A Meta-Analytic Test of Trust Formation and Development in Swift Starting Action Teams

Trust is essential for operational and organizational effectiveness in high-stakes environments where cooperation and coordination among team members is key, particularly among swift starting action teams (STATs) who are composed of individuals with little or no previous experience of working together. Wildman et al. (2012) developed a multilevel conceptual framework in which they characterized the formation and development of swift team trust according to an input-mediator-output-input model (IMOI). We conducted a preregistered systematic review of six electronic databases (Web of Science [core collection], Scopus, Business Source Complete, PsycInfo, and ProQuest Dissertations and Theses) to identify literature that could be used to test this conceptual model. From an examination of 19,249 potentially relevant items that studied STATs composed of adults (aged 18 years or more), we found no single comprehensive test of this model in its entirety nor a sufficient examination of key structural sections of Wildman and colleagues' model. Cumulating evidence from 53 primary studies via meta-analytic structural equation modeling (199 effects, N-teams = 2,380, N-individuals = 9,975), we found that individual-level propensity to trust was positively related to one's perceptions of trust in their team; one's trust in their team was positively related to emotional reactions, team processes, and team performance; and team processes and performance were positively associated with individuals' subsequent trust in their team. We also revealed an indirect effect of trust perceptions on collective performance via team processes. Our findings underscore the need to consider innovative methodologies and technologies to study swift trust dynamics temporally in ways that permit empirical tests of multicomponent conceptual models of trust formation and development.