Exploring Trust to Reduce Communication Barriers in Virtual World Collaborations

Virtual worlds (VW) have paved a new and important channel for workplace collaborations. However, analysts have noted that several organizations that made a strong entrance into using VW as a nouveau channel for communication and collaboration are stepping back due to limited user response. Motivated by this fact, we propose a trust-theoretic ‘virtual world model’ for communication and collaborations in virtual worlds. The model, grounded in literature on ‘organizational communication’ and ‘trust’, theoretically examines the role of trust in developing behavioural intentions for using this rich virtual communication medium for collaborations. Results establish the important roles of perceived structural assurance and perceived social presence for fostering user trust in VW. Further, results also indicate that user trust is a key factor in influencing organizational members to develop behavioural intention to use the VW for collaborations. Implications for research and practice are discussed.