Group task structure, rewards, and virtual teams: A study of computer -mediated collaboration

The benefits of electronic meetings offer organizations a potentially effective alternative to same time/same location team work. In the accounting industry, team work and electronic communication have become important elements in the day-to-day business of auditing, consulting, and corporate accounting. Virtual teams create new unexplored team environments in which groups interact and act. Investigating how virtual teams achieve group success has become an important and fertile ground for current research.;This study provides insight into the team work processes of computer-mediated collaboration and demonstrates the use of computer conferencing as an effective communication medium in an accounting course. It contributes to the extant literature by addressing what happens in groups working in computer conferencing environments under different types of group task structures and rewards. As part of their normal learning activities, students from two universities formed virtual teams and collaborated electronically through computer conferencing over a period of several months.;Results provide limited support for the application of the Hackman effort submodel to virtual teams. The findings suggest that a mixed incentive with both individual and group measurement components leads to higher group effort toward the task. There is no evidence that group effort differs between a moderate or high level of group task structure.