Antecedents to team member commitment from near and far: A comparison between collocated and virtual teams

The paper has two primary purposes: the first is to determine antecedents to commitment to a work team; the second to compare how antecedents to commitment differ between collocated and virtual teams.

Survey data were collected using 52 three‐member teams – 28 collocated teams and 24 virtual teams using graduate students from three countries.

Results indicate that team work processes and member effort have a significant, positive relationship with trust in collocated teams, but results for virtual teams show that member efforts is not a significant predictor of trust. Comparing collocated teams and virtual teams, collocated teams had stronger relationships (compared to virtual teams) between member effort and trust, and between trust and normative commitment. Virtual teams had stronger relationships (compared to collocated teams) between work processes and trust, and between trust and affective commitment.

Additional studies of longer‐term teams are needed to see if results remain consistent. One form of commitment (continuance), in particular, can be studied in long‐term teams.

Managers of work teams need to firmly establish a foundation of trust to ensure commitment of team members. Managers of virtual teams should particularly organize and communicate work processes to be followed by virtual team members.

Little research has been conducted examining antecedents to commitment to the work team, as well as commitment to a work team when work is conducted using technology (e.g. virtual teams). This paper fills a void in these two areas.