Title: Does temporal distance (still) affect the performance of virtual teams?

Authors: Idan Roth; Dov Te'eni

Addresses: School of Information Systems, The Academic College of Tel-Aviv, Yaffo, Rabenu Yeruham St., P.O. Box 8401 Yaffo, 6818211, Israel ' Coller School of Management, Tel Aviv University, P.O. Box 39040 Ramat Aviv Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel

Abstract: Many were optimistic that virtual collaboration in distributed projects would eliminate distance and, furthermore, enable work around the clock to achieve high performance. We ask whether this optimism has held up over the past two decades, in the face of changes in technology and changes in the workplace. Using an adjusted measure of temporal distance (ATD), the paper models the perceived decision quality in a project as a function of ATD, mediated by communication richness and moderated by project analysability. The model was tested in 2009 and again in 2019 with a combined quantitative and qualitative field study. The results suggest that the relationship between ATD and perceived decision quality is nonlinear and is mediated by communication richness. In 2019, projects engaged in significantly richer communication compared with 2009, yet temporal distance still made a difference. The results did not show an interaction effect between communication richness and project analysability. We argue that despite substantial IT progress, temporal distance is not dead and should be managed.

Keywords: virtual teams; communication richness; computer-mediated communication; CMC; project analysability; project management; perceived decision quality; time zone; temporal distance; adjusted temporal distance; ATD.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPOM.2024.136253

International Journal of Project Organisation and Management, 2024 Vol.16 No.1, pp.75 - 101

Received: 30 Nov 2021
Received in revised form: 18 Aug 2022
Accepted: 16 Sep 2022
Published online: 25 Jan 2024 *

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