Virtual Team Networks

Virtual teams have become a ubiquitous form of organizing, but the impact of social structures within and between teams on group performance remains understudied. This paper uses the case study of a massively multiplayer online game and server log data from over 10,000 players to examine the connection between group social capital (operationalized through guild network structure measures) and team effectiveness, given a variety of in-game social networks. Three different networks, social, task, and exchange networks, are compared and contrasted while controlling for group size, group age, and player experience. Team effectiveness is maximized at a roughly moderate level of closure across the networks, suggesting that this is the optimal level of the group's network density. Guilds with high brokerage, meaning they have diverse connections with other groups, were more effective in achievement-oriented networks. In addition, guilds with central leaders were more effective when they teamed up with other guild leaders.