Path analysis of factors affecting team trust in team activities using Metaverse: Using Gather Town

The purpose of this study is to verify the mediating effect of team efficacy in the process of team cohesion, team shared mental model, and team communication affecting team trust in team activities using the metaverse, Gather Town. For this purpose, team trust, team cohesion, team shared mental model, team communication, and team efficacy were tested on 31 college students and graduate students of education taking courses in educational methods and educational technology at P University. Team cohesion, team shared mental model, team communication were set as independent variables, team efficacy was set as mediating variables, and team trust was set as dependent variables. As a result of the study, first, team trust, team cohesion, team shared mental model, and team communication were all found to have a statistically significant correlation. Second, it was found that team cohesion and team shared mental model had an indirect effect on team trust through team efficacy. In other words, it was revealed that team efficacy had a mediating effect on the relationship between team cohesion and the shared team mental model. On the other hand, team communication did not appear to affect team efficacy and team trust. Accordingly, it was found that team cohesiveness, team shared mental model, and team efficacy are important variables for increasing team trust in team activities using Gather Town.