Abstract

Communication technologies support virtual R&D groups by enabling immediate and frequent interaction of their geographically-distributed members. Performance of members in such groups has yet to be studied longitudinally. A model proposes not only direct effects of functional role, status, and communication role on individual performance, but also indirect effects through individual centrality. Social network analysis was performed on e-mail samples from two time periods separated by four years. Analysis revealed both direct and indirect effects as hypothesized; however, the indirect effects were more consistent in both time periods. The clearest findings were that centrality mediates the effects of functional role, status, and communication role on individual performance. Interestingly, centrality was a stronger direct predictor of performance than the individual characteristics considered in this study. The study illustrates the usefulness of accounting for network effects for better understanding individual performance in virtual groups.

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.49.1.21.12756
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

Article provided by INFORMS in its journal Management Science. Volume (Year): 49 (2003)
Issue (Month): 1 (January)
Pages: 21-38

as in new window

Handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:49:y:2003:i:1:p:21-38Contact details of provider:
Postal: 7240 Parkway Drive, Suite 300, Hanover, MD 21076 USA
Phone: +1-443-757-3500
Fax: 443-757-3515
Email: informs@informs.org
Web page: http://www.informs.org/
More information through EDIRC

For corrections or technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: mirko.janc@informs.org (Mirko Janc).

Related research

Keywords: field study; path analysis; social science; hierarchy of authority; is project teams; electronic mail; social network analysis; centrality; roles; individual performance;

References

No references listed on IDEAS
You can help add them by filling out this form.

Citations

Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.

as in new window

Cited by:

1. Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha, 2009. "Virtual Teams for New Product Development: An Innovative Experience for R&D Engineers," Post-Print hal-00593361, HAL.
   
   • Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2009. "Virtual Teams for New Product Development – An Innovative Experience for R&D Engineers," MPRA Paper 27034, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jul 2009.
2. Shafia, Mohammad Ali & Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2009. "Consideration of the virtual team work and disabled citizens, as promising opportunity providers for the e government infrastructure's formation," MPRA Paper 27265, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Apr 2009.
3. Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha, 2009. "Modified Stage-Gate: A Conceptual Model of Virtual Product Development Process," Post-Print hal-00593359, HAL.
   
   • Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2009. "Modified stage-gate: A conceptual model of virtual product development process," MPRA Paper 27043, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Nov 2009.
4. Kleijnen, Mirella & Lievens, Annouk & Ruyter, Ko de & Wetzels, Martin, 2009. "Knowledge creation through mobile social networks and its impact on intentions to use innovative mobile services," Open Access publications from Maastricht University urn:nbn:nl:ui:27-23010, Maastricht University.
5. Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2010. "SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review," MPRA Paper 26989, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 10 Jun 2010.
   
   • Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha, 2010. "SMEs; Virtual research and development (R&D) teams and new product development: A literature review," Post-Print hal-00723647, HAL.
   • Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha, 2010. "SMEs; Virtual Research and Development (R&D) Teams and New Product Development: A Literature Review," Post-Print hal-00593362, HAL.
6. Michael Haenlein, 2011. "A social network analysis of customer-level revenue distribution," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 15-29, March.
7. Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2008. "Virtual teams: A literature review," MPRA Paper 27001, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Jan 2009.
   
   • Nader Ale Ebrahim & Shamsuddin Ahmed & Zahari Taha, 2009. "Virtual Teams: a Literature Review," Post-Print hal-00593357, HAL.
8. Ale Ebrahim, Nader & Ahmed, Shamsuddin & Taha, Zahari, 2008. "Dealing with Virtual R&D Teams in New Product Development," MPRA Paper 27120, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Oct 2008.

Lists

This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:inm:ormnsc:v:49:y:2003:i:1:p:21-38 For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: mirko.janc@informs.org (Mirko Janc).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

Individual Centrality and Performance in Virtual R& D Groups: An Empirical Study