Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42220385›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in psychology2026

Reshaping relational social capital in the digital age: how digital tool usage influences the dual trust outcomes.

Yanze Wang, Xinran Lyu

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in psychology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Yanze WangSchool of Statistics and Mathematics, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China.
Xinran LyuChinese Academy of Finance and Development, Central University of Finance and Economics, Beijing, China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Digital technologies have fundamentally transformed workplace interactions, yet our understanding of how these tools reshape relational social capital, specifically trust dynamics, remains incomplete. Drawing on signaling theory and social exchange theory, this study examines how digital tool usage intensity influences two distinct dimensions of social capital: employees' feeling of being trusted and their trust in others. Using two-wave time-lagged survey data from 428 employees in Chinese organizations, we find that digital tools function as a double-edged sword: they foster social capital through communication quality and psychological safety, while introducing "social risks" via perceived digital surveillance and technostress. Our findings advance social capital theory in the digital age by distinguishing feeling trusted and trusting others as parallel yet distinct outcomes, and by demonstrating that technology implementation choices carry powerful symbolic meanings that can either build or erode the organizational social fabric.

Indexed as

communication qualitydigital surveillancedigital tool usagefeeling trustedpsychological safetytechnostresstrusting others

Identifiers

PMID42220385
PMCPMC13218974

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.