Personality and its impact on global virtual team performance

This paper describes an exploratory experimental study that examines the impact of personality factors on the performance of globally distributed virtual teams. Previously validated instruments were used to measure various predictor and output variables relating to performance of virtual teams. This study was conducted using subjects from two distant countries - USA and India. The results show that the personality dimension of conscientiousness in team members plays an important role in the success of virtual projects. Furthermore, extraversion in team members appears to support the goals of learning in a virtual team environment. The differences in findings between the team members in USA and India seem to suggest that sociocultural factors need to be studied along with other predictor variables in future studies of this nature.