In this study, we examined how the dynamics of shared leadership are related to group performance. We propose that, over time, the expansion of shared leadership within groups is related to growth in group trust. In turn, growth in group trust is related to performance improvement. Longitudinal data from 142 groups engaged in a strategic simulation game over a 4-month period provide support for positive changes in trust mediating the relationship between positive changes in shared leadership and positive changes in performance. Our findings contribute to the literature on shared leadership and group dynamics by demonstrating how the growth in shared leadership contributes to the emergence of trust and a positive performance trend over time.

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In this article, we present an analysis of communication transcripts from computer-mediated teams that illustrates how different kinds of decision support impact collaborative knowledge construction. Our analysis introduces an algorithmic technique called Topic Evolution Analysis (TEvA), which tracks clusters of words in conversation, and illustrates how these clusters change and merge over time. This analysis is combined with measurements of group dynamics to distinguish between teams using different kinds of decision support.Our analysis offers evidence that some kinds of decision support improve the apparent rationality of a team, but at the cost of collaborative knowledge construction. This result is not apparent when simply measuring team decision performance. We use this finding to motivate the utility and importance of the approach when assessing the impact of technology on collaborative knowledge processing.

Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) offer new promising opportunities to research virtual organizations and teams. The characteristics of MMOGs allow researchers to obtain objective data from a large and multi-national population. Lasting over months or even years, MMOGs facilitate longitudinal studies and ensure a high involvement of participants. Moreover, collecting data from online surveys and game servers keeps the costs of MMOG studies low. In this paper, we show with two exemplary studies how research in MMOGs can utilize these opportunities to overcome some limitations of traditional research environments. Moreover, we discuss the role of MMOGs as the avant-garde of information and communication technology (ICT) usage and therefore argue that research in MMOGs can provide a glimpse into the future application of ICT in real life organizations.

The relationship between different types of conflict and performance in virtual teams is still unclear. Therefore, this paper tries to shed light on the relationship between conflict and team performance as well as the moderating role of culture. Using survey and archival data of 1,683 virtual teams from 23 countries from a massively multiplayer online game (MMOG), this study's findings show that task conflict is positively related to team performance while process conflict is negatively related to team performance. Furthermore, while collectivistic culture is positively related to performance, it also moderates the conflictperformance relationship. Whereas the team performance of collectivistic teams is highly affected by both types of conflict, team performance of individualistic teams is hardly affected by task conflict and almost not affected by process conflict. We provide a detailed discussion of our findings in the conclusion of the paper and highlight the implications for both research and practice.

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