Transactive Memory and Trust Networks in Computer-Supported Teams

The development of transactive memory facilitated by trust relationships and social exchanges is of emerging importance in distributed environments characterized by a lack of rich social presence. Situated at the nexus of research on computer-supported teams, this study examined the effects of trust networks and social presence on transactive memory. The results indicated that dense trust networks helped develop greater transactive memory than sparse networks. The degree of social presence was found to moderate the impacts of trust networks on transactive memory. Teams with dense trust networks also had greater reciprocal exchanges, whereas teams with sparse trust networks had greater negotiated exchanges. Implications for enhancing transactive memory from a social exchange perspective were discussed.