Trust and Information Sharing in Diverse Teams

International responses to complex humanitarian disasters, terrorism, criminal activities, and pandemics have increasingly involved integrated multiagency civil–military teams – teams whose success is largely tied to their ability to effectively share information. Trust has been called “the single most important precondition for knowledge exchange” (Rolland & Chauvel, 2000, p. 239) and has been critical to effective collaboration and information sharing in civilian, military, and multiagency teams. Yet the dynamics of trust are often a poorly understood dimension of information sharing. This issue is addressed by defining trust and its essential characteristics, and then specifying the variety of ways in which trust can affect information sharing. We also outline the array of challenges faced by most multinational and multiagency teams that can undermine the trust–information-sharing relationship. We conclude by outlining principles that promote trust and some ways in which trust may be developed and maintained in the demanding context of multinational–multiagency missions.