Media Choices and Trust in Partially Distributed Global Teams

Partially distributed teams (PDTs) are increasingly common in organizations as they collaborate across distance. A PDT has at least two collocated subteams that are geographically distant and communicate by electronic media. This paper reports on a two semester quasi-experimental study of students in global PDTs in the role of software developers designing an emergency management information system. Leadership configuration and temporal distribution were varied and their effects on communication media chosen were examined, as well as the relationship of the media used with trust. Both leadership configuration and distance affect the choices made of communications media and those choices, in some cases, are significantly associated with trust.