"Virtual technologies" for "real collaborations" : is fostering user trust the key ?

• Main Authors: Shirish, Anuragini, Chandra, Shalini, Srivastava, Shirish C.
• Other Authors: Département Systèmes d'Information (DSI), Télécom Ecole de Management (TEM)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Business School (IMT-BS), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT), Laboratoire en Innovation, Technologies, Economie et Management (EA 7363) (LITEM), Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne (UEVE)-Institut Mines-Télécom Business School (IMT-BS), Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT)-Institut Mines-Télécom Paris (IMT), S P Jain School of Global Management (.) (SPJ), HEC Paris - Recherche - Hors Laboratoire, Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (HEC Paris), LITEM-NPR
• Format: Conference Object
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: Individual traits; Control; Virtual worlds; Trust; [SHS.GESTION]Humanities and Social Sciences/Business administration; Iceland
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-02335884

International audience Despite their tremendous ‘collaborative potential', virtual environments such as virtual world platforms have not yet found widespread usage for organizational collaborations. Uncertainty associated with the individual user's willingness for using such virtual platforms is one of the major organizational concerns. We propose a trust-theoretic model for using virtual world platforms as workplace collaboration tools. Specifically, we theorize two prime antecedents of user trust in VW - ‘trust in the virtual community' and ‘trust in the virtual technology', subdivided as ‘party trust' and ‘control trust'. The moderating influence of ‘individual traits' on the relationship between ‘user trust' and ‘VW usage intention' are also examined. Results demonstrate the significance of ‘user trust', especially ‘control trust' for using VWs as workplace collaborative tools. Moderation analyses suggest a weakening in the effect of trust on usage intention for individuals with strong traits such as ‘self-efficacy' and ‘anxiety'.