X-Culture – Maria Hincapie – February 2021

Virtual team identification: Antecedents, Consequences, and ways to enhance it

Literature suggests that when teams develop higher team identification levels, they are likely to perform better than those that do not. However, little is known about team identification in virtual teams. Because virtual team members lack the face-to-face interaction that can enhance team identification, team identification in virtual teams is more challenging than in collocated teams. Therefore, this study’s main purpose is to analyze virtual team identification, its predictors, its consequences, and the possible mediators or moderators of these relationships.

Therefore, this study is divided into two  sections:

Section 1: Antecedents of team identification.

In this section, I will explore a range of predictors and moderators to team identification. I propose that teams with lower levels of freeriding and higher levels of cultural intelligence will be able to achieve higher levels of team identification. I will also analyze team climate’s effect on team identification, the discriminant validity between both constructs, and possible interactions such as leadership emergence. Understanding what predicts team identification can help teams to tackle, for example, the negative effects of freeriding in virtual teams’ performance.

Section 2: Consequences of team identification. 

In this section, I will explore how and when team identification predicts team performance and satisfaction. I am interested in understanding if there is a direct effect between virtual team identification and performance or whether the relationship is mediated or moderated by another variable such as team member satisfaction or motivation.

To do so, I will explore several research questions such as:

• What is the effect of team identification on team performance?
• Are teams with team identification better at handling higher freeriding levels than those with lower levels of freeriding?
• Are teams with a leader better at handling higher freeriding levels than those with lower levels of freeriding?
• Are teams with higher levels of cultural intelligence better at achieving higher levels of team identification, and if this relationship interacts (or not) with the level of freeriding on the team?