Swift Trust and Sensemaking in Fast Response Virtual Teams

Fast-response virtual teams (FRVTs) have been developed as a response to emergent challenges faced by organizations that need to be addressed urgently. Even though FRVTs offer enormous potential in terms of their benefits, their success is not guaranteed. When used, the need for high performing FRVTs has become critical for organizational success. However, there is a lack of detailed understanding of how sensemaking can potentially influence FRVT performance. Drawing on social exchange theory, we identify swift trust as a potential antecedent of sensemaking. In this paper, we report the results of a study that examined the effects of swift trust on sensemaking and the effects of sensemaking on team performance in FRVTs. The study included 20 FRVTs and 80 team participants. Analysis of data shows that FRVTs’ swift trust is positively correlated with all three dimensions of sensemaking and only the linguistic and conative development aspects of sensemaking affects FRVT performance.