Real Projects, Virtual Worlds: Coworkers, their Avatars, and the Trust Conundrum

Authors

Michael F. Lohle, University of BridgeportFollow
Steven R. Terrell, Nova Southeastern UniversityFollow

Abstract

This qualitative study informs project managers of the impact that the authentic projection of coworker identity via avatars has on trust and potential project management success when teams use virtual worlds to collaborate. By exploring the common experiences and reactions of potential virtual team participants to a demonstration that showed how to customize avatars and use them to communicate with others, it facilitated the development of a grounded theory that confirms whether the projection of authenticity via avatars is an antecedent of team trust and real project management success. Real management success was the main objective, since it is vital for the enterprise to use all means possible for competitive advantage in an ever-expanding technological society.

Keywords

Qualitative, Grounded Theory, Project Management, Virtual Teams, Virtual Worlds, Avatars, Trust, Attitudes, Bias, Identity, Authenticity, Communication

Publication Date

2-24-2014

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1268

Recommended APA Citation

Lohle, M. F., & Terrell, S. R. (2014). Real Projects, Virtual Worlds: Coworkers, their Avatars, and the Trust Conundrum. The Qualitative Report, 19(8), 1-35. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2014.1268