Virtual and Face-to-Face Teamwork Differences in Culturally Homogeneous and Heterogeneous Teams

Performance on a decision‐making task and cohesion were examined in dyadic (two‐person) teams. A total of 118 university students in the United States and Japan participated in the study and were placed in either homogeneous (American–American or Asian–Asian) or heterogeneous (American–Asian) teams, based on whether they were raised in the United States or in an Asian country. Teams worked either face‐to‐face or via videoconferencing (i.e., virtual teams) and performed a hidden profile task simulating a personnel selection process (i.e., ranking candidates). American–American teams and American–Asian teams outperformed Asian–Asian teams regardless of whether they worked face‐to‐face or virtually. Team cohesion results mirrored the performance results. The findings suggest that individuals from Asian cultures may require more time to form a cohesive and high‐performing team.