Trust and Knowledge Sharingin Virtual Teams: the Case of China

In this paper,we examine the potential differential effects of two types of interpersonal trust (sincerity-based trust and ability-based trust) on knowledge sharing in virtual teams in China. Our analysis suggests that sincerity-based trust is more likely to affect a virtual team member's propensity to transfer explicit knowledge to his or her teammates, while ability-based trust seems to have more pronounced influence on the propensities to seek and adopt explicit knowledge. Our analysis also reveals thatsincerity-based trust and ability-based trust are both needed tojointly influence the propensities to seek, transfer and adopt tacit knowledge in Chinese virtual teams.