一團隊中成員跟成員間被地理或時間區隔開，其間的互動主要是以通訊系統/科技為媒介，具有以上特徵的團隊，稱之為虛擬團隊。在全球化趨勢以及全球分工架構之下，這種團隊結構已經成為目前公司的主流，它可以幫助公司在競爭激烈的環境中獲得特定的優勢。
在虛擬團隊結構下，受到地理或時間區隔的影響，如何有效地建立團員間信任以及知識分享的機制，將是一個重要的議題。本研究將測試在虛擬團隊中，知識分享、信任以及影響信任因素三者間的關係。
本研究結果顯示在虛擬團隊中，知識分享受到個人信任傾向、領導、通訊科技以及信任的直接正面影響，信任受到個人信任傾向和其他成員的倫理、誠信、關懷的直接正面影響。而能力對於知識分享以及信任建立，並不是那麼的重要。團隊特徵雖然對於信任無直接正向，但團隊特徵中，領導因素對個人特徵具有直接正向關係。因此我們推論領導將透過個人特徵進而對信任產生間接正向的影響。

Virtual teams are groups of geographically and/or temporally dispersed individuals brought together via information and telecommunication technologies. Globalization of the marketplace makes such teams the primary operating units needed to achieve competitive advantage in this ever-changing business environment.
Knowledge sharing requires communication between various employees, geographical separation makes it a challenge to build trust and share knowledge effectively in the virtual teams. This study examined the relationship between knowledge sharing, trust, and antecedents of trust.
Our results indicated that knowledge sharing is positively influenced by propensity to trust, leadership, communication technology and trust. Trust is positively influenced by propensity to trust, ethic, integrity and benevolence. In virtual teams, ability seems not to be important factors that influence knowledge sharing and trust building. The effect of team’s characteristics on trust is not significant. Instead, leadership was positively associated with members’ characteristics (ability, propensity to trust, ethic, integrity and benevolence). We argue that the leadership affects the trust indirectly through the members’ characteristics.

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