Collective Efficacy as a Mediator of the Trustworthiness – Performance Relationship in Computer-Mediated Team-based Contexts

Abstract

The current study investigated the role of trustworthiness perceptions at the individual level and collective efficacy at the team level on team performance in computer-mediated teams using multi-level structural equation modeling (MSEM). It was hypothesized that trustworthiness perceptions and collective efficacy would predict team performance, and collective efficacy would partially mediate the trustworthiness – performance relationship in computer-mediated teams. Sixty-four teams (five participants each) engaged in a computer-mediated task across two experimental sessions. Trustworthiness measured after session 1, collective efficacy measured after sessions 1 and 2, and team performance measured of sessions 1 and 2 were used to build the MSEM. The half longitudinal model for assessing mediation was used to examine the influence of trustworthiness perceptions on performance through collective efficacy over time. Results demonstrated support for the hypothesized model, such that trustworthiness perceptions demonstrated indirect effects on performance through collective efficacy. These findings extend past research by identifying an emergent mechanism by which trustworthiness is important for team performance in computer-mediated teams.

Keywords:

• Interpersonal relations
• social interaction
• statistics

Notes

Acknowledgements

This work was completed while one of the authors (Tamera R. Schneider) was serving at the National Science Foundation. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of NSF.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed in the current study are available upon request from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Author Notes

August Capiola is a research psychologist at the Air Force Research Laboratory, 711th Human Performance Wing. His research interests include interpersonal trust, trust in automation, and the role of trust in collaborative teaming.

Gene M. Alarcon is a research psychologist at the Air Force Research Laboratory. His research interests include interpersonal trust, trust in computer code, and trust in robots and automation.

Joseph B. Lyons is the Lead for the Collaborative Interfaces and Teaming Core Research Area within the 711th Human Performance Wing at Wright Patterson AFB, OH. His research interests include human-machine trust, interpersonal trust, leadership, and social influence.

Tyler J. Ryan is a Research Scientist with General Dynamics Information Technology. His research interests include measurement and assessment, item response theory and mixed models.

Tamera R. Schneider is a Professor of Psychology at Wright State University and Deputy Division Director for Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences at the U.S. National Science Foundation. Her research interests include psychophysiological stress resilience, persuading health and environmental behavors, and enhancing team collaboration and effectiveness.

Notes

1 Walther (1992) defines computer-mediated communication as ‘…synchronous or asynchronous electronic mail and computer conferencing, by which senders encode in text messages that are relayed from senders’ computers to receivers’ (p. 52).’ Computer-mediated teams are teams which engage in computer-mediated communication, such as emailing to complete a semester project (Jarvenpaa, Knoll, & Leidner, 1998) and participating in business management simulations (Kanawattanachai & Yoo, 2002).

2 Naguin and Paulson (2003) claimed their shortened OTI assessed the trustor’s perceptions of reliability, honesty, and good faith of the other party. We believe their conceptualization overlaps nicely with Mayer et al.’s (1995) conceptualization of trustworthiness, namely trustor perceptions of ability, integrity, and benevolence in the trustee.

3 Results of t-tests are available from the corresponding author upon request.

4 Preacher, Zyphur, and Zhang (2010) note that arguments for causation are strengthened in a hypothesized mediated relationship when independent variables temporally precede dependent variables. When discussing the half-longitudinal model, Little (2013) argues that because mediation implies that changes in the mediator affect changes in the outcome, a cross-sectional design is inappropriate and a longitudinal design is necessary to disentangle the stable components of the mediator from the varying components.

5 Based on a CFA (which was run at the request of one anonymous reviewer), we determined that modeling trustworthiness and collective efficacy as two separate variables fit the data better than a single-factor structure. The results of this analysis are available from the corresponding author.