Investigating Trust Factors in Computer Mediated Group Collaboration Xusen Cheng Manchester Business School The University of Manchester, UK

2 Introduction Service Science and Computer Mediated Team Collaboration Multidisciplinary project teams Development of SSME curriculum at university level Student teams exploring ways to improve service system Individual trust development

3 3 Aims: Investigating how individual trust develops over time in computer mediated collaboration Instruments of Measurement: Survey, Interviews, Documentation Individual trust factors: Risk, Benefit, Utility Value, Interest, Power Measurement Techniques: Scale Balance Model Case Study Design Research Methods and Design

4 Case Study – ITMB project Background Employers and universities are working together with the help of e-Skills UK to set learning objectives for a new kind of degree programme B.Sc IT Management for Business (30%Business, 30%IT,40%Project+Professional Development) Students are using software like GroupSystems™(ThinkTank) to do collaborations. They are doing a real business system project and exploring improvement and solutions Students are divided into eight different groups for their project and collaboration Case one(07-08 year one), Case two(08-09 year one)

5 Integrative Team Project Guru Lectures and Professional Development Business Database Design and Development Business Application Design and Development Human Computer Interaction Nature of Information Systems The Modern Corporation Introduction To Computer Systems Fundamentals of Management Introductory Management Accounting

6 Integrative Team Project Problem Definition User Requirements Scope Of Solution Nov Event High Level Design Christmas Break Detailed Design Implementation Testing And Evaluation DemoReport Semester 1 Semester 2 April Event Stage1Stage2Stage3

7 Collaboration

8 Triangulation Documentation Survey Interviews

9 9 Balance Model

10 Interview Semi-structure Interviews Individual trust development trend Coding and Analysis New Individual Trust Factors: Motivation, Reliability, Reputation, Cooperation, Task Achieving, Friendship, Skill

11 Documentation

12

13 Contributions Trust Developing Trend: dynamic, steady, repeatable, dormant, similar, various There is no direct positive or negative relation with individual trust development and project performance in student collaboration teams It reveals some new trust factors and their relationships

14 Conclusion and Future Work Improvement from previous research Trust development trend New factors support model and relationships Collaboration research theory and facilitator skills improvement, practice use to measure trust in student teams, improve collaboration and course design