Sustainable virtual teams: promoting well-being through affect management training and openness to experience configurations

A disruptive digitalization recently occurred that led to the fast adoption of virtual teams. However, membership diversity and team virtuality threaten members’ well-being, especially if faultlines appear (i.e., subgroups). Considering the job demands–resources model and the role of group affect in shaping members’ perceptions of well-being, we test the effectiveness of a short-term affect management training for increasing members’ eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, based on the trait activation theory and the contingent configuration approach, we draw on the personality composition literature to test how different openness to experience configurations of team level and diversity together moderate the effect of the training. Hypotheses were tested using a pre–post design in an online randomized controlled trial in an educational context in Spain, with a sample of 52 virtual teams with faultlines. Results show that affect management training increased eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, there was a moderation effect (three-way interaction) of openness to experience configurations, so that the training was more effective in teams with high levels and low diversity in openness to experience. We discuss implications for training, well-being, and personality composition literature. This study helps organizations develop sustainable virtual teams with engaged members through affect management training and selection processes based on the openness to experience trait

Understanding the sense of community and continuance intention in virtual communities: The role of commitment and type of community

Virtual communities (VCs) have become essential in current organizations and society, and so their sustainability is a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners. We focus on the sense of virtual community (SoVC) and commitment as relevant antecedents in achieving the success and maintenance of different types of VCs (communities of interest, virtual learning communities, and virtual communities of practice). Specifically, this study examines a moderated mediation model in which the type of virtual community moderates the indirect effect of a SoVC on the intention to continue through the perceived commitment of the users of the VC. The sample consists of 299 members of Virtual communities. The results showed that SoVC influenced intention to continue via commitment to VCs. Additionally, the relationship between SoVC and commitment was higher for communities of interest and virtual learning communities than for virtual communities of practice. This article contributes to previous literature by identifying the importance of participants' engagement and the contingent effect of the type of community. Implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed

Is team emotional composition essential for virtual team members’ well-being? The role of a team emotional management intervention

The aim of this study was twofold. First, we examined the relationship between virtual teams’ emotional intelligence composition and three indicators of their members’ well-being, members’ satisfaction with the team, and positive and negative affective states. Second, we analyzed the moderator role of an online team emotional management intervention in the effects of the team emotional intelligence composition. One hundred and two virtual teams participated in an experimental study with repeated measures. Teams were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to help them detect and manage emotions during virtual teamwork or a control condition (with no intervention). We followed a hierarchical data strategy and examined a number of nested models using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Our findings showed that virtual teams’ emotional intelligence composition is a key driver of the team members’ well-being, and that a team emotional management intervention moderated the impact of the team composition of emotional intelligence, buffering its influence.Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades PSI2016-79351-

Can virtuality be protective of team trust? Conflict and effectiveness in hybrid teams

Virtuality is noticeably present in organisations and influences the way people interact within teams. This study involved 104 organisational teams with some degree of virtuality and intends to analyze a moderated-mediation model in which virtuality moderates the indirect effect of team conflict on team effectiveness and innovation through team trust. First, results reveal that the negative association between conflict and team trust was significant for task conflict only in teams with low virtuality, and for relationship conflict was significant under low and moderate levels of virtuality. Finally, findings indicate that virtuality moderated the negative mediated relationship between both task and relationship team conflict and team effectiveness only through cognitive trust. Overall, the findings suggest that virtuality may protect team trust from the negative effects of conflict, and they point to the key role of cognitive trust as an antecedent of team effectiveness in hybrid teams