A Double-Edged Sword? The Impact of COVID-19 on Work Relationships in Virtual Teams

Abstract

Due to COVID-19, remote work, online learning, and virtual team work have become ubiquitous in today’s higher education and corporate world. This study develops and empirically tests a conceptual model of how work relationships develop over time in virtual teams while under the influence of COVID-19. By integrating fundamental interpersonal relations orientation theory, the model of team development stages, and the threat-rigidity theory, we propose that work relationships in virtual teams progress through four stages (increase-decline-increase-decline). Moreover, we conceive external crises, as exemplified by COVID-19, as both opportunities and threats that exert positive and negative effects, respectively, on work relationships in virtual teams. We use a multi-level approach (e.g., time, individual, and country level) to analyze a longitudinal dataset from a virtual team work project of university students, with the random coefficient growth modeling approach. Results from a seven-wave survey of 3,578 participants from 62 countries and universities around the world, combined with archival data, largely support our hypotheses. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings.