Sharing Knowledge in Global Virtual Teams

Abstract:

Virtual teams have been seen as a promising way of organizing work for organizations to cope with the current rapidly changing business environment. Issues concerning virtual teams have received considerable attention in both the academic and practical world. In this paper, a case study approach was used to explore Chinese perceptions of the impact of national cultural difference (China vs. U.S.) on knowledge sharing activities in global virtual teams. Four cultural dimensions (language, education, technology and material culture, and attitudes and values) were identified. The final results show that language has the most salient impact on an individual’s knowledge sharing activities, followed by education, attitudes and values, and technology and material culture. Individual characteristics, organizational culture, time zone problems and leadership style all have a mediated impact on knowledge sharing activities.

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