Leveraging the Benefits of Multiple-Team Membership in Virtual Teams

Abstract

Multiple-team membership (MTM), defined as simultaneous involvement in multiple teams, is becoming prevalent in organizational practice and may escalate tensions that are crucial to team performance. However, only a handful studies directly address the effect of MTM and fewer concerned the virtual context. Theories on MTM proposed that its effects would occur and countervail through various social-cognitive processes, but few studies provided empirical evidence. In this study, we will apply theories from MTM and team learning to explain the influences of MTM on virtual team performance, emphasizing the mediating role of the creative team process. Furthermore, we will investigate the concurrent influences of MTM in the virtual context, an area that has not been studied. Two characteristics of virtual teams — geographic dispersion and reliance on electronic communication — could moderate the relationship between MTM and the creative team process. We will conduct a survey to empirically examine this proposed model.