Face-to-face versus virtual teams: What have we really learned?

The present article reviews results from the rich experimental literature on virtual teams and compares them with results from emerging field research on virtual teams. The experimental literature has largely reported negative results for virtual teams, whereas field investigations and case studies of real virtual teams employed by business organizations report positive outcomes for virtual teams. One potential reason for this discrepancy may be that experimental research tends to lack ecological validity, as it has generally failed to simulate the conditions under which real virtual teams work well. Despite the wide differences in results reported by experimental versus field studies, and despite the general lack of ecological validity in experimental studies, however, the present article notes that both literatures have revealed negative attitudes toward virtual communication media.