Research Training Group 1712 "Trust and Communication in a Digitized World" (GRK 1712)
Contact details
| Belongs to: | Uni internal |
| Status: | Organisation is ended |
| Website: | http://www.uni-muenster.de/GK-Vertrauen-Kommunikation |
| Address: | Domplatz 6 48143 Germany |
Profile
The research training group examines how trust can be developed and maintained under the conditions of new forms of communication. Digitized means of communication change the structure and sustainability of trust because firstly, familiar face-to-face communication is replaced by digitized interactions, secondly, virtual social and office networks emerge and finally, because new forms of relationships between the public, organisations and individuals develop. The postgraduate programme analyses the consequences of these processes for the establishment of trust relationships by the example of four prototypical areas: media, economy, science and sports. On the basis of specific trust problems identified for these fields of research, the doctoral researchers investigate questions of trust at three levels of analysis: individuals, organisations and the public sphere. In order to examine the concepts of trust and communication in the overlapping research areas and dimensions, scholars from the field of communication studies, economics, information systems, psychology and sports science will cooperate within the framework of the interdisciplinary research programme. Using several social science methods (such as experiment, interview, content analysis, observation, artifact design) the Research Training Group thereby studies individual, organisational and social trust-building processes. Besides generating empirical results, the aim of the postgraduate programme is to offer new methodological insights (e.g. development of new scales, testing of research designs, etc.) and to provide a theoretical foundation for the disparate field of trust research.