What You Do and How You Speak Matter: Behavioral and Linguistic Determinants of Performance in Virtual Teams

The primary goal of the present study is to investigate complex relationships among interpersonal behaviors, language use, and group performance in short-term virtual teams. Thirty-four, four-person groups completed a decision-making task in real time using an online chat program. The findings suggest that having a negatively communicating collaborator in the group is associated with higher group performance compared with having a positively communicating collaborator. Also, linguistic style matching is a stronger predictor of group performance for groups with a positively communicating confederate compared with groups with a negatively communicating confederate. The findings are discussed within the theoretical framework of shared mental models, minority influence, and communication accommodation theory.