The Role of Interpersonal Trust in On-line Learning Communities and Application of Knowledge

Abstract

Interpersonal trust has become essential for online communities because people have managed to be in a situation without face-to-face encounters. To identify the structural relationships between interpersonal trust and learning performance, we analyzed the relationship between two types of trust, namely, cognitive and affective, as well as two dimensions of learning performance, namely, learning satisfaction and knowledge application. We also identified the moderating role of social norms in the relationship between trust and learning performance. Results of analysis are as follows. First, cognitive trust significantly affected the two dimensions of performance. Second, affective trust exhibited a significant effect on learning satisfaction, but did not affect knowledge application. Third, the relationships between the two performance factors were significant and direct. Lastly, social norms appeared to moderate the effects of cognitive trust on knowledge application and affective trust on satisfaction. These findings suggest that organizations, which would like to optimize task-oriented performance of their learning communities, should consider linking strategies between community satisfaction and practical knowledge application.