Many virtual team leaders lack strategies to build and maintain trust among virtual team members, which affects performance and productivity. The purpose of this exploratory single case study was to provide organizational leaders with information about the strategies that virtual team leaders use to build and maintain trust among virtual team members to enhance job performance. Cognition-based and affect-based theories of interpersonal relationships were used as a conceptual framework. In-depth, semistructured electronic interviews were conducted with 10 virtual team leaders of a multinational global organization specializing in management consulting and technology services that has headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. Interview data and documents from virtual team memos and progress reports were content analyzed with NVivo software, and member checking was used to validate transcribed data. Two major thematic categories emerged from data analysis (a) the need for effective organizational and leadership skills and (b) strategies for building and maintaining trust among virtual team members. Recommendations include reevaluating the hiring processes of virtual team leaders and members, providing adequate cross-cultural training to virtual team leaders and members, creating effective strategies for interpersonal relationships, and investing in communication technologies that foster face-to-face collaboration. Building and maintaining trust among virtual team members helps increase team performance and productivity. Implications for social change include promoting social stability, reducing projects' failure, and improving the bottom line.

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a rapid and significant change in the work settings of many organizations. Today, many businesses have adopted a hybrid way of working as opposed to returning to the traditional way. Due to this topic being relatively new, there is little research done within the area. Furthermore, knowledge and, by extension, knowledge sharing are two of the most important resources or procedures for an organization to remain long-term competitive. One major factor influencing knowledge sharing is trust, therefore, this study aims to investigate how knowledge sharing and trust within project teams have been impacted by the hybrid context. Further, four aspects of trust, benevolence, competence, openness, and integrity, will also be studied to see how the hybrid context has influenced them. This master’s thesis is based on a case study with an exploratory approach. Qualitative interviews and literature research were conducted, which together form the basis for the analysis and conclusions. It has become evident that the hybrid context has had an impact on all factors considered, in other words, knowledge sharing, trust, and the aspects of trust. One significant finding was that it appears to be difficult and more time-consuming to establish social relationships in the hybrid context, and this has had a negative impact on all variables examined. Despite the negative consequences, the research findings also show that the hybrid context has some positive impacts in regard to benevolence, openness, and integrity. The findings in this master’s thesis contribute to the research by providing further understanding of how the hybrid context has affected knowledge sharing and trust, including its aspects. Practitioners will get valuable insights into trust and knowledge sharing, both of which are critical to the success of teams and organizations. Further, a set of managerial implications are given.

Aim: The aim of this study is to understand how trust influence quality Guanxi in the Chinese business context.   Method: An inductive qualitative research method is adopted in this study; a single case study, interview questions and semi-structured interviews are applied to collect primary data.   Result & Conclusions: Quality Guanxi needs to build deep trust by combining cognition- and affect-based trust together in Chinese business context.  Meanwhile, Renqing gradually builds Ganqing (affection) through reciprocal behavior and empathy, and eventually leads to affect-based trust in Guanxi networks. Furthermore, cognition-based trust could be understood as initial trust in Guanxi networks.   Suggestions for future research: Due to the limited number of interviews, the result and conclusion of this study is based on only one company (Vigor) and one country (China) perspective. Therefore generalization cannot be achieved. For further studies on this field, it is necessary to increase the scope and number of interviews, such as different industries, different positions, etc.   Contribution of the thesis: This study contributes to the further understanding of Guanxi as a unique way of developing business relationships in China from the perspective of trust.  It shows how the quality Guanxi can be developed by deep trust relying on cognition- and affect-based trust. / 目标：本文主要解析了在中国的商业环境中信任是如何影响优质关系的。   方法：本文采用归纳定性研究方法； 应用单一案例研究、访谈问题和半结构化访谈来收集主要数据。   结果/ 结论：在中国的商业活动中，只有通过结合基于认知的信任和基于情感的信任，从而建立深度信任，才能最终建立优质关系。同时，人情通过互惠行为和同理心逐步建立感情，最终建立关系网络中基于情感的信任。而基于认知的信任又可以理解为关系网络中的初始信任。   对未来研究的建议：由于访谈数量有限，本文的结果和结论仅基于一个公司(上威集团)和一个国家(中国)的视角，因此不能泛化。为了进一步研究这一领域，有必要增加其访谈的范围和数量，如不同行业、不同职位等。   本文的贡献：本文有助于从信任的角度进一步认识关系，这种作为发展中国商业关系的一种独特方式。并说明了如何依靠基于认知的信任和基于情感的信任，从而建立深度信任来发展优质关系。 / Objetivo: El objetivo de este estudio es entender como la confianza influencia la calidad del Guanxi en el contexto de negocios Chino.   Método: Para este estudio un método inductivo y cualitativo ha sido adoptado. Preguntas de entrevista y entrevistas semi-estructuradas han sido aplicadas en la recolección de la información primaria.   Resultado y Conclusiones: Para lograr calidad en la red Guanxi se necesita construir confianza “profunda” mediante la combinación de confianza cognitiva y afectiva en el contexto de negocios chino. Renqing puede construir gradualmente Ganqing a través del comportamiento reciproco y la empatía, lo cual con lleva eventualmente a la generación de confianza afectiva en la red de contactos Guanxi. Además, la confianza cognitiva puede ser considerada como la confianza inicial en las redes de contactos Guanxi.   Sugerencias para investigaciones futuras: Debido al número limitado de entrevistas, los resultados de este estudio solamente están basados en una compañía (Vigor) y un país (China). Por lo tanto, la generalización de los resultados a otros países no es aconsejable. Para futuras investigaciones en este campo, es necesario aumentar el número de entrevistas de empleados de diferentes empresas pertenecientes a diversas industrias y países.   Contribución de la tesis: Este estudio contribuye al mayor entendimiento del concepto chino “Guanxi” como una forma única de construir relaciones de negocios en China, mediante el desarrollo de la confianza “profunda”. Para ello, se muestra como la calidad del Guanxi puede ser desarrollado mediante la confianza profunda la cual se basa en la confianza cognitiva y afectiva.