Digitalizing Gratitude and Building Trust through Technology in a Post-COVID-19 World—Report of a Case from Japan

Employee engagement has become a critical issue in Japanese companies. One way to develop it is improve the relationship among employees through gratitude expressions. In post-COVID-19 remote work environment, digital devices are essential. This paper confirms that expressions of delivered via enhance between employees. We experimented small-town government office where participants (n = 88) were asked (1) use Thanks App, an app we developed express gratitude, for two months and (2) respond survey before after experimental period. Through cross-analysis data from questionnaire, found “trust colleagues” factor had strong correlation (r 0.80, p < 0.001) with our new index computed by app’s data. The results suggest App may help visualize trust teams. study practical value providing team management tool visualizing trust. addition, provides research method emotional social psychology using devices.