Understanding the positive and negative effects of team virtuality: A theoretical review and research agenda

Working in virtual teams is increasingly common, and the notion of team virtuality has received considerable academic attention. However, the definitions of team virtuality lack coherence, its theoretical integration is inadequate, and its effects on individual and team performance are not fully understood. To address these gaps, we systematically review the characteristics of team virtuality and its positive and negative effects based on various theoretical perspectives. Through this review, we find that no consensus is reached on the definition of team virtuality, and its dimensions are not fully identified. Moreover, we find that team virtuality positively influences individual and team performance through two mechanisms: resource and information, and motivation and ability. However, it also exerts negative effects through three mechanisms: cognition, emotion and relationship, and technology and media. Based on these findings, we propose several potential directions for future research: (1) integrate four characteristics of team virtuality by redefining its concept and dimensions based on process virtualization theory, (2) integrate the positive and negative effects of team virtuality using a resources conservation-based model, in which team virtuality positively and negatively affects individual and team performance through personal resource gain and personal resource loss, respectively, (3) integrate the different effects of team virtuality by exploring boundary conditions, and (4) integrate the dual effects by investigating the curvilinear relationship between team virtuality and its outcomes.