Terms of art
Definitions as they are used in this research, not as a general dictionary. Each term links on to the entries that develop it.
Trust grounded in demonstrated competence rather than personal chemistry: preparation quality, transparency, behavioural consistency, and a professional digital presence. In virtual negotiation it is the primary signal of trustworthiness.
Trust grounded in emotional connection, shared experience, and reading someone’s character — the coffee after the meeting, the hesitation about a board, the laugh in the corridor. It becomes less reliable as more of the relationship moves onto a screen.
How much social and nonverbal information a channel can carry. Face-to-face is rich; email and chat are lean. The drop from the boardroom to the screen is treated here as a structural constraint on rapport, not a temporary inconvenience.
Deliberately sequenced in-person meetings inside an otherwise virtual deal — used to ignite trust, handle emotional complexity, or repair a relationship, then stepped back from so the rest of the work can run on screen.
The extra mental work of holding a deal together on video: camera presence, missing nonverbal cues, more formal structure because informal coordination has gone. Depletion is a strategic weakness; the less-tired counterpart is advantaged.
Visible procedures that stand in for the informal signals of a room: a written recap of who owns what, follow-up when promised, names used, understanding confirmed. Cognitive trust is demonstrated, not felt.