Shared Leadership in Global Virtual Teams: Tasks and Processes

Abstract

When teams share leadership they can draw on their members’ expertise and skills more effectively to improve team performance. But global virtual team (GVT) members work across time zones in highly challenging multilingual and multicultural settings. In this study we examine whether shared leadership will lead to better team outcomes in GVTs. We differentiate between shared leadership tasks and shared leadership processes and examine the relationships between these and GVT satisfaction, performance and output. Using a sample of 55 global virtual teams with members from 28 countries, we find that the task component of shared leadership tasks is related to team satisfaction, and the process component of shared leadership is significantly related to team satisfaction and perceived team performance. Additionally, the extent to which a team shares leadership processes is significantly related to externally evaluated team outcomes, suggesting a need to take a closer look shared leadership from a process perspective. Implications for theory and practice are addressed.