"Virtual technologies" for "real collaborations" : is fostering user trust the key ?

Despite their tremendous ‘collaborative potential', virtual environments such as virtual world platforms have not yet found widespread usage for organizational collaborations. Uncertainty associated with the individual user's willingness for using such virtual platforms is one of the major organizational concerns. We propose a trust-theoretic model for using virtual world platforms as workplace collaboration tools. Specifically, we theorize two prime antecedents of user trust in VW - ‘trust in the virtual community' and ‘trust in the virtual technology', subdivided as ‘party trust' and ‘control trust'. The moderating influence of ‘individual traits' on the relationship between ‘user trust' and ‘VW usage intention' are also examined. Results demonstrate the significance of ‘user trust', especially ‘control trust' for using VWs as workplace collaborative tools. Moderation analyses suggest a weakening in the effect of trust on usage intention for individuals with strong traits such as ‘self-efficacy' and ‘anxiety'.