Abstract: Teamwork is a growing part of management education. One aspect of ensuring a successful team experience as part of the educational process involves the formation of trust between teammates. We present the results of an experiment that examines how students form initial trust under two general conditions - when selecting teammates to complete class assignments (task context) and when selecting teammates to forge new relationships (relationship context). The findings indicate that the factors that result in trust are weighted differently, depending on the purpose of the teams. Teams that are focused on completion of a task weighed prospective team members' ability the most, while teams that were focused on forming friendships focused on the prospective team members' integrity. We present specific recommendations and an exercise that MIS instructors can use to encourage trust formation in their teams.

Keywords: Trust, Trustworthiness, Student teams, Experiments, Repeated measures design

Download this article: JISE - Volume 15 Number 4, Page 383.pdf

Recommended Citation: Serva, M. A. & Fuller, M. A. (2004). The Effects of Trustworthiness Perceptions on the Formation of Initial Trust: Implications for MIS Student Teams. Journal of Information Systems Education, 15(4), 383-396.