Conclusion


This chapter has explored approaches to understanding and representing interpersonal and situational trust, and their role in online partnerships. The specific area of interest is the formation stage of partnership under circumstances where there is little time to establish deep acquaintance and mutual understanding. By focusing on situations, we offer an alternative approach to psychometric profiling as a means of understanding interpersonal trust. We have drawn on existing studies of situational trust that suggest that is it possible to de-construct trust into its components and identify which are likely to be involved in different typical situations. These focal points for trust may be the basis of assessments about trust that are based on specific social interactions.

The work described in this chapter is a work in progress. We have outlined an approach that treats interpersonal, situated trust as a form of tacit knowledge, amenable to coding and analysis. The chapter has focused on the first of these. Though the specification for representing trust is grounded in the experience both of the commercial partners in the case study project and in the results of academic research, the efficacy of the approach cannot be assessed until a number of projects have been completed with online partners who are supported by the proposed platform. And for a trust pattern library to be effective, a critical mass of profiles will need to be assembled over time. We feel justified, however, in presenting the specification as a significant methodological contribution in its own right. By focusing on specific present concerns as the basis of judgements about trust, the approach can overcome some of the shortcomings of traditional indicators, such as resum s or psychometric profiles, which provide historical or general information. The approach is also flexible. Attributes for trust are configured to meet the demands of a situation. The attributes that are discussed above reflect the context of our practitioner partners — small firms who act as brokers for different types of online commerce. In other contexts, the approach may well involve different attributes. The approach also makes tacit judgements visible in a quite literal way, by allowing users to identify and "re-present" attributes in visual profiles that can contribute to reflective partnership.




L., Iivonen M. Trust in Knowledge Management Systems in Organizations2004
WarDriving: Drive, Detect, Defend, A Guide to Wireless Security
ISBN: N/A
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 143

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net