies

The choice of the appropriate communication technologies is vital for team effectiveness.

Depending on the nature of the project and the goal, different communication technologies should

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be used. The table with the use of various technologies for different purposes is represented in

Table 3 below.

Technology/Medium Most effective uses Least effective uses

E-mail Sending team updates, electronic documents, communicating non-sensitive information

When sensitives issues must be handled, when providing feedback

Instant Messaging Checking in with team members, requesting a limited amount of information

When interacting with all team members simultaneously, when sending documents

Videoconferencing Brainstorming, handling disagreements, conducting small-scale training sessions, team discussion

When developing documents collaboratively

Voicemail Briefly communicating wins, support individuals or groups

When a record of communicating is required, communication about difficult issues

Teleconferencing Conducting extensive private conversations, providing feedback

When a record of communicating complex information is required

Virtual Workspaces Posting project information, work produced, sharing files, communication updates on work in progress

When synchronicity is required

Wikis Capturing data in a dynamic encyclopedia format

When content is authored by a single person

Table 3. Appropriate Use of Technology (Walsh, 2011)

The table as well as other studies show that a rich medium such as videoconferencing is effective for non-routine communication with high level of complexity and potential for emotional response

(brainstorming, problem solving, team discussion) and a lean medium should be used for routine

communication (sharing information, getting questions answered, document review) which is

simple and straightforward (Clark et al., 2010). To enable more effective communication between

the team members, it is recommended to create communication protocols with expectations for

communicating, communication channels and response time that is expected. Communication

protocols should also cover how conflicts are to be handled in the team, which will decrease the

chance of the disagreements to be hidden from the leader (Smith & Blanck, 2001). It is essential

to have frequent short periods of communication with team members rather than rare but long

ones as frequent communication creates the feeling of ongoing communication which creates a

sense of connection between team members or the leader and the team (Brownlee, 2019).

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Besides, it is crucial to ensure regular social communication and interactions about non-work-

related topics to create stronger trust between the members (Abudi, 2012).

The evaluation of the performance and reward systems

Each team member should be aware of the evaluation system, the performance expectations of

the organization and the tools for monitoring the progress. It is also important that team members

perceive the reward system and assessment of job performance as accurate and fair. Otherwise,

team members lose trust for the organization (Clark et al., 2010). To increase the trust between

the organization or the leader and the team member, regular feedback should be provided. Virtual

team leaders should avoid concentrating only on the negative aspects but include the positive

aspects as well. While receiving feedback, the team member will feel less isolated and more as a

part of the team which will eventually influence trust in a positive way (Lukić, 2018).

Being aware of the employees’ talents shows the team members that the leader knows the

strengths of the team members and how valuable they are for the project, which contributes to the

process of trust formation between the leader or organization and a team member (Nickman &

Fredstrom, 2018). The team leader can go even further and send a small gift to a team member

with a «thank you» note as a symbol of the appreciation (Bave, 2021). When one of the team

members underperforms, it is vital to have one-on-one meeting and be very specific about the

problems and possible solutions in order to get a team member back on track. Even when a project

is going well, it is crucial to have performance review meeting to keep the virtual team engaged

and motivated. The successes can be highlighted through the collaboration portal as well as

outstanding team members (Abudi, 2012). However, the negative feedback should only be given

during a one-on-one conversation, not in a group setting (Altman, 2020).

Establishment of positive environment and organizational culture

In global virtual teams a lot of misunderstandings are caused by the differences in cultural

backgrounds, values, attitudes, norms of the team members. It is vital for an organization and/or

a team leader to establish its own unique organizational culture with its own norms, attitudes and

values which should be accepted and respected by all employees or members of the virtual team.

Organizational culture and climate should be specified on the company’s website, integrated into

daily work and processes and presented to the team member at the selection stage so as to avoid

future misunderstandings. It will reduce the conflicts and the negative effects from them (Lukić,

2018). Another tool that will help to bring the members of the virtual team closer is creating a link

on the common platform with the pictures of team members, their backgrounds, education,

hobbies and families (Smith & Blanck, 2001).

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Regular and extensive communication between the team members

Research shows that regular communication increases trust between the team members. One of

the ways to strengthen connections between them is to devote some time at the beginning of a

meeting to check how everybody is doing and what has happened since the last meeting, which

will help to understand the team members better at the meeting (Smith & Blanck, 2001). In

addition, it is vital to switch on the cameras during such meetings as it will boost engagement. If a

child, a family member or a pet appears at the video call, the team leader and the members of the

team should take advantage of this situation and get familiar with the environment of a colleague

(McCarthy, 2020).

Except for the weekly or daily virtual meetings, it is important to encourage virtual team members

to communicate and share information on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook

and Twitter for updates in each other’s personal lives (Rysavy & Michalak, 2020). Another tool

that can help to keep up the engagement of the virtual team members is SaaS called

RandomCoffee. It is designed to connect members of a specific team or employees of a company

with an invitation for a coffee or a virtual coffee based on pre-defined rules, which helps the

employees to get to know each other better and stay connected (RandomCoffee, 2020). One more

way to foster community is to establish an online channel where the team members will share

personal information about them, their lives, share their experience of working-from-home,

pictures of their families and pets. This will motivate old and new staff members to feel and stay

connected (McCarthy, 2020).

Team-building activities

Trust-building team activities are designed to help the members of the team to access each other’s

abilities, benevolence and integrity. Therefore, different exercises may be used at different stages

of the project or trust formation. At the early stages of trust formation, it is better to focus the team

activity on showing the capabilities of team members to stimulate the formation of cognitive trust.

For instance, to gather team members together, give them a task for an hour to solve the problem

that happened to the product and provide the technological tool to present the results of their work.

The team leader should make sure that every member can use their professional skills to help to

solve the problem and demonstrate their abilities (Clark et al., 2010). The exercises below can be

used at the later project stage to increase perceived benevolence and integrity towards each other.

One of the team-building activities which is suggested by Forbes is running happy hours among

employees. The idea is that every team member pours themselves a drink of their choice and then

joins the meeting. To break the ice team members can ask about each other’s choices and how

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they have been made. Happy hours help to recreate a bar experience online and engage the team

members (Joseph, 2020).

Another fun virtual activity is playing the game «Name that Tune!», at which everyone joins a

virtual meeting with their group chat open and ready and then the host plays the first 5 seconds of

the song. The one who is the first to type the name of the song wins. After 5-10 games like that

the team leader can create a playlist with the songs and share them with team members (Littlefield,

2020).

One more activity that will help the team members to find out more about each other is called

«Roll-A-Question». During this game each participant rolls a die and then answers the

corresponding question from the list of them prepared in advance. Questions can include both

personal and work-related questions from the most embarrassing moment in life to the thing that

a team member is most proud of at work (Littlefield, 2020).

Finally, except for organizing special team-building activities it is crucial to make weekly meetings

fun, too. For instance, instead of using standard virtual backgrounds at a meeting, it is more fun

to use themed backgrounds adding some creativity to a familiar event. The examples of such

backgrounds include a country that a team member wants to visit, most awkward school picture

and so on (Littlefield, 2020). It is important to mention that the leader is responsible for choosing

and organizing the necessary team-building activities. From having an online reading or sports

club to sending gift per email, it is the role of the leader to remind the team about having fun and

joy with team members and step back from working 24/7 (Brownlee, 2019).

2.5 Theoretical Framework

In order to answer the research question about the strategies that should be used to build up trust

in virtual teams, a theoretical framework has been developed. The aim of the framework is to

summarize all the negative factors that influence trust, which will be the answer to the first sub-

question, and to show the activities and tools that help teams or companies to cope with these

factors, which is the answer to the second sub-question. Theoretical framework will help the

participants of the interviews to come up with their own factors that influenced their trust in a virtual

team and to compare the activities and tools which helped them to build up trust in a virtual team

with the ones suggested in the framework. Based on the findings, the conceptual framework will

be developed.

Trust is an important component of the team development which has a huge impact on how

effectively the team will perform. As mentioned in this chapter in section one, trust is the

willingness of one party to be vulnerable to another party based on the assumption that this party

29

will fulfill given promise without monitoring and control from the trusting party, which consists of

three main elements – integrity, ability, and benevolence (Greenberg et al., 2007). In virtual teams,

which members use technology as a major way of communication and work interdependently with

each other across geographical, time and organizational boundaries to reach a common aim, trust

is even more important and is harder to develop due to certain factors.

The theoretical framework shown below in figure 2 consists of two parts. Negative factors that

influence trust in virtual teams located in the left part of the framework are summarized from

section two in this chapter. Strategies, activities and tools that help to handle these factors have

been described in sections three and four in the literature review and summarized in the right part

of the framework. To show the connection between two parts of the frameworks, the activities are

located in correspondence with the factors that they overcome.

Figure 2. Theoretical framework (own illustration)

The factors that influence trust in a negative way shown in the left rectangle include physical

distance which leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding between the team members

due to different cultural and organizational backgrounds, and lack of social presence or a feeling

30

of belonging to the group as team members can only be visible electronically. Other factors are

driven by digital communication. They consist of lack of communication, which is hard for a team

leader to recognize and which can lead to conflicts in the virtual team, inappropriate choice of

technological tools and technological disruptions that sometimes happen when the team is

working remotely. Then, there are individual barriers specific to certain individuals which are

characterized by the feeling of disclosure and lack of attachment which can result in concealing

information and refusal for cooperation. Finally, there are organizational barriers which include

individualistic reward structure, which is inappropriate for virtual teams as it prevents knowledge

sharing, lack of guidance and lack of feedback from a team leader.

The activities and tools that are used to build up trust in virtual teams and overcome factors that

have a negative impact on trust are shown in the right rectangle of the framework. Firstly, there

should be an HR policy on selection, onboarding and training virtual team members (including

leaders) which will help to cope with misunderstanding and miscommunication that sometimes

occur in virtual teams due to different locations and therefore, different time zones and languages.

According to the research, special training for new virtual team members will help to overcome

these difficulties. Lack of social presence can be handled by the facilitation of frequent virtual

meetings as it is the richest communication technology which is similar to face-to-face meetings.

Secondly, lack of communication, inappropriate choice of ICT, and technological disruptions can

lead to a lower level of trust between the team members. However, according to the research,

these problems can be overcome by extensive communication between the team members with

appropriate reliable technology. In particular, it is vital for team members to have frequent short

periods of communication rather than rare and long ones as it will create the sense of ongoing

communication between the team members which will boost the engagement. Also, it is crucial to

use the appropriate technology depending on the matter. If it is a discussion, video conferencing

will be more useful; if it is a routine update, instant messaging will be more appropriate.

Thirdly, there are individual barriers to trust formation that include fear of disclosure and lack of

attachment. These problems occur because virtual team members do not have a large history of

interactions and evaluate team members based on their past experience which can be negative

or evaluate other team members based on their responsiveness in the early stages of team

formation. In addition, defensive mechanisms can emerge in virtual teams that help the individual

to prevent the embarrassment or threat in order to protect their status, which leads to refusal for

cooperation (Germain & McGuire, 2014). In order to cope with these barriers, the company should

create a positive environment and organizational culture with its own norms and values which can

be shown on the company’s website along with the pictures of the employees and their

31

backgrounds. Moreover, facilitation of team-building activities will help to avoid these fears and

feelings by assessing each other’s abilities, benevolence and integrity.

Lastly, as for organizational barriers, they include inappropriate reward structure which focuses

on the individual progress of the team members instead of focusing on the result of the group or

team, lack of necessary guidance from an organization and a team leader as well as the lack of

feedback. According to the literature review, these barriers can be handled by providing clear tasks

and guidance to the team members with the help of project management tools (such as Trello,

Asana, etc.). Also, regular feedback should be provided by the team leader. Success of a certain

team member can be highlighted at the team meeting and even shown on the company’s

collaboration portal. However, negative feedback should only be given in a one-on-one virtual

meeting or conversation (Altman, 2020).

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3. Methodology

The following chapter explains the methodology behind the research. It clarifies how adopted

research methods approach the research question and the goal of the master thesis. Moreover, it

provides the overview on how the data has been collected, processed and analyzed. Lastly,

limitations specific to the methodological approach are examined.

3.1 Research Method

There are three main research approaches: quantitative, qualitative and mixed method which

combines both – quantitative and qualitative approaches. The quantitative research focuses on

numbers and transmits the researcher’s point of view. Moreover, it is highly structured, the

researcher is distant, and the data is collected through measuring things. The qualitative research

method focuses on words and images rather than numbers, transmits the point of view of research

participants, the researcher is close (conducting interviews), and the data is rich and deep rather

than hard and reliable as it is in the quantitative method. The mixed research includes the practices

of both qualitative and quantitative research (Bell, Bryman & Harley, 2019).

The research approach should be chosen based on the research question. Since the research

question of this thesis involves ideas of the participants on strategies that help to build trust in

virtual teams, the qualitative research was chosen as the main research approach, although it has

some limitations.

As for the research method, the data was collected using one method – semi-structured interviews

for a better understanding of the strategies used in various virtual teams in order to build trust with

a sample of seven interviewees. Semi-structured interviews allowed the researcher to ask closed-

ended as well as open-ended questions and additional or follow-up questions when they were

needed to gain deeper insights from the interviews and clarify the acquired information. Although

this research method enabled to gain some personal insights about building trust in virtual teams,

to get more objective data quantitative study is recommended for further research.

3.2 Selection of Interview Partners

All the participants have experience working in a virtual team for 3 months at least which is a

relevant length for this study. All the participants except for one started working online in a

particular company from the very beginning, which was an important criterion for the study. One

participant, however, worked offline first and then moved to home office with the beginning of the

pandemic. All the participants were selected and approached through personal connections.

33

They all work for different types of companies of different sizes: non-profit organization, online

English school, consultancy firm, IT company, insurance company, online language school, which

eliminated the bias or similarity in answers that could have taken place if all of the participants had

worked for the same company or in the same field. This diverse experience helped the participants

to answer the questions about negative factors that influence trust in virtual teams and activities

that helped the team members to overcome them.

After identifying the potential participants, the invitation messages have been sent proposing the

participation via Zoom. The initial idea was to conduct interviews with seven participants and all

participants agreed to take part in them. The interviewees were fully anonymous due to the fact

that the participants expressed their wish to keep their names and the names of the companies

anonymous. Table 4 summarizes the information about the participants and includes 7 participants

with 6 criteria, including gender, age, type of company, position and the period of time that the

participant was working for a project or company.

Interviewees Gender & Age

Country Type of company

Position Experience

A M, 24 Russia English language school

Call enter Manager

3 months

B F, 25 Albania IT company Software support engineer

1 year online

C F, 24 Russia Consultancy firm (education

abroad)

Mentor 6 months

D F, 27 Russia Translation agency

Translator 4 years

E F, 20 Uzbekistan Online language school

Project manager/ Sales manager

2 years

F F, 26 Russia Insurance company

Customer service representative

3 years

G F, 20 Russia International Youth Exchange

organization

Assistant 6 months

Table 4. Interviewee overview

The first participant is a man from Russia who worked for an international online English school for 3 months as a call center manager who was scheduling classes for the students from Spain.

The second participant comes from Albania but lives in Linz, Austria. She has been working for

an IT company for two years as a software support engineer helping customers to solve their

issues. It is important to mention that it is a part-time job for the interviewee, and she has been

working remotely only since March. The third participant is Russian. She was working as a mentor

for six months remotely at the consultancy firm that offers services for people who want to study

34

abroad. The fourth participant comes also from Russia and works for the translation agency. She

has been translating different movies and series remotely for the last four years at that company.

The fifth participant is from Uzbekistan but lives in Crimea. She has been working as a sales

manager and a project manager at an online language school for two years now. The sixth

participant is Russian, but she lives in Chicago, USA. She has been working for an insurance

company for the last three months as a customer service representative. However, the week the

interview took place was the last week of working for that company because the industry was not

really interesting for the interviewee and due to other factors. The seventh participant is also

Russian. She has experience working for a non-profit international youth exchange organization

as an assistant who helps foreign students with their documents in order to come to Russia for an

exchange program. In the interview the participant described her longest experience working for

this organization which lasted for two months.

3.3 Data Collection

The questions were not provided to the interviewees in advance, but the topic of the interview was

articulated. All the interviews were recorded and transcribed right after they finished. Each

interview lasted between 30 to 40 minutes, which was enough to discuss each question from the

guideline thoroughly.

The interview guideline consisted of 4 parts. Each interview started with welcoming the participant,

short introduction from the researcher and information about the topic as well as informing the

participant that the data would be used for the purpose of the research and held anonymously.

Then the interviews continued with the second part where the questions were asked with unbiased

approach to exclude the researcher bias. In the second part the negative factors that influence

trust in a virtual team were discussed as well as the strategies used to build up trust between the

team members. The questions were designed to make the participants think about their

experience working in a virtual team and come up with factors that influenced their trust to the

organization, leader or team members negatively and on the other hand, activities and tools that

helped to cope with negative factors and build trust with co-workers, team leader or the

organization itself. The questions were open-ended so that the participants could share every

thought they had without thinking about the developed framework. It was organized that way to

receive some additional information beneficial for the existing framework.

The third part of the interview had a focused approach in which a theoretical framework was shown

to the participants and negative factors that influence trust in virtual teams and activities used to

build up trust in virtual teams were discussed but with the connection to the theoretical framework.

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Each negative factor (digital communication, physical distance, organizational and individual

barriers) was evaluated by the participants and their opinion about each factor was expressed.

The same scenario happened with activities and tools used to build up trust in virtual teams. The

questions were more structured here and closed to be able to prove the findings of the literature

review and validity of the theoretical framework and to make the conceptual framework out of the

theoretical framework easier in order to answer the main research question on strategies used in

virtual teams to build up trust with its help.

Each interview had a closing part where the participants were asked to make additional comments

if they had any. Also, the information about the anonymity of the interviews was repeated and the

purpose of the interview was articulated once again. The complete guideline can be found in

Appendix 1.

3.4 Data Analysis

For the purpose of analysis of gathered data thematic analysis has been used. It includes coding

of qualitative data into categories (clusters with similar meanings) and the identification of similar

patterns/themes or relationships between them (Figgou & Pavlopoulos, 2015). Coding involves

finding differences and similarities in the answers of the participants (Castleberry & Nolen, 2018).

In this research after the data was collected, the interviews were transcribed the same day using

a special app and manual work to correct the text. In order to conduct an analysis an Excel table

was used which included all the interview questions as rows and such columns as Interviewer’s

Notes, Core Statements and Quotes for each participant, which helped to categorize the data and

find the similarities and differences in the answers as it is shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3. Code system

The quotes from all the interviews were put into the corresponding spots in the table. After the

analysis of quotes from the interviews, the main information or statements gathered from the

interview with a particular participant were put into the column Core Statements and the notes if

there were any. Then the core statements were analyzed and then the common statements were

put into one column, and the differences that had been found were put into another column. The

same way all the seven questions were analyzed.

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3.5 Limitations

There were some limitations during the process of conducting the research and the interviews.

The first limitation is the digital way of conducting the interviews. Due to the pandemic, it is not

recommended or even prohibited to meet in person. Therefore, the interviews had to be conducted

online using Zoom and video conferencing. As a consequence, not all the signals, emotions or

cues were conveyed and understood by the interviewer, which could possibly create some

misunderstanding between the interviewer and the participant.

The second limitation was the level of English of some participants. Since English is not the native

language for any of the participants, it might have been hard for some people to express their

opinion although all the interviewees are fluent English speakers.

The third factor is the fact that the majority of people that have been interviewed are Russian

women from the age from 20 to 27. There is a possibility that the findings can be affected by the

culture or nationality, gender and the age of the participants.

Also, it is important to mention that some of the quotes represented in the next parts have been

edited and filler words have been eliminated to make it easier for the reader to perceive the text.

Besides, there were some difficulties connected with the qualitative nature of the research

approach. To begin with, the number of people who took part in the research was limited and

therefore, it was hard to generalize the data. Moreover, the findings of the qualitative studies are

usually subjective as it depends on the researcher to decide what information is important and

what information is not (Bell et al., 2019). Therefore, the same data (interview transcripts) will be

interpreted differently by different researchers with their own interpretations and experience, which

in the end may lead to different findings (Atieno, 2009). Also, the answers of the interviews may

vary significantly depending on the setting and external factors that interviewees face.

Another limitation of quantitative research is that the findings of the research cannot be extended

to a wider group of people with the same certainty that quantitative analysis can do it. Due to the

nature of qualitative research, it is impossible to say whether the findings are statistically correct

or have been found by chance (Atieno, 2009). However, this method was still better than

quantitative research with this particular research question since the purpose of the interviews

was to receive knew knowledge or thoughts of the employees on trust in virtual teams.

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4. Findings

In this chapter the findings of the interviews will be presented in order to answer the main question

of the thesis which is connected to the strategies used in virtual teams to build trust. Therefore,

the answers of the participants will be connected with two sub-questions: factors that influence

trust negatively and activities and tools that are used in the companies to build up trust.

4.1 Sub-question 1: What influences trust in virtual teams?

The first sub-question is connected with factors that influence trust in virtual teams in a negative

way. The analysis will be based on the factors derived from the literature review. In the literature

review it was discovered that there are 4 main factors that influence trust in virtual teams. First of

all, there is physical distance which leads to misunderstanding and miscommunication between

the team members as well as the lack of social presence. Secondly, digital communication used

in the virtual teams as the main way of communication leads to lack of communication. Moreover,

technological disruptions may make it harder for employees to communicate or when the chosen

technology is not appropriate for a certain discussion. Thirdly, there are individual barriers such

as the lack of attachment and feeling of disclosure. Lastly, there are organizational barriers such

as lack of feedback, lack of guidance and inappropriate reward structure. Although individual

barriers and organizational barriers exist in face-to-face teams as well, they influence trust in virtual

teams too and therefore, they are included in the list.

Before the findings from the interviewees connected to the first sub-question are presented, it is

important to mention why the participants consider trust an important factor when it comes to

working in a virtual team. The participants believe that trust between the members of the virtual

team is essential as the lack of trust makes it harder for the team members to ask each other

questions because of overthinking them. It also decreases the engagement between the team

members and therefore, productivity.

«Um, I probably wouldn't call it the most important factor. But it definitely is a factor to mention, because without trust it would be harder to be able to ask questions, to make it clear what tasks you have to do and to complete your job to the best degree possible, it simply wouldn't be possible to do that.» (I-G)

«…I think trust here is important. Because if you make a mistake, or if you cannot fulfill a requirement, you cannot finish a task which you already took on yourself. If you trust your manager, or like your colleague, you can tell them, you can ask for help, you know they will not judge you, you know you're a team, you all depend on each other and want to help each other. It's not a competition. So I think trust is about being one but not like many competing for the same thing.» (I-C)

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The factors in the literature review started with the physical distance. However, during the analysis

it turned out that digital communication was the major factor that influenced trust in virtual teams.

Therefore, the analysis starts with this particular factor.

4.1.1 Digital communication

According to the interviews digital communication is the major factor that influences trust in virtual

teams. Digital communication according to the theoretical framework consists of three main

elements: lack of communication, inappropriate choice of information and communication

technologies and technological disruptions. The most negative sub-factor turned out to be the lack

of communication mentioned almost by all the participants for the reasons described below.

Lack of communication

When team members do not communicate enough, it seems that they are not a part of the team,

just separate people who complete certain tasks. Moreover, it is harder to ask for help other

colleagues as workers do not know how to approach each other.

«But yeah, like our introduction, the way we got to know each other was just like a message on the group chat, which wasn't really active. And I never knew how to approach those girls. Those mentors. I wouldn't text them.» (I-C)

Lack of communication can also lead to misunderstanding or lack of feedback between different

parts of the team, which happened with one of the participants and led to a conflict between two

teams in one company.

«So that was the root of that conflict because they believed that we are not doing our job and as a result of that, they don't get their money…So if we were instructed in the right way, and we had all the information, maybe this conflict wouldn't appear, and this trust will be conserved. But well, it was not the situation.» (I-A)

In the companies of two other participants long answers or no answers at all from the team leader

decreased the trust of the interviewees to the organization or to a specific person. It creates a

feeling of frustration in the person who is ignored and increases distrust to another team member.

«And I had a very special case with one of our leaders, I think he was very busy, or I don't know, but there was a complete lack of communication there. I would get no response for a very long time; I would have to double or triple write them. And this completely created a sense of distrust in me, and I was in the end really not even trying anymore to set up a meeting because I kind of knew «Okay, most probably I will not get an answer back». So I think this digital communication is absolutely a negative factor that can influence trust.» (I-B)

«And for example, sometimes it takes them to reply… a day let's say sometimes. Especially in the beginning of the process like when I just got this job. So yeah, that was kind of like you already don't meet your manager and supervisors on camera, but also when they reply

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so slow, or the answers are not big enough. They don't explain the whole whatever explanation of a problem, so solution. Yeah, that that's not good. Like their answers sometimes can be like super short. That don’t explain the problem.» (I-F)

It also leads to the lack of engagement and less willingness to help each other. Two participants

mentioned that since they didn't use video conferencing to get to know each other in the beginning,

it was hard to communicate in the chat afterwards. All in all, lack of communication led to a lack

of attachment and social presence.

«We also had a lack of communication. And I think it is supervisor’s fault really, because like basically two months I haven't really talked with other team members, only with supervisors and my manager. And I think it is like supervisor’s fault. I mean, just because maybe they were not prepared, you know, for this kind of thing. Like coronavirus, and all that. But a month ago, they finally said «Alright, we'll have this application, Microsoft Teams».» (I-F)

«…but I never saw this communication, like we never talked, we didn't like share our knowledge with each other. We were like totally different departments. Though we were one. And I think only once during these seven months, we had a Skype, we had the group call, like once.» (I-C)

Another problem mentioned by two participants was the lack of informal communication between

the team members, which influenced negatively the trust towards them and made the co-workers

feel reserved.

«The feeling of disclosure. It was… especially when there are no icebreakers in the beginning of the meeting. You meet with somebody that you never met before and everything is strictly about work and about the topic, it's very easy to have this feeling of disclosure or this lack of attachment which then affects negatively the trust, or the bonding.» (I-B)

«But a month ago, they finally said «Alright, we'll have this application, Microsoft Teams. Yeah, so you guys can talk and if one has problems, others can help». So finally, I am like, okay, at least that, but we discuss only work issues. It is not like «Hey, what did you do today?».» (I-F)

Moreover, lack of communication was mentioned not only after showing the framework to the

participants but also before that. Interviewees claimed that in addition to the fact that they didn’t

see their co-workers, they also communicated less which led to second-guessing and sometimes

even to conflicts.

«Because from my experience, I know that working online, you can’t discuss many things with your colleagues. You don't really see them. You don't really know what they think. And sometimes you believe that they do some things for purpose, some things you don't like, and you start to think «Okay, they did it because they don't like me, or because they want to make me look stupid in the eyes of my boss». So and that's where the conflict starts and emerges.» (I-A)

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Only one participant said it was sufficient to communicate via messenger. However, she meets

her colleagues in real life, too. Another participant didn't experience the lack of communication as

they were enough tools provided by the company, however, they were still insufficient to build

trust, according to the interviewee.

All in all, lack of communication is the most important factor according to the interviewees which

makes it difficult for the workers to build trust with each other. The lack of communication in virtual

teams leads to misunderstanding and sometimes to conflicts, to lack of attachment and social

presence, to lower engagement between the team members which makes it harder for the

employees to ask each other for help. Besides, when the team member is ignored, it decreases

the trust to another team member or a team leader.

Inappropriate choice of technology

Almost nobody mentioned that an inappropriate choice of technology was used in the company.

However, two participants believe that there were not enough virtual meetings in the company

which led to the lack of social presence and decreased engagement between co-workers.

«Basically, the engagement between people becomes very difficult when you work just online, and especially without cameras, because for example, in my company we have monitors that don't have cameras. And I think it's actually a big problem. And I think company does not really care about this type of thing. I just think that cameras make people engage more in the process, like 100%, because you can see everybody, you can see their emotions. And of course, the messages don't show that. So that’s the big issue I think.» (I-F)

«I think for me, it's a little bit weird to talk just on the chat, because I can freely and openly talk with the person on the chat if I know this person, at least like with the video call, I know something, I can imagine how this person talks, behaves, looks, but for me, if it’s just the name on the chat, I wouldn’t feel so attached and I wouldn't even feel the need to actually talk.» (I-C)

«Sometimes when people don't turn on the camera, and it's… It's not easy to understand what they mean or what they do or what they are thinking about.» (I-E)

Technological disruptions

As for technological disruptions, they didn’t have a major influence on trust to the organization

according to the interviews. However, it is still a factor that was mentioned by two participants.

One participant said that they did influence her trust to the organization or the boss as this

technological disruption had a cost of an employee's weekly salary, which made her feel frustrated

as it wasn’t her fault. Another participant didn’t have enough guidance on how to install the

equipment and therefore, the technological disruption occurred.

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«Once there was a problem that, like we were working on GetCourse and some of my tasks, they didn't appear, or maybe I didn't notice. So I don't know what the problem was, but I missed the deadline for one task for one client. And after that my boss without even getting into the issue she just said «okay, you didn't get any payment for the whole week, because of this one mistake». Amazing!» (I-C)

«Also, I've experienced technological disruptions. Especially in the beginning when I've got all the equipment. And then I didn't know, for example, how to install something, I am not an IT person. So that's why it happened.» (I-F)

4.1.2 Physical distance

According to the literature review and the theoretical framework, physical distance in virtual teams

leads to miscommunication and misunderstanding due to the fact that team members are unaware

of the contextual factors that may influence the team member at a particular moment as it is

impossible to observe him or her, and lack of social presence or the lack of belonging to the group

since the team members can only be visible electronically (Greenberg et al., 2007). The

participants agree with the idea that physical distance plays an important role in building trust in

virtual teams and that sometimes they have a lack of face-to-face communication with other team

members.

«Physical distance might be a problem. In general, during this pandemic, and during the virtual communication and meetings, I really was wishing sometimes that I could have done the meeting in like, not virtually, but present physically, because I really think that this enhances the trust and connection between the meeting participants.» (I-B)

Lack of social presence

Some of the interviewees experienced the lack of social presence in the virtual team due to the

fact that they couldn’t observe their colleagues and therefore, they felt lonely. Especially it

influenced the interviewee in whose company workers didn’t have monitors with cameras.

«Lack of social presence. Well…There is no doubt that if we worked within one office, it would be easier for us to build trust. And sometimes, yeah, I felt that being like on my own in my own room, I couldn't really... Especially in the beginning, I couldn't really understand what I have to do. And I couldn't see to whom I can approach and to ask for help. And because I just didn't know each other, and there was no this trust between us, between me, between me and my bosses.» (I-A)

«…because for example, in my company, we don't have, we have monitors that don't have cameras. <…> So that's the big issue, I think. <…> Yes. So lack of social presence 100%.» (I-F)

Misunderstanding and miscommunication

Two participants mentioned that they had some misunderstanding with their colleagues due to the

physical distance. Most of the time it happens as there are not enough verbal cues to understand

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the emotions of another person which leads to misunderstanding and then to conflict, which proves

the information discovered in the literature review.

«I think, some misunderstanding could happen because of the physical distance. Because some people in general, like I had a colleague that just used to talk very loudly. And you feel it even more when you talk on Skype or a Zoom meeting. And it feels like a person is screaming at you. So because of this physical distance, I always thought that she's in a bad mood or something or irritated, but she actually wasn't.» (I-G)

«I would say misunderstanding, because it's about translating. And then this sphere is complicated. And sometimes we can have different opinions on the one point, the same point. And so misunderstanding in this part, it's like something personal, that this is just the person and this is just me, and I always try to do this right, not to get emotional in this moment. But sometimes I see that the person that I'm discussing this problem with, this person is like, «that's okay, I'm gonna get emotional. I'm gonna show you something». And I don't know why. And at this point, I always think that it's about misunderstanding.» (I-D)

«Sometimes people just won't. They didn't want to go into communication to discuss some questions.» (I-E)

However, two participants said that physical distance was not a major difficulty for establishing

trust with virtual team members as there are efficient tools that can help do decrease the impact

of this factor.

«…it depends on the person. But as for me, I like to be alone. So it's not the problem for me - physical distance.» (I-E)

«Like, yeah, I think that physical distance is not that major, because it can be compensated with other things. So this is what I saw in my other job. And yeah, it just depends on how the communication is structured. So I think this is something like, it's not set and stone that «Oh, if it's physical, if it's remote, it is gonna influence». Of course, it does influence. But there are… I think they're quite efficient ways to actually, like, avoid its impact.» (I-C)

One participant suggested adding cultural differences to this part of the framework as they become

the reason for misunderstandings sometimes.

«Well, we can call it misunderstanding and miscommunication. I mean, virtual teams are often really multicultural, and especially in some huge companies like the company I worked for. And it's sometimes really difficult to understand each other because of our different cultural backgrounds, and even we could communicate online, these cultural differences may become an obstacle to mutual understanding. So maybe these cultural differences could be also called these negative factors that influence trust within a virtual team.» (I-A)

To sum up, physical distance also plays a major role in building trust between the members of a

virtual team. Since the workers cannot see each other, it makes them feel lonely. Moreover, the

same factor may lead to some misunderstandings and miscommunication as people cannot

observe what their co-workers are doing and why they are reacting in a certain manner.

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4.1.3 Organizational barriers

Organizational barriers include inappropriate reward structure, lack of feedback and lack of

guidance from the team leader. Fortunately, most of the participants didn’t encounter the problem

of the lack of guidance, yet some of the interviewees didn’t have enough feedback from the team

leader or had only negative feedback. Some participants had problems with the reward structure,

which decreased their trust to the organization.

Lack of feedback

Lack of feedback was mentioned by three participants. In two cases the employees had to ask for

it as it was important for the interviewees to know whether they were doing their job correctly or

not. Moreover, for the second interviewee it was harder to work with the same people who didn’t

provide any feedback as she didn’t know whether she had made some mistakes while working

with them before or not.

«But maybe, maybe…I always ask my co-workers, especially editors about feedback. So if that that would be it. Of course, that would be great if they did that on their own. But sometimes I have to ask, like, could you tell me the feedback of my work? Because it's important, I want to do this correct. I want to do this like it has to be. So lack of feedback may be a point here too.» (I-D)

«Oh, organizational barrier - the last one, lack of feedback. When I didn't have enough feedback after the first project I participated in, it was harder for me to work with the same people in the next project, because I didn't know how they felt about the way I did my job last time. And they already had some pictures of me. And I had to work with them. But I did not know if I did everything correctly, or I did some mistakes and what mistakes were done by me.» (I-G)

In another company the participant didn’t have any regular feedback at all. Only negative feedback

was provided when something went wrong, which made the employee doubt whether she was

doing everything correctly and whether someone was interested if the requirements had been met

or not. It was a demotivating factor for her.

«Also, this or at this job, I didn't, I never had any feedback apart from the very negative one. Like if I completely mess up then I would be like, I would be told about it. But if the work was done, and it was like keeping, was going and the flow, I was sending my work, no one would ever say anything. They would say okay, accepted, but I didn't know if I did it right, what they think, who thinks, who checks like what’s going on there. <…> It wasn't regular, like, only when there was a problem.» (I-C)

And for another participant the feedback was provided weekly, yet it was too formal or not

personalized, which created a very formal, «dry» atmosphere at the workplace.

«Well, yeah, I guess you can call it feedback. I get messages from my supervisors every week, with like a table of performed tasks that I've done, or I haven't done, and they don't give their feedback on it. So there's just again dry table with like automated feedback. Like

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it's not personal feedback. It's like automatic feedback. So that's what I mean also by dry kind of atmosphere, environment. It's like not personalized. I mean, it doesn't make you feel good.» (I-F)

Lack of guidance

Lack of guidance was mentioned only by one participant. Others thought that it was an important

factor, but they didn’t experience it.

«I don't think so [meaning there was lack of guidance in the organization]. But it's a factor that the company, I don't think they could really affect it. Because the company is mostly supported by volunteers. And like there are in whole Russia, there are only like eight people who get paid. And all other people are volunteers. And they do a lot of work. And these people, this number of people is not enough to make all the work done. So everybody does even more than they are supposed to, and even more than they basically can. So they don't really have time to give guidance. That's why they kind of make the new workers just dive in and find out the ways to do things themselves.» (I-G)

It was also frustrating for the same participant to experience the situation where the guidance had

been provided but the co-worker had decided not to follow it. It decreases trust to a specific person

who didn’t follow the guideline.

«It's about the resources we use. For instance, when we started work, we kind of established that we use this and that source for communication, and that source for keeping information and important resources and then a person would use a totally different messenger.» (I-G)

Inappropriate reward structure

Inappropriate reward structure was mentioned by two interviewees. However, participants called

it inappropriate for different reasons. In the literature review and in the framework behind by the

word «inappropriate» individualistic reward structure was meant. Also, it was interesting that one

participant mentioned that they had collectivistic reward structure, yet it wasn’t explained properly

to two teams and it led to a conflict between two teams.

«The salary, the reward of the teacher, really depended on the number of classes they gave, and really the number of the classes that they could give depended on us. And if we were not working hard and we're not like reminding students that «Hey, you have your class today, the teacher is waiting for you». If we didn’t do it, the students forgot about their classes, didn't show up at the class and the teachers didn't get money for that. So that was the root of that conflict because they believed that we are not doing our job and as a result of that, they don't get their money.» (I-A)

The reward structure in the company of another participant is flat which means that everybody

gets the same salary no matter how good the performance was. Because of that the interviewee

had doubts about the opportunities in the company for a career development, which in turn,

decreased her trust to the organization. However, she talked to the manager and they managed

to find a solution.

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«Yes, I can talk about the inappropriate reward structure. Um, this is something that my company in my opinion, and also, I've heard that they are suffering a lot due to this inappropriate reward structure. Just as background information, their reward structure is basically very flat, they reward employees the same, and they really don't take into account the performance of each employee. <…> And this, I came, I was in touch with this problem lately because of the negotiations of the salary. And I really did have feelings of distrust there in the company in general. I was really not trusting them. This is exactly the words that I said to my boss – «Hey, if you go on like this, then I am really not trusting you that you will keep your promises for the further future. Or I also could not trust the company that I could really have a career in that company that really made me think about getting another job». But luckily, that my manager, my boss, really heard those words and took them into account and found a solution.» (I-B)

4.1.4 Individual barriers

Individual barriers in the theoretical framework include lack of attachment when team members

start evaluating each other based on the responsiveness not on the performance and feeling of

disclosure when the employees feel reserved and do not want to open up due to the lack of

common history together (Germain & McGuire, 2014).

Lack of attachment

The lack of attachment was mentioned, but it wasn’t connected to the individual barriers, rather to

the organizational ones. According to another interviewee, a person should work in a company for

a longer period of time to see if she or he has it since in the beginning every person feels the lack

of attachment because of working for a company for a short period of time.

«Yeah, that's actually what I experienced [lack of attachment]. And we had quite a big team. And all the time some members joined some, some members were leaving our team. And of course, I couldn't build histories with all these people because we all only communicated during these calls, weekly calls and in Slack, of course, it's not enough to build trust. And yeah, that was quite a problematic issue.» (I-A)

«Lack of attachment…I mean, individual barrier barriers I can say, it's not about me because I feel like you have to work in the company longer to experience individual barriers. So I would answer this question in like a year, maybe, working in this company. I feel like you have to work like a little longer to know if there are some individual barriers or not. In some way, like, yeah, I mean, it's natural, when you just come, when you just get the job. I mean you always feel like lack of attachment maybe mixed with uncomfortable. But then you need some time to know if you have some barriers or not, like, attached to the company or not.» (I-F)

Feeling of disclosure

The feeling of disclosure in another participant was caused by the absence of icebreakers at the

beginning of virtual meetings.

«It was… especially when there are no icebreakers in the beginning of the meeting. You meet with somebody that you never met before and everything is strictly about work and

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about the topic, it's very easy to have this feeling of disclosure or this lack of attachment which then affects negatively the trust, or the bonding.» (I-B)

The same participant mentioned that the feeling of disclosure was also caused by cultural

differences. The participant comes from Albania, which is a collectivistic culture, therefore, it was

harder for her to work with Austrians who represent an individualistic culture.

«In my opinion, this is also related to the culture of the people that are in this kind of context. Austrian culture as we know are kind of, they are individualistic. And I have felt this quite often, especially with people that I don't know personally and with people that I had to talk to for the first time via virtual meeting. I felt this quite a lot. The feeling of disclosure.» (I-B)

In conclusion, the participants of the interviewees agreed with the factors that influence trust in

virtual teams. Digital communication turned out to be the major factor that influences trust. The

lack of communication, for instance, was mentioned almost by all the participants, many of which

highlighted that facilitation of virtual meetings was vital for establishing trust between the members

of a remote team. The visual representation of that is shown in the figure below.

Figure 4. Factors that have negative influence on trust in virtual teams

It is important to mention, however, that the participants were not directly asked about the most

influential factors for them. This figure is based on the perception of the answers by the

researcher.

4.2 Sub-question 2: What are the tools and activities that help to establish trust between the people in the virtual team?

According to the literature review, the main activities and tools that help to build up trust in virtual

teams include an HR policy on selection, training and onboarding new employees, facilitation of

virtual meeting with clear agenda, protocol and summary afterwards. These tools are used to cope

with the consequences of the physical distance. Then there are tools which help to handle

difficulties driven by the digital communication such as lack of communication, inappropriate

choice of ICT and technological disruptions. The tools are extensive communication, appropriate

use of technology and the use of reliable and rich technology. To cope with the organizational

barriers, positive environment and organizational culture should be created and team-building

activities should be initiated by the organization and the team leader. Finally, there are

organizational barriers that can be overcome with regular feedback, the use of project

management tools and providing clear tasks and guidance to the team members. Although these

Digital communication: lack of communication and virtual meetingsPhysical distance: lack of social presence, misunderstanding and miscommunication

Organizational barriers: lack of feedback, lack of guidanceIndividual barriers: feeling of disclosure

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activities and tools are designed to handle a particular negative factor, they help to increase trust

between the team members, trust to a team leader and to an organization overall, too.

4.2.1 HR policy: selection, onboarding and training

HR policy includes finding the right fit for the company, onboarding them and providing a training

to the employees so that they can work for the company and manage to complete all the tasks

given by the organization.

As for the selection process, it turned out that finding the right fit is essential in building up and

keeping trustful relationships in the company. When an HR manager knows what people would

be a great fit for the company, it has a good impact on trust between the co-workers. The

participants mentioned that it was vital for the co-workers to be open, tolerant and understandable

for trust to be established. And of course, there is more trust to the person who is credible, has

enough knowledge and experience to complete given tasks. The employees appreciate it when

the HR department works a lot «to create a great team».

«It also depends, in my opinion, also on the character of everybody. <…>. And I think that's one of the most important things in building trust - being open.» (I-B)

«I think I trust… the people I trust the most the people who have enough credibility to do the job. They make me trust them. And also people who are tolerant to other people, who are ready to explain things, who are ready to answer the questions, which is kind of connected with my previous story.» (I-G)

«And I think the only person I was communicating with was the manager like I was sending my work which was done to her and she was sending it to like others, to the clients. So she was like a link. And with her, I think I could like talk and be like, oh, asking questions, not being afraid to ask, to make a mistake or to tell the truth. Because I know she wasn't really pushy, and she was real understandable.» (I-C)

«So to be honest, I can't find any examples of this kind of situation like it was all the time it was okay and right but maybe because of the managers because there are managers and they're trying to create the great team. So like the editor is, it's okay for him or for her to work with some kind of translators in our company. And they like, they create the team from the very beginning. And it's always has a good atmosphere inside our work.» (I-D)

HR policy in the company of another participant includes hiring not only native speakers which

makes the company more culturally diverse. The company also has changed the corporate

language to English because of such diversity. It took company a lot of years to create this

acceptance towards different cultures.

«I think this is because our company in general has always been very open to hire not only native speakers, but also people from other cultures and they have changed the language of the company to English. So everybody is very open to communicate in English with everybody else.» (I-B)

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As for the onboarding process, it was mentioned by one of the participants that it really helped him

to build trust with the boss and the organization from the very beginning as the company provided

him an online course with the basic information about the company. The participant saw that all

the processes were formalized which made him feel safe and develop trust to the company.

« And actually, this school, used some technical tools to make this onboarding easier. So they had online courses on…not only on what you had to do, but also on the values of the company and its goals. It was really good. And it was fostering, nurturing corporate culture. And from the very beginning, I already understood what are the values of this company. And what are we doing there. Like, what is our product, why it's so good and why I have to be happy to be able to work at that company.» (I-A)

«Because at that moment, I didn't really meet a lot of my colleagues, only a few - my boss and this guy that was like helping me to sort it all out. But I really started to trust the company because I saw that this company had some established processes. And everything was like formalized. And I was not on my own, I was guided and I was helped. And it really well, at that moment I understood that I will be fine in this company, so that my experience would be positive. So it turned out to be right.» (I-A)

«So the onboarding process definitely did help me a lot. So in the projects where we did have this onboarding process when we started with a zoom, where everybody would introduce themselves and not only introduce, but tell a story about themselves. And when we played some games, when we were trying to make a wave in a Zoom, it definitely did make us trust each other more, because we kind of laughed together and shared some, some values of ours together.» (I-G)

In two companies there were even mentors or buddies who helped the participants with

onboarding and all the questions, which increased their trust to this person and to the organization.

«I have had this with my mentor because we have a mentor program in the company, especially in the beginning. And I think that regular feedback from my mentor has really helped us both to create trust between each other, because he also knows I have done something right.» (I-B)

«I had perfect onboarding because of the member of the team that was attached and guided me and also was responding to all my questions.» (I-A)

Another participant mentioned that training increased her trust to the organization and also to the

colleagues as after the training she realized who she could talk to with a specific question. The

onboarding process helped another participant also in building trust with team members as they

shared their values and laughed together. It started with a zoom call where everybody introduced

each other, told their stories, played a game and had an opportunity to see each other via the

screen.

«Okay, so, um, HR policy training… it helps to improve the level of your trust by understanding what to do. When you know what to do and with whom you can contact to discuss your question it's easier to work and it improves the level of trust between every person in a group.» (I-E)

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«Well, the training was really good. So during the training, they provided guidance. And then clear tasks after the training also were provided. That's good.» (I-F)

On the other hand, if the training is not provided, employees trust the organization less since they

feel as though they are not included in the team.

«So about like about the process of how they hired me, I got, I had to do a selection task. So it wasn't really easy. And yeah, after that, I don't think I had any training or any process, which would include me in the team. So I barely knew the people. And I didn't…first, I didn't even know who was responsible for what.» (I-C)

Besides, additional training for improving employees' skills matters for employees as they see that

the company cares for them, which strengthens the trust of the employees to the organization.

Besides improving their skills, the employees can also join in one team and share the same

experience.

«Actually, I'd love to have some improving classes, I would say, because we had some of them at the company, where I'm translating. They created a webinar. They made an appointment with the actor of the dubbing. <…> That was amazing. Because we did this for the actor, it was the process of improving our skills. And we were together. We had many questions, we just share our experience and that was really great. We were the part of the team. And again I saw that that was important for our team and for the directors, I would say, the heads. That was important that we can grow and can improve the work that we do great.» (I-D)

All in all, the participants highlighted the importance of HR policy in virtual teams. Choosing the

right fit for the company or the team, creating the onboarding process so that the employee can

learn about the company, its values and its members, organization of the initial training and

additional trainings to improve the employees’ skills and their performance are all vital components

of building up the trust with the organization and its employees.

4.2.2 Facilitation of virtual meetings

Almost all the participants agree that virtual meetings should take place in the companies that

work remotely as they increase the trust with the team leader, with other team members and make

the employees feel that the company cares about them. What is more, two of the interviewees left

the company also because of this reason – the absence of virtual meetings – as there was no

engagement between the employees.

«And then there were no virtual meetings apart from one, no extensive communication either. Even with the boss, I think we just had a call maybe once, but when there was a big problem we had to like, urgently solve, but nothing like that. <…> Yeah. Actually, now I understand why I left.» (I-C)

«Facilitation of virtual meetings… Yes. But again, for the better result I think you have to have cameras. Especially if you work remotely like forever. I mean, that influences a lot. Well, this part, I think, I agree.» (I-F)

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«Basically the engagement between people becomes very difficult when you work just online, and especially without cameras, because for example, in my company, we don't have, we have monitors that don't have cameras. And I think it's actually a big problem. And I think company does not really care about this type of thing. I just think that cameras make people like, engage more in the process, like 100%, because you can see everybody, you can, like, see their emotions. And of course, the messages don't show that. So that's the big issue I think.» (I-F)

Other two participants highlighted the fact that virtual meetings helped the employees to stay

connected and help each other as they heard who was working on what. Virtual meetings also

helped to build trust between the co-workers and the team leader or boss during one-on-one

meetings.

«We have since the pandemic, since we have started working virtually, we have almost twice or three times per week, we have a stand-up meeting, where we gather, and we talk mainly about work tasks. But I think that this was really helpful to still keep everybody connected, and to also have an overview of what is everybody working on and how are they doing, and where can we help. But sometimes this language in the stand-up meetings becomes not so formal. So we also start having some jokes are talking about off topics. So I think that this has also been very important to build the trust in workers of the team, in the colleagues.» (I-B)

«So as for the facilitation of virtual meetings, as I said, we had virtual meetings every week, sometimes we had some problems or some conflict situations, we had some not regular meetings. And sometimes I also had meetings not just with the whole team but with my boss and with the bosses of my boss or with their superiors. It was really a nice experience, because three weeks later I had a meeting.» (I-A)

One participant claimed that facilitation of virtual meetings increased the respect to the people

who were capable of using modern technologies.

«Then facilitation of virtual meetings. Yeah, I adore when people who work online use all the possible technology, use all the possible programs. It makes me trust the person who uses the technology more because I feel as they are smart enough to use that technology. And it makes me respect them. And respect is something not necessarily connected with trust, but there is some, probably some link between them.» (I-G)

A lot of participants mentioned this tool to build trust during the interview and in the very end. Also,

according to one of the participants, ice-breaking questions at the beginning of such virtual

meetings help to create friendly atmosphere in the team. It is nice when team members are not

just colleagues but also friends.

«And I also really liked when in the beginning of our calls, or like weekly video calls, we were discussing those questions like how to get, like ice-breaking questions. Well, it also creates like a positive and really trustful, trusting atmosphere. So I think it's really nice when you try to make employees friends, not just colleagues, but also friends.» (I-C)

«Maybe if it’s possible to organize an event and to meet you know in real life. Yeah, maybe to organize online meetings more regularly. Just, for example, one time a week.» (I-E)

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«I don't know, maybe seeing their faces at each moment when you work with them. I mean, during Skype sessions, or Zoom meetings, at least.» (I-G)

4.2.3 Extensive communication

Extensive communication as well as facilitation of virtual meetings was mentioned by almost all of

the participants as a tool that helps to learn about other members of the team more information,

which in turn helps the members of a team feels more connected to each other and trust each

other more.

«Well, actually what we did to build trust within our team was having weekly calls, also, with the whole team. And not only did we discuss our problems and our work, but we also shared some personal experience, like, there's some team building. Of course, it was not as efficient as it could be if we worked like, offline. But at the same time, we managed to know each other. And so it helped us to build trust.» (I-A)

«Then extensive communication. Yeah, that helped too. It didn't happen often. And it happened mostly because of one initiative from my side or side of my colleague. But of course, if we did spend some more time together, besides the work time, it did help and did make me trust the person more, because I simply know more about it.» (I-G)

«For me, people that I trust the most is the people that I'm working on a daily basis with them, are the people that I had a chance to really get to know in different levels. And it's also very important, because I could get to know these people also, not only on a work setting, but also outside of work. And this has really increased the feeling of trust, this has really strengthened the connection.» (I-B)

«And then you just…you start to create your relationship and move them to the next level by zoom calls and by discussing the news, last news, and maybe sometimes political events and about daily routine.» (I-E)

Moreover, extensive communication helps employees to improve their performance if a problem

occurs, and it is communicated right away.

«I think the most important thing is to communicate and to say about everything what happened with other members of the teams. And together, we can change the situation and to improve our work.» (I-E)

Besides, informal communication makes team members trust each other more and ask for help

other co-workers when the help is needed. Surprisingly, even when the workers share their

problems, it doesn’t have any negative impact on the employees. In fact, it has a positive impact

on the team members as they feel as though they are all in the same boat, which makes them feel

more connected to each other.

«We shared with my colleagues some memes, some like jokes, some funny moments, we had here and now like workday, some funny clients, crazy clients we had. So we were discussing that. And it was really cool. Even if somebody shared their problems, it was okay, because you could see that you're not the only one who had that problems. So it was like bringing you closer to each other, bringing us closer.» (I-A)

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«On meetings that we had with each other, when you spend some time with the person, then the communication is not that formal anymore, it also becomes a little bit informal. And after time, we really started also telling more about ourselves, sharing more, and I think that that was, that was what really built up the trust between us.» (I-B)

Besides, adding a new colleague on social media helps to have a better first virtual

communication. For instance, one of the participants starts following a new co-worker on

Instagram in order to get to know another person better. It helps to break the ice during the first

interaction as she already knows about the interests of another person.

«Yeah, I think trust is formed before you start working with each other. And my tools I use… And for example, I start to follow this person on Instagram. And it's, it helps me a lot. Because on Instagram stories and posts, you can see the soul of this person, his thoughts, his daily routine. And it helps, it helps a lot to speak about something.» (I-E)

4.2.4 Appropriate use of technology

Not many participants mentioned this particular factor. However, one participant believes that

appropriate use of technology has a positive influence on trust within a team. Other participants

haven’t mentioned this tool directly or didn’t find it important.

«Um, oh, I can really agree on the fact that reliable and rich technology and the appropriate use of technology are factors that positively impact the building of trust among workers. From my personal examples, as you also said, it is much easier to have a meeting in case of discussions than to rather than write emails on and on for a very long time.» (I-B)

«Appropriate use of technology. Also, as I've already said we had all the tools we needed. So I don't really remember whether I had any problems with that. So at least it didn't really influence my trust or trust within the team. I don't believe that it was an important issue in this context.» (I-A)

4.2.5 Rich and reliable technology

Two participants claimed that even though technological disruptions happened, they didn’t

influence their trust to the organization or their co-workers. On the contrary, it made one participant

feel more connected with his co-workers as they were sharing the same problems.

«Reliable and rich technology. The same… so I said the technological side of my work there was okay. <…> I mean, we had disruptions, regularly, but it was also the moment that was bringing us closer and because everybody had this problem at the same time. Like, for example, CRM system would go like that. It breaks down and everybody cannot work. So we go on Slack and start to chat like «What's going on? Hey.» So that was nice moments of my working experience in the company. I'm joking, but sometimes these disruptions, these technical problems were making us closer to each other, rather than causing negative emotions.» (I-A)

[Technological disruptions] «It happens. It's a thing that doesn’t depend on us.» (I-E)

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Besides, it is important for the employees to have access to the technological resource base with

all the necessary documents and other information, so that everybody knows where to find and

what without a need to ask somebody for this kind of information. It creates trust to the

organization.

«It's only, it's also important to have a good resource base for all workers so that the workers know where to find things and don't feel like and don't have the necessity to ask somebody else and to bother other people to get some information. And that also creates a feeling that the organization is, I would say, I don't know, worked enough on the things that they do, and is willing to help the new workers to find their ways to do the work. It creates trust to the organization and talking about colleagues.» (I-G)

4.2.6 Positive environment and organizational culture

Interviewees mentioned that it was important for them to have positive environment and

organizational culture. It makes them enjoy their work more and feel that they are not just taken

advantage of, but they are a part of a team where everyone is ready to help each other.

«This is also something that I can agree on. Our company is very culturally diverse, at least they try. We have coworkers from different countries and also from different continents. In my own team I have coworkers from different countries in Europe and the environment is really positive and different cultures will be embraced and accepted and not only accepted, but really cherished. And we are really curious to get to know people from other cultures.» (I-B)

«But I think if the culture of the company is a good one, and is an open one, then it's much easier also for the people of the company to integrate into this culture and be open with each other.» (I-B)

«That's the huge part for me. When I feel that someone does something in an inappropriate way, not exactly, exactly to me, but to someone, I feel terrible. And I think that it's not great. And I don't want to feel this kind of communication inside the company. I'm not like a machine. And I'd like to be part of a team. Even if this team, it's like 10,000 people. I had this experience in another company. And I left it after five months, because that was too hard for me. And here I can find friends and I can find someone who will help me if I need the help. And I always help anyone because I am here and I'm glad to do this. So of course, it's in the biggest part for me. So positive environment, when everyone feels that that we all are equal. And we all are team and we do this together and we can help each other in at any moment.» (I-D)

Also, organizational culture or values of the company help to stay positive even when problems

occur, it makes team members feel more tolerant to each other as everybody knows that they

share the same values even if now the person is stressed and expresses negative emotions.

«It's something that is a must in AFS atmosphere. So it's something that we had from the very beginning. And that's why I was never afraid of anybody, no matter how loud they could scream at me, because of doing things wrong, or because of a very stressful situations, there are quite many stressful situations, especially when you work with documents of like a 100 people who are under 18, there are situations when people get stressed and scream at you, but I would never get offended because I simply know that

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they do this job for very little money, and they do this job because they believe in the values of the company. So yeah, this positive environment helped me keep this trust to other people, no matter what their behavior was like.» (I-G)

Also, for two participants it was important for the corporate culture to be democratic. The

participant who had it claimed that he could ask his boss any question at any time, which made

the communication easier and more pleasant. On the other hand, in the company with a top-down

approach another participant stated that it was hard talking to her boss as she felt that the boss

didn’t care about her opinion, she didn’t have her voice there whereas in other projects where she

could express her opinion and it was taken into consideration, she felt much more engaged,

responsible and willing to work on it.

«We had great organizational culture. And as I already said, I started to understand it from the beginning, because it was a part of this onboarding process. And I really liked this organizational culture, because it was really democratic, and my boss… I could like, call her or write her at any moment with any problem I had. And it was okay for her to respond. And I mean, there were no stupid questions, you could ask anything. If you have this question, you can ask it and it was cool. Cause it was making the communication between me and other colleagues much easier and much more pleasant.» (I-A)

«And I could also set my boundaries and set my maybe requirements, not like being you know, taking the advantage of her but also like being at the same level that we all have our opinions and our needs in this new project. So there, I felt really good. Because we were discussing, we were negotiating how it would be paid, how it would be organized. And like, I knew I had my voice, you know? But that other projects and other things, they were like, from the top-down approach, like this is the requirement and you gotta do this and I was like «Okay, I'm just gonna do it as fast as I can». Because like, nobody cares about it. And yeah, you feel like you're just left alone. And the system has just upon you. But if there is like a project or a direction where you have the voice, I felt more engaged, more responsible, more willing to give back.» (I-C)

Subordination or huge distance between the boss and the employees may affect trust or the

feeling of safety of the employees in the company. The absence of the communication between

different levels of the company makes the employees feel as though they cannot approach the

management.

«So, when in the modern company, there is a really like, strong or big, like subordination. So the huge distance between the boss, or the coordinator, and the like other employees, that also creates a lot of distance. And I think it's really bad for trust and for just feeling safe in this environment. So when there is no communication between the different levels, when you feel like «Oh, he is like, major to me, he is, um, he's more responsible, he is smarter, he has like a higher position» and you feel like you cannot approach this person.» (I-C)

Also, when it was just work environment, the employee felt less engaged in the process.

«That's one of the things that I really haven't felt like, it was just work environment. Like, I can't say it was positive or negative environment like work, like dry.» (I-F)

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4.2.7 Team-building activities

Team-building activities were mentioned by six participants, four of them had them in the

companies they worked for. One participant believes that it is the most important tool that helps to

establish trust in virtual teams. All of interviewees except for one agree that they help to establish

trust between the team members by ruining the borders between each other and getting to know

one another better.

«Then team building activities. That's what I love about AFS. Because they know tons of them, they know tons of games, both in Zoom and offline. And all of us, all of the workers, look at them as it's a necessary tool, that people not necessarily like at the beginning, but then you all have fun, and the borders are destroyed. It doesn't necessarily create trust, I wouldn't say so. But it definitely, um, ruins the borders, ruins the walls between people, and then they are more likely to get to know each other better and build the trust.» (I-G)

«Sometimes the company would split it as us in pairs to make job together and they would switch these pairs every once in a while, so that we’d get to know each other. Yeah, and they also try to kinda make extra activities, some activities besides work in order to make us know each other better.» (I-G)

Also, they increase loyalty and trust to the organization as it cares about its employees. If team-

building activities exist, even if a worker doesn’t take part in them, they still make workers feel that

the company cares about its employees.

«We had some trainings together, we had team building activities within the whole company, within the school. It was like some coffee breaks with English classes, so we could like speak English during these coffee breaks for free. There were some also local communities within this company. Like all the employees that live in Moscow, they could meet together and do something together. So it was really going offline sometimes. And it was also cool to build this trust and to appreciate the company, the team that you have. <…> Like yeah, I participated in these calls, in the Skype calls. Because I had no choice, actually. But no, at that moment… I didn't feel that I needed that. But just knowing that I have this option, and that company cares, that they're doing their best to build this environment. It was also contributing to trust and to better experience in this company. And we also had some bonuses from the company like this discount system from the company and they were also trying to improve our skills to develop our skills. For example, we had subscriptions for many magazines and newspapers in English that were really expensive, but the company bought it for us to improve our knowledge, to improve our skills. It was also like contributing to loyalty to this company. And in some sense to trust.» (I-A)

«And we also did our own team activities. We sometimes arrange a zoom call after the working hours, or we have somehow substituted the breaks that we used to have at work with virtual breaks, where we all just have a team’s meeting by our teams, Microsoft, and we just have a call, and we drink coffee each other and so we are having our own virtual break. And yes, this was what really connected us with each other also during the virtual working. <…> Another thing as I mentioned, this was not initiated from the team leader, this was rather initiated from us. But this was a very good idea because ever since we're having these small activities with small meetings, I can really feel that we have created a much bigger trust between each other. And this has also improved how we work, and it also has improved how we communicate with each other, and has done, has really created overall positive environment in the virtual team.» (I-B)

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«Team building activities, it's also a useful tool. For example, in an organization where I work we have meetings on the Birthday of our organization, and every person say about their offline life, and funny stories and situations in their personal life.» (I-E)

Another participant mentioned that they had no team-building activities which decreased trust to

the organization and that it was a huge problem of the organization she worked for, which became

one of the reasons for the participant to switch jobs.

«This company really has problems with like team building. I'm almost sure that even working in the office. They don't like this. This company doesn't have any team building activities like I can already tell. So that's also one of the reasons why I am basically switching jobs.» (I-F)

4.2.8 Providing clear tasks and guidance

In the companies of all the participants clear tasks and guidance were provided. It contributed to

the trust within the team as everybody knew who was responsible for what and everybody knew

the goal that the team had to achieve. One participant highlighted that the fact that all the

processes in the company were formalized made him trust the organization he worked for more.

«I always had clear tasks. All the processes were formalized, and I always knew what I had to do. And really when you know what you have to do, what you are not expected to do, I believe that it also helps you to build trust because nobody then will say «Hey, you didn’t do that». You always know what you have to do and what you don’t have to do, what are your responsibilities and what are not yours. So that’s why I also believe that it contributed to the trust within the team."» (I-A)

«Yeah, the tasks were really clear, I had my instructions. I already knew how much time I need for each task. I had the context of the clients of those like applicants, they were given to me on time, so I could contact them myself. And yeah, I think I had all the information like the minimum information needed to get the work done.» (I-C)

«Because everyone knows what to do. So like, this is the aim. And we're gonna go to this, and we have guidance, and we have strict deadlines. And that's all we're just doing this together.» (I-D)

«Yeah, when my boss provides me with understandable, clear guidance, I adore that person. That's lovely. And I would not be afraid of asking things. And I wouldn't be as likely to ask things if I have good guidance, which is good, too, because I'm not sure if asking too many questions is something that helps one to build trust, or it's something that makes a person feel kind of silly for not understanding things. So yeah, it's great when you have good guidance, so that you know that the person who gave you the guidance knows things he or she's talking about. And you don't have to put yourself in a situation where you feel uncomfortable asking too many things.» (I-G)

4.2.9 The use of project management tools

In most of the companies, different management tools were used which made it easier for the

employees to complete task and for the managers to assign tasks and to control the employees

and make the processes more transparent. With the help of project management tools, it is easier

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to organize work in different departments and when the system is transparent to every employee,

everyone knows who to talk to in case of a problem or a need for help, which increases the trust

to the organization, team leader and colleagues. In contrast, if there is a lack of order in the

company, the employees feel the lack of attachment as they don’t understand or see all the

processes happening in the organization.

«Providing clear tasks and guidance is, in my opinion, maybe a little bit related to the use of project management tools, because these tools really make it possible to assign clear tasks to everybody, and to create an agenda and everybody knows what they are going to do and how much time they have for it. And if they need help, who should they go to. Our company in general is putting a big focus on this topic lately, especially about managing the overall information in the company so that everybody knows. And also the structure of the organization on different levels, not only on the big, general level, but also on smaller teams. And I think this has really improved the processes, and the tasks and responsibilities among the coworkers, because the better everything is organized, the better everybody knows what they have to do and who they should go to in case of questions or help.» (I-B)

«We are using a ticket system which is mainly used in the support department, it's called JIRA. This is very good for organizing the tickets and dividing the tasks. So everybody knows what they are doing. And it's very helpful in dividing the responsibilities in the sense that everybody has a clear idea who is doing what, and everybody has a clear idea of what is still to do. So we can really have an overview of everything to better communicate with each other. And also the manager has a better view of what is everybody doing. And yeah, in the long run, this can also be very efficient for controlling, for checking performance and other stuff. But it's also very helpful for the communication among the team.» (I-B)

«Project management tools. I'm just thinking if Microsoft Teams can be one. So outlook was the main, actually. Yes, yes, it was enough to provide like clear tasks.» (I-F)

«Project management tools, I guess that does create trust to the boss and to the company itself. Because when there is lack of order in the company, it may create a feeling of being left somewhere behind because they just do things without you knowing about them. Yeah, I wouldn't trust such a company.» (I-G)

In one company Slack made the communication easier and helped to build positive environment

within the team by sharing personal achievements their and reacting to the achievements of other

people. It made the members of the team feel supported and more comfortable with each other.

«And it was really easy to communicate in Slack. And there were some tools that within Slack and some functions, some features that helped us to build positive atmosphere within the team. For example, everybody, and the bosses, everybody could share their achievements in a special chat. And there is a feature that that allows you to react to this piece of news, to this achievement. And usually like when you say – «Well, I did this, wow» and everybody starts to put their reactions like «Yeah, well done! Great!». And it unites you and you feel the support from other members of the team. It helped to work. And you feel yourself comfortable within the team.» (I-A)

In the companies where project management tools weren’t used, it was easy to miss a deadline

or just hard to find the information needed which made the employees feel frustrated.

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«Yeah, we didn't use any project management tools like Trello, or I don't know, Bitrix, nothing like that. Just Google Docs. And we were sending all the tasks, all the like, work, which was done in telegram. So it also was quite messy. You know. When I had to check something or find something, I had to look for it in our chat. Yeah. So it was really easy to lose something. All these links, Google Doc links.» (I-C)

4.2.10 Regular feedback

Regular feedback is the part of reward system that should be established in a virtual team.

Employees who get regular feedback trust the organization more in comparison to those who do

not receive it. Moreover, regular feedback increases the motivation of the employees to work and

to improve their performance.

«I received a lot of feedback on every aspect of my work. So it was really good. And it was communicated to me regularly. And if I had any questions, I had any doubts about the quality of this feedback, I could also ask and get an answer.» (I-A)

«And regular feedback, I think that's also very important. Especially feedback is needed from a mentor or from a manager. This can really increase the motivation, I think, or in case of negative feedback is also very good to point out what can be done better. And yes, after time, this regular feedback really can affect building trust. I have had this with my mentor because we have a mentor program in the company, especially in the beginning. And I think that regular feedback from my mentor has really helped us both to create trust between each other, because he also knows I have done something right. He is kind of giving me good feedback which makes me more happy. And also in case of negative feedback, he knows why I did it and why I thought that I should be doing a specific task in that way.» (I-B)

«But I think regular feedback is the most useful tool in general and to create healthy communication in the team.» (I-E)

Even in the companies where employees had to ask for the feedback themselves in order to

receive it, it still improved their trust to their colleagues as these colleagues helped them develop

professionally.

«And regular feedback, it definitely did affect me in a good way. Because I just realized, at some point, that in AFS if you want to get feedback, go ask, because everybody has so many things to do. And everybody's so stressed during the project that they may simply forget. And people whom I asked to give some feedback to me, I trust them more. I know what they think about me, I know how I should act to serve to the goals of our company better. And I am more likely to ask us more questions. Because I know where I suck and what to do good, I do well, because of them giving me good feedback.» (I-G)

«And this guy, I trust him fully. Because all of these words that he ever said about my work, they were like about the clear moments, important moments in my translations, important moments on the part that I'm doing…» (I-D)

Other forms of the reward that were mentioned by the participants were one-on-one feedback

sessions which were designed to see how a worker could be promoted in the company and what

ideas they had to improve the company’s overall performance. It helped the interview to increase

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his trust to the company as he saw that his ideas were taken into consideration. Another participant

mentioned rewarding employees by expressing gratitude, highlighting the achievements of certain

members in public articles as it helps employees to feel more appreciated.

«And sometimes I also had meetings not just with the whole team but with my boss and with the bosses of my boss or with their superiors. <…> And I was just new, I was working there like for three weeks only, but I had this meeting and this guy was asking me if I see something that could be improved, if I see some problems, or maybe I have some proposals to improve the work of the team or of the school. And I actually had some ideas, and I shared with him and they really liked them. And they started to work on that. <…> It was also important for them to see where you can go further because it was initial position, but you could also like, grow professionally. And they wanted to see what was interesting for me. So and that also helped to build trust within the team, within the company, within our branch. Cause I was heard and my ideas were heard and were considered.» (I-A)

«I think also rewarding employees. So it could be public, like, you know, there is this article in [the name of the company], which they publish, where they talk about achievements monthly. And this is also nice, or just thanking someone or rewarding someone at a call with other members of the group. So just highlighting the achievements of a person. It doesn't necessarily have to be always financial reward, but just the rewards from the person who's important to you in the company, who is responsible for this field, for example.» (I-C)

To sum up, all the tools and activities mentioned in the theoretical framework are used and help

companies or team leaders to establish trust in virtual teams. The most important tools turned out

to be extensive communication as it makes employees feel more attached to each other, which

makes it easier to ask each other for help, which in turn, increases the performance of the team

or the company. Facilitation of virtual meetings or the use of rich technology was mentioned by

most of the employees in a way that it helped the companies to create a friendly atmosphere in

the team since the formal communication became informal sometimes during such meetings. Also,

facilitation of virtual meetings helped employees to stay connected and understand what others

were doing. Besides, team-building activities stood out as one of the most important factors in

building trust especially in the beginning as they help to ruin the borders between the employees

and get to know each other better. The list of activities from the most influential ones to the least

influential ones is presented below in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Activities and tools used in virtual teams to build up trust

Extensive communicationFacilitation of virtual meetings

HR policy: selection, onboarding, trainingPositive environment and organizational culture

Team-building activitiesRegular feedback

Clear tasks and guidanceThe use of project management tools

Appropriate use of technology

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4.3 Discussion and revised framework

Most of the participants agreed with the framework and had nothing to add to it at the end of the

interview, which proves the accuracy of the findings from the literature review.

«Well, actually, I cannot come up with any idea. I am not sure I will be able to share some idea with you now. But ones again, you have a very extensive list of activities. So I believe that they actually cover maybe the most of the tools available now for building trust within the team.» (I-A)

«I think these are the important ones.» (I-F)

«Well, I think you already put them here because you know them.» (I-C)

However, there are some additional points that have been mentioned by the interviews that can

be used in the conceptual framework. First, the factors that have a negative influence on trust in

virtual teams will be described.

Micromanagement or lack of control

The first component is micromanagement, which was mentioned by one of the interviewees and

should be added to the conceptual framework as organizational barrier. The participant claims

that she didn’t encounter it in the company she worked for, but her friends did in other

organizations, which had a negative influence on trust between the employee and the team leader

or organization itself.

«Like I don't know, I just thought about micromanaging. And I can say, actually, I can put this into positive because I haven't really experienced micromanaging. Like I just know that in some companies like it's much worse. Yeah, like, yeah, I can say that I didn't have such problems. So that's another positive actually one positive thing that I can say. No micromanaging.» (I-F)

At the same time along with micromanagement it was mentioned by one of the participants that it

was harder for the management to control the employees due to the fact that they were working

remotely, which may lead to the situation where employees don't do their job properly which in

turn, affects the performance of other employees and trust between the team members.

«Yeah, because when it's a virtual team, when you work online I believe it's much more difficult to control you by your employer, you're not like controlled in the same way as you would be if you worked offline. So the bosses, the employers, they also have these limitations. So they don't see all the processes that like they want to. It seems that they control everything, and they see everything, but it's not the situation. And personally, I also used these limitations that my bosses had for my benefit.» (I-A)

All in all, the control should take place, but some boundaries should be established as well.

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«I would add micromanaging as a negative factor. Like it is the biggest actually, one of the biggest factors. And it is based on trust, you know, when manager doesn't trust you, of course he micromanages like crazy. And then you're like, well, you don't trust me that I'll perform well. But yeah, micromanaging is bad. Of course, you should control team you have, but there should be some boundaries. Like it shouldn't be like every day, like, I don't know, that's 100%. I know people that had such issues. And I mean, they hated it.» (I-F)

Personal characteristics

Also, four interviewees mentioned that there was some miscommunication or misunderstanding,

they didn’t trust somebody in the company because of their personal characteristics. For instance,

their bosses were too demanding, self-confident, strict, negative, critical about the smallest

mistakes, emotional, reserved, rude or simply weren’t willing to help.

«So I think I never fully trusted my boss, like, the boss or the whole organization, because she manages like, she represents the values, she represents the system. Because first, it wasn't easy for me to talk to her, to communicate, because sometimes she was too emotional or too negative, too pushy.» (I-C)

«Some person… Maybe they're reserved. And it's complicated for me to communicate with them. Because it's just… their answers are so mean. And sometimes it's not easy to create the warm relationships.» (I-E)

«And that happened because of the behavior of those people, mainly because of them being very self-confident, or very demanding. When I was a new employee and didn't know some things, for me, it was okay to ask questions. I really think that it's the way to find out how to do things. But I remember some rude replies and this kind of behavior where a person is kind of telling you that you're not supposed to ask this, go find the answer yourself, don't ask me and stuff.» (I-G)

One characteristic that was mentioned by two interviewees was how reliable people were or were

not. Unreliable co-workers made the participants trust them less, which can have a bad impact on

the trust to the organization as it is responsible for the selection process.

«I didn't know what to expect from them, or I heard from the company, maybe not so good stuff. Because you know, in the company, people talk between each other and everybody has a reputation. And in some cases, I would hear, for example, from somebody else that «okay, this worker is not, I don't know, the most reliable one». And this will, of course, increase also this feeling of distrust in me.» (I-B)

«The trust is ruined when the team members do not keep their promises. For instance, they promise to correct the mistake and then they repeat it again and again. It breaks the relationship.» (I-E)

Such characteristics can be added to the group of individual barriers that exist in a virtual team.

Also, some tools and activities that help to build up trust in virtual team have been mentioned by

the participants and they are corporate communication culture and collaboration between the team

members and help from the organization.

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Corporate communication culture

Once again, another factor that was mentioned by two participants was corporate communication

culture. For instance, in the companies of some participants, workers send each other stickers,

funny pictures and have inside jokes and words and new employees are not aware of that. Sending

funny stickers to each other helps in building trust and creating positive atmosphere at the

workplace. This warm type of communication makes employees feel more attached to each other.

«I think it's really nice to have like corporate communication culture. So the way you actually talk to people and when it's spread within different people. So for example, sending stickers or sending funny pictures, or having some in company words, some inside jokes and words, this is really helpful. And you feel that with just being nice and sent in a hurry to send a sticker, the person is more likely to help you. So for example, you have a technical issue, and you just write like «Oh, please, can you help?» And you send a funny sticker. And it creates a lot of trust, I think, these stickers, because then, when you meet the person in real life, you feel like you've known each other even though maybe you talked just on the chat, and sometimes on the calls. But because of this nice way of communication, this warm chatting, I would say, you feel some attachment to these people.» (I-C)

«Now I'm thinking about this communication through text messages. In some companies, or within some groups in general, it is common to use dots at the end of the sentence. And in some groups of people it's common to use emojis or stickers. And I guess if a company is that serious, that they do not want to use any of those, and they're all like, we're in a working mood, but we're still gonna like you and stuff, it would be nice to mention things like the way people communicate, the language they use. Because a new worker may not know about the need to use emojis, or the need to not use those. So the language, which is used to communicate in text messengers and stuff, is important to be explained to new workers as well.» (I-G)

«And maybe just have to use emojis and some funny pictures, I don’t know, stuff like that.» (I-E)

This tool can be added to the activities and tools that help to overcome digital communication

along with extensive communication.

Collaboration and support

Besides, a lot of participants believe that trust is strengthened when team members help each

other and collaborate with each other, which can be an additional tool used to build up trust in

virtual teams and cope with consequences of physical distance.

«And when you know the person, you can ask them for help. And I usually did it if I needed help, I asked for it. And all these moments when the members of the team help each other... It also helps you to build trust within the team.» (I-A)

«But it's important to do this trustful part because I worked for them. And they helped me to do this right. I helped them to do this right and to do their work easier than it might be.» (I-D)

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«And other factor is a working on tasks together. And after working on task after task together, we have understood that we make a very good team and that we are very good at collaborating with each other. And everybody has given their input on the task and that also has strengthened the trust.» (I-B)

Trust occurs when a company supports its employees as they can see that it cares about them

and that the employees are important for the company. For instance, in the organization of one of

the interviewees the company hired programmers to help employees do their job more efficiently.

«And our company created, so they asked programmers to create special programs special for us for our company, that will do that automatically. <…> So yeah, it was really helpful. And that was really great. That showed me that my work is important and important to help me to divide and correct. So that was great. That was really like I appreciated it really, really, because this stuff with the team-building activities, and etc. It's so classic, I would say really classic. <…> But for me, it's important like this part. I feel that it's important really that they think about me, that's really nice.» (I-D)

To sum up, after a thorough analysis of the interviews the framework has been revised. New

elements have been added and some of the components have been changed based on the

interview findings (the changes are marked in italics). Figure 6 represents the final framework.

Figure 6. Conceptual Framework (own illustration)

Physical distance: miscommunication, misunderstanding,

lack of social presence

Organizational barriers: inappropriate

reward structure, lack of guidance, lack of feedback,

micromanagement/ lack of control

Digital Communication: lack of communication,

inappropriate choice of ICT technological disruptions

Individual barriers: feeling of disclosure, lack of attachment

personal characteristics of team members

Negative factors that influence trust

Activities and tools used to build trust

HR policy: selection, training and onboarding

Providing clear tasks and guidance

The use of project management tools

Facilitation of virtual meetings

Appropriate, reliable and rich technology

Extensive communication

Regular feedback

Positive environment and organizational culture

-

+

Collaboration and support

TRUST

Team-building activities

Corporate communication culture

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Most of the factors and activities or tools remained the same, however, there are new elements

that appeared in the framework. Firstly, there are still negative factors that influence trust in virtual

teams located in the left side of the framework. However, whereas in the theoretical framework

physical distance was at the top of the list, in the revised framework digital communication takes

its place as a factor that has the major influence on trust in virtual teams. The negative factors

connected with physical distance remain the same, yet an additional component is added to

individual barriers – personal characteristics of team members as negative characteristics (such

as being pushy, too strict, too demanding) sometimes can lead to conflicts in virtual teams and

low morale of the staff.

One more additional component is added also to the organizational barriers, and this factor is

micromanagement or the lack of control, which were claimed to be factors that influence trust in a

virtual team in a negative way by the interviewees. Lack of control from the management can lead

to the conflicts between team members if someone doesn’t meet the requirements and another

person gets more job due to such behavior of other team members. On the other hand,

micromanagement can cause the feeling of distrust to the team leader or the organization when

the management wants to control every step of the employee, which means it doesn’t trust its

workers.

Secondly, most of the tools and activities used to build up trust in the virtual team located in the

right part of the framework remained the same. However, some changes have been made there

as well. A new tool was added to the tools and activities that help to cope with lack of

communication – corporate communication culture, which involves informing employees about the

style of the communication that exists in the company or a team so that everybody feels on the

same page and a part of the team. As the use of appropriate technology as well as the use of rich

and reliable technology were not emphasized by the participants, they have been merged in one

tool.

As for the tools that help to cope with the negative consequences of physical distance, another

activity was added which is collaboration between the team members and support from the

organization mentioned by three participants. When employees help each other, trust is

strengthened. Therefore, it is crucial for the companies to create such environment where

employees collaborate and help each other when it is possible. As for the support from the

organization, when the employees see that the company cares about them, they are more eager

to give back and share their ideas.

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5. Conclusion

The aim of this research was to find out the factors that have a negative impact on trust in virtual

teams and to discover the activities and tools that help companies to cope with these factors.

Therefore, the research question had two sub-questions. The aim of the first sub-question was to

examine the factors that influence trust in virtual teams and their negative consequences. The

second sub-question dealt with existing activities and tools that help to build up trust in virtual

teams. The answers to these sub-questions are given below as well as the answer to the main

research question following by the description of the limitations of the study and ideas for the future

research.

5.1 Implications

Sub-question 1: What influences trust in virtual teams?

The literature review shows that digital communication and physical distance are the main factors

that influence trust in virtual teams. Digital communication leads to the lack of communication

between the team members, which leads to the lower engagement level in a virtual team.

Moreover, some emotional cues and signals are not conveyed in the digital communication, which

means it takes more time for team members to bond (Germain & McGuire, 2014). Physical

distance leads to misunderstanding or miscommunication between the team members as they are

not aware of the contextual factors that have an impact on another person as they cannot observe

them (Greenberg et al., 2007). Moreover, cultural differences, if there are any, increase the chance

of miscommunication and misunderstanding between workers or team members who come from

different countries or regions. Differences in time zones make it harder to use tools and activities

to build up trust and therefore, harder to create trust between the members of global remote team.

Lack of social presence or the absence of feeling of belonging to a group is another barrier that

takes place in virtual teams as the members can see each other only electronically (Germain &

McGuire, 2014).

There are also factors that influence trust in virtual teams which also exist in face-to-face teams.

These are organizational and individual barriers. Organizational barriers, according to the

research, include lack of guidance from the organization or team leader, lack of feedback and

inappropriate reward structure, whereas individual barriers include the lack of attachment and the

feeling of disclosure, when a team member feels reserved with other team members (Germain &

McGuire, 2014).

The findings from the interviews proved the information discovered in the literature review.

However, two additional factors have been added to the list of factors. Firstly, personal

characteristics have been added to the individual barriers as according to the interviewees, when

66

certain team members are too demanding, strict or unwilling to cooperate, it creates distrust to

these particular team members and also to the organization or a team leader who are responsible

for hiring process. Secondly, lack of control and micromanagement have been added to

organizational barriers as these factors create distrust to the organization according to the analysis

of the interviews.

All in all, the results of sub-question one show that the factors that influence trust in virtual teams

include digital communication which sometimes means lack of communication, which turned out

to be the most important factor, inappropriate choice of information and communication

technology, technological disruptions; physical distance which leads to miscommunication or

misunderstanding and the lack of social presence; individual barriers which involve the lack of

attachment, feeling of disclosure and personal characteristics of team members; and

organizational barriers such as lack of feedback, lack of guidance, inappropriate reward structure,

and lack of control or micromanagement from the team leader or the organization. Leaders of

virtual teams should take into account these negative factors while managing a virtual team,

identify the most influential ones for a specific team and try to minimize their impact using activities

and tools used to build up trust.

Sub-question 2: What are the tools and activities that help to establish trust between the people in the virtual team?

Sub-question two was concerned with finding out the activities and tools that help to build up trust

in virtual teams. In the literature review the following activities and tools were identified. Firstly,

there should be an HR policy which includes selecting people who are trustworthy and credible to

complete given tasks, onboarding the employees by providing them with clear tasks and

expectations as well as giving them a mentor if possible, who will help them to get involved in the

processes and providing training (Lukić, 2018; Clark et al., 2010). Secondly, extensive

communication should be implemented in the life of members of a virtual team, for instance, by

facilitating regular virtual meetings where the employees would not only talk about work but also

engage in informal communication which will help them to bond (Smith & Blanck, 2001). Then,

appropriate, rich and reliable technologies should be used in order to avoid technological

disruptions and to increase the effectiveness and trust of the employees by using the appropriate

technological tools when they are needed (rich or lean, depending on the interaction) (Clark et al.,

2010). Also, positive environment and organizational culture should exist with its own norms,

attitudes and values, which should be communicated to employees and accepted by them which

will reduce the misunderstanding and conflicts between the colleagues (Lukić, 2018). Team-

building activities is another way to connect all the employees, and they should be chosen

according to the stage of trust formation in a team. Moreover, clear tasks and guidance should be

given to the team members using the project management tools to make it easier for the

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employees to do their job. Finally, regular feedback should be provided by the team leader and

the employees should be rewarded openly for the excellence of their results (Clark et al., 2010;

Lukić, 2018).

During the analysis of the interviews, the activities and tools described above proved to be

effective in building up trust in virtual teams. Moreover, two additional activities have been

identified by the interviewees. The first one is the development of corporate communication culture

by the organization and certain guidelines for new employees so that each employee knows what

kind of writing style they should use to be accepted in a team. The second one is the collaboration

between the team members and support from the organization when it is needed. Interviewees

claim that when they help other team members, at this moment their trust becomes stronger. Also,

when they ask the organization for assistance, and it is provided, their trust to the organization

increases.

All in all, for the virtual team leaders to create trust in virtual teams it is important to identify the

factors from the list above that influence trust negatively in a particular virtual team and find the

appropriate activities and tools that will help to cope with certain negative factors or try to apply all

of them as all the activities and factors are interconnected.

5.2 Limitations and Future research

There were some limitations in the process of writing the thesis and conducting the research.

Firstly, the number of participants was limited, which makes the gathered data less representative.

Secondly, most of the participants had the same cultural background which may have affected

their answers to the interviewee questions. Thirdly, the age of the participants was between 20 to

30 years old which again could have affected the results of the study along with the fact that 6 out

of 7 participants were female. Lastly, despite the fact that each negative factor and activity or tool

to build up trust in a virtual team was explained, some of the terms used might have been

interpreted in different ways due to the lack of language skills or the perception of the term by a

certain person, which could have affected the answers of the participants and the results of the

research.

Besides, there were some limitations connected with the qualitative nature of study. The findings

of the study are influenced by the interpretation of the researcher as well as the external factors

that may have influenced the answers of the participants (emotional state, physical state, etc.).

Also, the results cannot be extended to a wider group of people as the number of participants is

not big enough to make a clear conclusion. To obtain statistically correct data, the quantitative

research should be conducted.

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Therefore, further research could be done in the form of quantitative research in order to avoid

some of the limitations mentioned above. Also, most of the studies on trust in virtual teams that

have been conducted before were conducted using the qualitative research method. Moreover,

the representatives from different countries should be chosen to avoid cultural bias and people of

different age as well as the larger sample in order to gain more insights on the topic. Also, further

study can involve not only members of virtual teams but also virtual team leaders to look at the

topic from a different angle. Different dimensions of trust can be examined in detail: trust between

team members, trust between a team member and a team leader and trust between a team

member and the organization.

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7. Appendix

Appendix 1: Interview Guideline

Phase 1: Introduction

- Welcoming the participant

- Introduction and short description of the topic

- Notification about audio recording, used of data and anonymity

Phase 2: Unbiased approach

- Do you think trust is the most important factor?

- Think about your experience working in a virtual team and did you experience some

negative examples that are related to missing trust?

- Now think of the co-workers you trust/trusted the most – Did you use any

tools/habits/behaviors in order to enhance trust?

Phase 3: Focused approach

- Introduction of the term «trust» based on the literature review

- Have a look at the framework, please. Do you agree with the factors that are shown in the

left part? Did you experience some of them?

- Would you eliminate or add any factors?

- As for the activities and tools used in virtual teams to build up trust, have you experienced

the use of them by yourself or by the team leader?

- Did they influence the trust in your virtual team?

- What do you think – what other activities can be used in virtual teams to build up trust?

Phase 4: Closing

- Ask for remaining questions

- Clarify the use of data and anonymity

- Thank interviewee for participation