Building Trust in Globally Distributed Teams

out ever having met them ( McDonough et al., 1999l; Powell et al., 2004). Globally distributed teams consist of professionals working together from different geographical locations to accomplish joint goals. In addition to geographical dispersion, globally distributed teams1 face time-zone and cultural differences such as different language, national traditions, values, and norms of behavior (Carmel, 1999). Virtual team members rely strongly on ICT-based communications. They often have no prior history of working together and rarely have face-to-face interactions (Zakaria et al., 2004). Irrespective of the advanced technologies that are in place, trust is the main factor that can prevent the transformation of geographical and organizational distances to psychological distances (i.e., individuals experiencing their counterparts as strangers) (Snow et al., 1996). In this article, trust-building in globally distributed