An Identification-based Understanding of Team Engagement in Global Virtual Teams (GVTs)

Abstract

Because of globalization and technological advancements, organizations have adopted virtual work arrangements, specifically Global Virtual Teams (GVTs). This study conducted a 16-month ethnographic inquiry in a multinational enterprise to explore team engagement in GVTs. The findings indicate that GVT members often handle multiple roles across various teams and organizations and identify with these entities separately, thus displaying different levels of identification with roles, teams, and organizations. These three identification cascades affect other members' engagement and overall team engagement. Higher levels of identification with roles, teams, and organizations trigger a positive engagement contagion across the GVT, whereas a lower level of identification triggers a negative engagement contagion. We also identify four distinct configurations of GVT members, illustrating the complex nature of engagement dynamics in GVT settings. This identification-based understanding of engagement in GVTs contributes to the literature on team engagement and IS by highlighting the significance of understanding the sensitive dependence of GVT team engagement on members’ identification with their roles, teams, and organizations and subsequent engagement contagion