Virtual Team Networks

Abstract

Virtual teams have become a ubiquitous form of organizing, but the impact of social structures within and between teams on group performance remains understudied. This paper uses the case study of a massively multiplayer online game and server log data from over 10,000 players to examine the connection between group social capital (operationalized through guild network structure measures) and team effectiveness, given a variety of in-game social networks. Three different networks, social, task, and exchange networks, are compared and contrasted while controlling for group size, group age, and player experience. Team effectiveness is maximized at a roughly moderate level of closure across the networks, suggesting that this is the optimal level of the group's network density. Guilds with high brokerage, meaning they have diverse connections with other groups, were more effective in achievement-oriented networks. In addition, guilds with central leaders were more effective when they teamed up with other guild leaders.

User roles and team structures in a crowdsourcing community for international development – a social network perspective

“…By investigating the interaction behavior within an ICT-enabled project for international development we provide insights about the community structure and dynamics of such crowdsourcing communities. Further, research on team performance in crowdsourcing is scarce (Dissanayake et al, 2015) and future research on team structure and performance wanted (Balkundi & Harrison , 2006, Benefield et al, 2016, Oh et al, 2004. This study sheds light on team performance and how the constellation of teams influences team success.…”

“…Considering teamwork a prerequisite for team success the status of collaborators becomes comprehensible. Due to the findings that collaborators are high in betweenness, we assume they gain access to diverse information and resources that lead to a performance advantage (Benefield et al, 2016). Perspectives and knowledge of external members may positively influence the whole team.…”

“…Balkundi & Harrison, 2006;Benefield et al, 2016;Dissanayake et al, 2014). As suitable framework for their examination Benefield et al (2016) used the theory of group social capital: "The configuration of a group's member's social relationships within the social structure of the groups itself […]" (Oh et al, 2004, p. 861).…”

“…Teams that are central within the community possess a high density and a central leader tends to perform better. In the field of massively multiplayer online game, Benefield et al (2016) state that team member attributes and intragroup connections (density) are predictors for team effectiveness. However, they reveal when team's social, task or exchange network ties are too sparse or too dense, the level of achievement decreases.…”

“…Understanding how the configuration of teams and the social structure within teams influences the performance of teams is often discussed as needed future research in existing literature (Balkundi & Harrison, 2006;Benefield et al, 2016;Oh et al, 2004). Especially, in the field of crowdsourcing there is a lack of evidence in literature about the team performance compared to individual performance (Dissanayake et al, 2015) and understanding what makes teams successful is of rising interest (Dissanayake et al, 2014).…”