Abstract

Scholars and practitioners agree that virtual teams (VTs) have become commonplace in today’s digital workplace. Relevant literature argues that learning constitutes a significant contributor to team member satisfaction and performance, and that, at least in face-to-face teams, team cohesion fosters team learning. Given the additional challenges VTs face, e.g. geographical dispersion, which are likely to have a negative influence on cohesion, in this paper we shed light on the relationship between team cohesion and team learning. We adopted a quantitative approach and studied 54 VTs in our quest to understand the role of feedback in mediating this relationship and, more specifically, the role of personality traits in moderating the indirect effect of team feedback and guided reflection intervention on team learning through team cohesion within the VT context. Our findings highlight the importance of considering aspects related to the team composition when devising intervention strategies for VTs, and provide empirical support for an interactionist model between personality and emergent states such as cohesion. Implications for theory and practice are also discussed.

Highlights

  • Today’s organizations rely extensively on virtual teams (VTs) supported by rapid technological advancements and globalization [1]

  • The aim of this paper was to study the indirect effects of a team feedback with guided reflection intervention on team learning (TL) through team cohesion, as well as the moderator role of team personality, in VTs

  • We found that the team feedback intervention had a significant indirect effect on team learning via team cohesion in VTs

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Summary

Introduction

Today’s organizations rely extensively on virtual teams (VTs) supported by rapid technological advancements and globalization [1]. These teams have become an essential mechanism in the creation of valuable knowledge and learning in modern organizations. TL is a social process that emerges through team members’ interactions, which are influenced by beliefs about the team’s interpersonal context [3]. In this context, the present study focuses on team cohesion, which has been found to foster TL in face-to face teams “by increasing the motivation, trust, and cognitive familiarity for productive inquiry” [7]

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