The invisible pilot in virtual teams: An investigation of the impact of facilitation on virtual teams

Viet Dao, Laku Chidambaram, Gert Jan de Vreede

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Although facilitation and leadership behaviors are thought to be critical to the success of virtual teams, little research has been done to examine the impact of facilitation behaviors on virtual teams. In order to fill this knowledge gap, this study empirically examines the impact of external facilitation behaviors on virtual team interactions and outcomes. Contrary to common belief, our findings suggest that high levels of external facilitation have negative impacts on relational outcomes, measured by team cohesion. Virtual teams with limited facilitation experienced higher levels of cohesion than virtual teams that were highly facilitated. Self facilitation behaviors were observed with virtual teams with limited external facilitation, which might serve virtual teams better than external facilitation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAssociation for Information Systems - 12th Americas Conference On Information Systems, AMCIS 2006
Pages1496-1502
Number of pages7
StatePublished - 2006
Event12th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2006 - Acapulco, Mexico
Duration: 4 Aug 20066 Aug 2006

Publication series

NameAssociation for Information Systems - 12th Americas Conference On Information Systems, AMCIS 2006
Volume3

Conference

Conference12th Americas Conference on Information Systems, AMCIS 2006
Country/TerritoryMexico
CityAcapulco
Period4/08/066/08/06

Keywords

  • Emergent facilitation behaviors
  • External facilitation
  • Virtual teams

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