Trust and innovativeness in virtual organisations

This paper discusses trust and control in a virtualised environment. An extensive use of information and communication technology, and virtualisation of organisations put trust into the core of management challenges. Trust is a glue that bonds individuals and groups together to form virtual teams and a virtual organisation. It is also an important force behind their innovativeness and flexibility. Besides the traditional perception of personal or individual trust, we have to introduce a much wider concept of organisational trust. It can be enhanced by legislation on e-business, electronic signatures and data protection acts. Another factor that can reduce the risk and consequently build trust is the ability of computer technology to archive and recover all data and processes. Altogether, a virtual environment looks relatively safe if all available techniques and legislation are employed. Innovativeness in virtual organisations should be able to be spread in order to be regarded as an efficient and worthy innovation. This can be achieved by setting standardisations and avoiding social risks during its acceptance. © 2008, Inderscience Publishers.