The Role of Trust in Interactive High Tech Work
With regard to the spread of self-presentations of individuals and small firms on the internet, this chapter inquires into the role of trust and trust-building techniques of freelance web-designers in spreading the application of high-technology to end-consumers. Engendering relationships of trust is a predominant necessity for the freelancers in a market lacking structural assurances, making that group an ideal object of study for trust-enhancing strategies in client interaction. Methodologically, it proposes a way to study the adaptation of entrepreneurs to the requirements of trust, enlarging the focus on dramaturgic action of the trust-taker in exchange situation to markets for cooperation, in which cooperative experiences are a major trust-building factor. The analysis suggests that in those markets dramaturgical action is not only directed at clients but also at the referral networks in which they are embedded in, having important repercussions for the negotiating power of freelancers.