Measuring team trust: A critical and meta‐analytical review

Funding information National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Grant/Award Number: UL1 TR003167 Summary Team trust is gaining attention in research and practice due to its benefits for team performance, yet clarity about the intricacies of its measurement is needed. Therefore, we meta-analyzed 118 studies (N = 7,738) to untangle the role of measurement features by investigating the degree to which they influence the trust– performance relationship. Results showed that the trust–performance relationship is contingent upon time lag and source of measurement. Specifically, cross-sectional and single-source studies produced higher effect sizes than time-lagged and different-source studies. In contrast, the moderating roles of conceptualization– operationalization alignment and referent of trust measures were not supported. Post hoc analyses revealed that affective trust is more strongly related to global, versus specific team outcomes, and that mixed-referent items are particularly effective within intact teams, whereas the trust–performance relationship is constrained when direct consensus items are used within ad hoc teams. Furthermore, we provided a critical review that highlights the importance of composites, multilevel forces, and item content and wording. Finally, we clarified key gaps in the literature, calling for research where needed. This review serves as a bridge between conceptualization and measurement and lays the groundwork for advancing knowledge of team trust.

• Publication year

  2020

• Venue

  Journal of Organizational Behavior

• Publication date

  2020-06-01

• Fields of study

  Business, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1002/job.2436
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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