Virtual Teams Demystified: An Integrative Framework for Understanding Virtual Teams and a Synthesis of Research
Name
Mortensen, Caya, Pinsonneault - Virtual Teams Demystified.pdf
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359.25 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
82d29e5759bbd8323e321e33a3541ac0
Author(s)
Mortensen, Mark
Caya, Olivier
Pinsonneault, Alain
Date Issued
February 2010
Publisher
Cambridge, MA; Alfred P. Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Series/Report no.
MIT Sloan School of Management Working Paper;4772-10
Abstract
Virtual teams are essential to the functioning of an increasing number of organizations. They have
been the subject of much research, resulting in a growing body of literature on the topic. Nevertheless, we
still lack an integrated understanding of what drives virtual team dynamics and ultimately effectiveness.
A key obstacle to achieving such understanding is the lack of an integrative theory-driven framework
through which we can organize and make sense of prior, and guide future, research. We build on existing
models of effectiveness and emergent processes and states that have been applied to traditional teams and
use these to generate a framework for understanding virtual team dynamics. We then use this framework
to structure a review and synthesis of ninety-seven empirical studies of virtual teams published between
1990 and 2008. Using vote-counting analysis, we assess and integrate these findings to provide insights
into the direct and indirect antecedents of virtual team effectiveness. Based on this model, we highlight
key gaps in both our knowledge of, and approach to studying, virtual teams. We outline areas for future
research, provide managerial recommendations, and highlight implications for the study of both virtual
and traditional teams.
Subjects
information technology
team design
emergent team states
emergent team processes
virtual team effectiveness
Virtual teams
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