Title: Personality and its impact on global virtual team performance

Authors: Kavita Kapur; Ravi Paul; Rajen K. Gupta

Addresses: Management Development Institute, Mehrauli Road, Sukhrali, Gurgaon 122001, Haryana, India ' Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858-4353, USA ' Management Development Institute, Mehrauli Road, Sukhrali, Gurgaon 122001, Haryana, India

Abstract: This paper describes an exploratory experimental study that examines the impact of personality factors on the performance of globally distributed virtual teams. Previously validated instruments were used to measure various predictor and output variables relating to performance of virtual teams. This study was conducted using subjects from two distant countries - USA and India. The results show that the personality dimension of conscientiousness in team members plays an important role in the success of virtual projects. Furthermore, extraversion in team members appears to support the goals of learning in a virtual team environment. The differences in findings between the team members in USA and India seem to suggest that sociocultural factors need to be studied along with other predictor variables in future studies of this nature.

Keywords: virtual teams; personality factors; team performance; project success; individual satisfaction; learning effectiveness; teamwork; USA; United States; India; conscientiousness; virtual projects; extraverts; team members.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2013.054251

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2013 Vol.6 No.4, pp.410 - 429

Published online: 30 Nov 2013 *

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