Longzhu Dong, Robert Stephens and Ana Maria Soares. Changes in Global Virtual Team Conflict Over Time: The Role of Openness to Linguistic Diversity. (ICDEc 2022)

1. Changes in Global Virtual Team Conflict
Over Time:
The Role of Openness to Linguistic Diversity
Longzhu Dong - University of Wisconsin in Eau Claire
Robert D. Stephens - Shippensburg University
Ana Maria Soares - University of Minho and CICS.NOVA.UMinho

2. Introduction
•In the global arena, virtual work is now the norm
rather than the exception
•However, many issues regarding GVT processes
and outcomes remain poorly understood.
•This is particularly true when it comes to
communication and conflict within GVTs.

3. Introduction
• Previous research shows that increased national diversity in
teams is associated with higher levels of conflict.
• Relevance of Openness to linguistic diversity (OLD), the
acceptance of group members with differing levels of language
proficiency
• The study we presented last year found that openness to
linguistic diversity weakens the impact of diversity in conflict
and even turns it negative for teams with a high level of
openness to linguistic diversity.

4. RESEARCH QUESTION
Do teams with higher OLD experience differences
in the changes of intragroup conflict over time?

5. CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
NATIONAL/CULTURAL DIVERSITY
•The impact of cultural diversity in a team’s
performance is not direct.
•We need to :
•consider the mediating and contextual variables
that allow diversity to either become a source of
richness or friction to teams
•outline the theoretical underpinnings of these
relationships.

6. Social identity theory
• Members of GVTs identify with national, cultural, and
linguistic groups as well as with the GVT itself.
• Diversity in group identification can create an in-
group/out-group dynamic.
• We posit a dynamic model of GVT identity for time-
limited temporary GVTs: In the early stages of group
formation, membership in the team itself creates an
immediately dominant identity. As the team continues to
work together and has to begin negotiating tasks and
setting process norms, deeper-seated social identities may
begin to overpower identities created by GVT
membership.

7. TEAM CONFLICT
• Due to differences in nationalities, cultures, and logistical
and communication challenges task conflict, relationship
conflict, and process conflict will become larger over the
duration of a short-term, time limited GVT.
• Three types of conflict
H1a: Task conflict in GVTs increases over time.
H1b: Relationship conflict in GVTs increases over time.
H1c: Process conflict in GVTs increases over time.

8. Openness to Linguistic Diversity
• Team members’ attitudes toward multiple levels of language proficiency
among other members of the team.
• The attitudes reflected in individuals and teams with high OLD are critical
not only for facilitating better communication, but also for ameliorating
potential conflict.
H2a: Task conflict in GVTs with high OLD increases more slowly than in
teams with low OLD.
H2b: Relationship conflict in GVTs with high OLD increases more slowly
than in teams with low OLD.
H2c: Process conflict in GVTs with high OLD increases more slowly than
in teams with low OLD.

9. Conflict Asymmetry
• “configural team property that reflects the variance in perceptions
among team members” [ibid., p. 596].
• Because teams with higher levels of openness to linguistic diversity
work harder to understand and to be understood, it is more likely
that these teams will share similar perceptions of the amount of
conflict in the team.
H3a: Openness to linguistic diversity reduces task conflict
asymmetry in GVTs over time.
H3b: Openness to linguistic diversity reduces relationship conflict
asymmetry in GVTs over time.
H3c: Openness to linguistic diversity reduces process conflict
asymmetry in GVTs over time.

10. METHOD
• The X-Culture Project is a large-scale international experiential learning
project that involves over 6000 MBA and bachelor’s level business students
from 150 universities in about 40 countries. The project involved the
development of a solution to real-life business challenges presented by
real-life companies.
• A sample of 278 GVTs (average team size is 4,25) who participated in the
project in the Spring of 2018.
• Measures sourced form the literature
• Data for conflict was collected twice : in the middle and at end of the
project.
• Repeated Measures ANOVA

11. Results
•Hypotheses 1a-c predict that all three types of conflict
will increase from t1 to t2.
•The level of relationship (-.138***) and process
conflict (-.129**) increased over time, but the change in
task conflict was not significant. Therefore, hypothesis
1 was partially supported.

12. • Hypotheses 2a-c predict that openness to linguistic diversity
hinders the development of all three types of conflict.
• We tested these hypotheses utilizing the Repeated Measures
ANOVA approach. Specifically, we tested and compared the
extent of each type of conflict increase from t1 to t2 at three
levels of openness to linguistic diversity that operationalizes
“low” (the 16th percentile), “moderate” (the 50 the
percentile), and “high” (the 84th percentile). (Fig 1)
Results

13. Overall, the results show that OLD does hinder
the development of all three types of conflict.

14. Hypotheses 3a-c predict that openness to linguistic diversity
can minimize conflict asymmetry in teams over time.
To rule out the influence of initial level of conflict on the
change of conflict asymmetry over time, we controlled conflict
level at t1. Our results found that the level of asymmetry of all
three types of conflict changed in a very similar pattern.
Results

15. Overall, the results show that OLD reduces
conflict asymmetry over time.

16. CONCLUSION
• On average, the level of all three types of conflict (task conflict,
relationship conflict, and process conflict) increase over time within
GVTs.
• Teams with high levels of OLD, however, not only do not show
increases in conflict but actually show decreases in all three types of
conflict over time.
• It is also found that mean levels of conflict asymmetry decrease for high
OLD teams, while they increase for medium and low OLD teams.
• Further support for the importance of diversity mindsets for leveraging
team collaboration. The role of OLD in mitigating the increase of
conflict, and even decreasing it, is a valuable finding with rich managerial
implications.

17. Thank You!