Sharing leadership behaviors in virtual teams: effects of shared leadership behaviors on team member satisfaction and productivity

Abstract

Purpose Virtual collaboration in teams becomes increasingly popular at work. With the advantages of working in virtual teams come leadership challenges for which the shared leadership theory is discussed as a potential solution. While previous empirical studies investigating shared leadership in virtual teams generally confirm positive effects on team outcomes, this study aims to investigate in detail the leadership behaviors that are typically shared in these settings and how these shared leadership behaviors affect individual level outcomes. Design/methodology/approach Individuals from different teams participated in a questionnaire study (n = 411). Structural equation modeling was used to assess the effects of shared task- and relations-oriented leadership behaviors on team member’s subjectively perceived productivity and satisfaction with leadership. Findings Results indicate that shared task-oriented leadership behaviors have a significant positive effect on subjectively perceived productivity and satisfaction with leadership, while relations-oriented leadership behaviors have a significant negative effect. A hypothesis stipulating a moderating effect of task interdependence was not confirmed. Practical implications Practical implications include that in virtual teams with hierarchical organizational structures, it may be recommended that task-oriented leadership behaviors are shared among team members, whereas relations-oriented leadership behaviors should remain the responsibility of the official leader. Originality/value The findings complement previous research with new insights on behavioral dimensions of shared leadership and their effects on outcomes on the level of the individual.

Impact of individual-focused transformational leadership on individual work performance: mediating role of work engagement and moderating role of regulatory focus

“…food manufacturing, textile manufacturing, banking, education, transportation etc. ), which improved the generalizability of the findings (Wang and Howell, 2012), offered a fresh perspective (Mayer et al. , 2023) and improved the sample heterogeneity (Breevaart et al.…”

“…food manufacturing, textile manufacturing, banking, education, transportation etc. ), which improved the generalizability of the findings (Wang and Howell, 2012), offered a fresh perspective (Mayer et al, 2023) and improved the sample heterogeneity (Breevaart et al, 2016). Each respondent was part of a work team that has four members or more where the respondent had worked with the respective team leader for a period of nine months or more, which ensured that the respondent had adequate experience to evaluate the respective team leader (Wang and Howell, 2010).…”

Personality and humor in groups: implications for collective emotional intelligence, psychological safety and satisfaction

“…We propose that a leader's humor style can influence the development of group humor due to their influence as role models for the team, whose behaviors are highly visible and easily imitable. We draw our arguments from the social influence literature providing evidence for the contagion-convergence relationship between leaders and team members (Barsade et al, 2018;Johnson, 2009;Sy and Choi, 2013;Sy et al, 2005;Tee, 2015;Yang and Yang, 2023;Son and Yang, 2023;Mayer et al, 2023). In their model of mood convergence in groups, Sy and Choi (2013) propose that the mood of a leader can activate emotional contagion processes, which are then spread among the group members and possibly amplified through emotion cycles (Hareli and Rafaeli, 2008), finally leading toward behavioral convergence.…”

“…As role models, leaders shape the interpersonal behaviors of their followers through social influence as well as interaction synchrony (group members seeking consistency with the leader) (Rosenberg et al, 2021;Son and Yang, 2023;Mayer et al, 2023); therefore, we expect that a leader's humor style shapes the preferences for humoristic communication in groups (Kong et al, 2019) as well as their interpersonal behaviors in teams (Yang and Yang, 2023). A second aim of our study is to explore the association with leader's aggressive and affiliative humor styles and the emergence of affiliative and aggressive humor in groups.…”

Remote team leadership is situational and complex

“…A research paper by Mayer et al (2023) explores which leadership styles and behaviors can work effectively in remote working teams, and why the different styles impact the progress of individual team members. Specifically, we’ll concentrate on relations-oriented leadership and task-oriented leadership behaviors, measured by individual team member satisfaction levels with these leadership approaches in day-to-day virtual team work.…”