Title: Performance in virtual teams: a quantitative study with PLS-SEM

Authors: Ali El Idrissi; Mohamed Fourka

Addresses: Engineering and Management of Innovative Systems Research Team, Faculty of Science and Technology of Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, 416, Tangier, Morocco ' Engineering and Management of Innovative Systems Research Team, Faculty of Science and Technology of Tangier, Abdelmalek Essaadi University, 416, Tangier, Morocco

Abstract: The last decade has been characterised by the growing prevalence of virtual teams (VTs). As individuals start to work together, they face and manifest a mixture of positive and negative synergies. The lack of social interaction prevents VT members from engaging in informal communication and building relationships. However, VT can benefit from the opportunities offered by the use of technology to communicate and collaborate. This work aims to identify the factors impacting virtual team performance (VTP). Based on a literature review, we elaborated a conceptual model to explain the determinants of performance in a virtual environment. This proposed model was tested through a quantitative approach using the PLS-SEM technique. Data was collected from 323 VT members using an online questionnaire. Data was analysed using SmartPLS-4. Our main finding is that VTP can be explained by the interaction of 11 factors categorised into four categories: context factors, individual factors, group dynamics, and team orchestration.

Keywords: virtual teams; distributed teams; dispersed teams; global virtual teams; virtual team performance; VTP; technology-mediated communication; TMC; quantitative approach; PLS-SEM; SmartPLS-4.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2026.150347

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2026 Vol.27 No.1, pp.117 - 137

Received: 19 Nov 2023
Accepted: 02 Apr 2024
Published online: 10 Dec 2025 *

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