The study presented in this article examined how specific communication behaviors among team members interacted with task interdependence in relation to the building and changing of trust within 53 virtual project teams. At the mid-point of the teams' projects, our results showed that task-oriented communications among team members related significantly to trust, and that communications conveying enthusiasm related to trust only under conditions of low task interdependence. At the end of a team's project, trust among team members related positively to predictability of communications and substantive responses under higher levels of task interdependence. These findings develop extant trust theory in virtual teams, suggesting some useful guidelines to better understand and manage trust processes.
Cette étude se propose d'examiner comment, dans 53 équipes de projets virtuels, les comportements spécifiques de communication entre les membres d'une équipe interagissent avec l'interdépendance des tâches et sont corrélés à la construction de la confiance. Les résultats montrent, qu'à mi-parcours du projet, les communications entre les membres de l'équipe axées sur la tâche sont liées de manière significative à la confiance. Les communications qui transmettent de l'enthousiasme ne sont liées à la confiance que dans des conditions de faible interdépendance des tâches. En fin de projet, la confiance entre les membres de l'équipe est corrélée positivement à la prédiction des communications et à des réponses substantielles, mais à des niveaux élevés d'interdépendance des tâches. Ces résultats développent la théorie déjà existante à propos de la confiance dans les équipes virtuelles, en proposant un certain nombre d'orientations utiles pour mieux comprendre et gérer ces processus de confiance.
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