Cultural Intelligence and Employee Engagement in Global Virtual Teams

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (1) ◽  
pp. 14605
Author(s):  
Farheen Fathima Shaik B ◽  
Upam Pushpak Makhecha ◽  
Sirish Gouda ◽  
Biju Varkkey
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
Global Virtual Teams

Work and non-work identities in global virtual teams

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Farheen Fathima Shaik ◽  
Upam Pushpak Makhecha ◽  
Sirish Kumar Gouda
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
National Culture ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
Global Virtual Teams ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Modern Age ◽  
Unique Framework ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose Increasing digitization has transformed ways of work in modern age. Organizations are increasingly relying on global virtual teams (GVTs) as new forms of working. However, the challenges of configuration of GVTs have been reported to reduce the levels of employee engagement, especially so in multicultural GVTs. Extant research indicates cultural intelligence as one of the drivers of employee engagement in GVTs, though the nature of this relationship has remained unclear. As there is scarce literature on the nature of this relationship, the purpose of this paper is to examine the linkages between cultural intelligence and employee engagement and the authors explain the findings using the identity lens. Design/methodology/approach This study is an ethnographic inquiry to understand the nature of the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement. Findings The results of the study indicate that the inclusionary pressures of non-work identities (national culture) are high in context of GVTs owing to their configuration. However, preferences (alignment or misalignment) of team members either initiate gain cycles or loss cycles, thus effecting the levels of employee engagement. Further, it was found that individual preferences may dynamically change from misalignment toward alignment with improved levels of cultural intelligence among team members of GVTs. The relationship between cultural intelligence and employee engagement has been found to be mediated by trust among team members in GVTs. Originality/value This is one of the first papers to understand the dynamics of this relationship in an organizational GVT context. The authors also propose a unique framework combining cultural intelligence, trust and employee engagement in the context of GVTs.

scholarly journals Drivers of Employee Engagement in Global Virtual Teams

2019 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farheen Fathima Shaik ◽  
Upam Pushpak Makhecha
Keyword(s):  
Employee Engagement ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Global Virtual Teams ◽  
Mediated Communication ◽  
Cultural Backgrounds ◽  
Interpretive Analysis ◽  
Cognitive Behavioural ◽  
Geographically Distributed ◽  
Strategic Goals ◽  
Almost All

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) comprise geographically distributed groups of people collaborating with each other through technology-mediated communication. Members of GVTs are from different cultural backgrounds and time zones, who may (or may not) meet in person to take complex decisions or to deliver on the tasks that are of strategic importance. Though technology has enabled GVTs in almost all multinational organisations across all industries, keeping the members of GVTs engaged over the duration of the team's task or project could still pose a challenge for organisations. Employee engagement is defined as an employee's cognitive, behavioural and physical state directed towards organisational outcomes. While employee engagement has been researched in a collocated team context, it remains an under-researched area in the context of GVTs. Given that there are several characteristics of GVTs which are distinct from the collocated team, it warrants a separate inquiry, which we undertake in this study. This study uses the Job Demands-Resources theory of employee engagement to derive the drivers of employee engagement in GVTs. Through interpretive analysis of the lived experiences of members working in an organisation which extensively uses GVTs for achieving its strategic goals, we conceptualise five drivers of employee engagement, namely, cultural intelligence, communication (formal and informal), technology, trust and individual maturity.

Motivational configurations of cultural intelligence, social integration, and performance in global virtual teams

2021 ◽  
Vol 129 ◽  
pp. 351-367
Author(s):  
Nicole Franziska Richter ◽  
Jonathan Martin ◽  
Sofie V. Hansen ◽  
Vasyl Taras ◽  
Ilan Alon
Keyword(s):  
Social Integration ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Cultural Intelligence ◽  
Global Virtual Teams ◽  
And Performance

scholarly journals The power of individual cultural values in global virtual teams

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audra I. Mockaitis ◽  
Elizabeth L. Rose ◽  
Peter Zettinig
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Values ◽  
Cultural Differences ◽  
Virtual Teams ◽  
Virtual Team ◽  
Global Teams ◽  
Global Virtual Teams ◽  
Team Processes ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
The Relationship

This paper investigates the perceptions of members of 43 culturally diverse global virtual teams, with respect to team processes and outcomes. Despite widespread acknowledgement of the challenges presented by cultural differences in the context of global teams, little is known about the effect of these differences on team dynamics in the absence of face-to-face interaction. Using a student-based sample, we study the relationship between global virtual team members’ individualistic and collectivistic orientations and their evaluations of trust, interdependence, communication and information sharing, and conflict during the team task. Our results suggest that a collectivist orientation is associated with more favorable impressions regarding global virtual team processes and that cultural differences are not concealed by virtual means of communication.

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