A construal-level approach to understanding individual-level contributions to distributed teamwork

Abstract

This study addresses the limited understanding of distributed team (DT) members’ individual-level contributions to teamwork. In DTs, team members work together from geographically separate locations. DTs offer many benefits, but teamwork in these teams is challenging to the point where high-profile organisations have previously banned their use. However, abandoning DTs is premature because we can address their challenges by clarifying how their fundamental attributes – i.e., the spatial distance between team members and how they communicate – influence individual team members’ teamwork contributions (i.e., cooperation, coordination, and conflict). Our understanding of how these attributes in..