FROM SCREENS TO SYNERGY: HOW TRUST, COMMUNICATION, AND DIGITALIZATION ENABLE SUCCESSFUL VIRTUAL TEAMS

Abstract

The continuous and accelerated development of technology generated a new way of doing business, which is based on virtual teams as well as on digitalization and artificial intelligence (AI). This paper explored 45 reviewed studies and analyzed the elements that contribute to effective functioning of virtual teams. Despite the fact that the members of virtual teams are not located physically in the same location, they can be effective and even outperform collocated teams, provided an effective utilization of the following ingredients: trust, communication and digital tools. Nevertheless, this research found that periodic face-to-face meetings are still needed with members of the virtual teams. To have scalable teamwork within virtual teams, it is needed on one hand to effectively use the digitalization capabilities, included but not limited to secure connectivity, real time data and cloud platforms and on the other hand to exploit the capabilities of AI regarding routine tasks. AI can contribute to increase trust between team members, if clear procedures and explanations are used. Accordingly, it could lead to more transparent and equal workload distribution. This paper proposes a conceptual framework together with seven research propositions.