Trust formation in global, virtual partnerships : Russia and the United States examined

Abstract

This study looks at trust formation within intercultural, virtual partnerships and how, or if, trust formation is different when all communication takes place via the Internet. Two cross-cultural communication classes were paired together, one at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and one at the Institute of Business, Management, and Law in Rostov-na-Donu, Russia. Both qualitative and quantitative research was used to measure the trust formation. Results show that trust is formed differently from face-to-face communication and that both culture and computer-mediated communication played a role in how positive the trust formation was. Connections to previous computer-mediated communication, trust, and intercultural research are suggested, and implications for further research are discussed.