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<p>As technology has enabled people across the world to collaborate and create virtual communities, the ability to interact in computer-mediated, cross-cultural environments in a meaningful way has become a necessity. This is particularly true for younger adults who operate in virtual teams during their studies, for instance in virtual exchange projects, and later in their professional life. In this qualitative study, we examined the features and functionality of cross-cultural communication in virtual exchange teams. By analysing three datasets produced by Finnish university and American community college students (n=38) who participated in a virtual exchange, we examined what kinds of challenges emerge in the communication of virtual teams and how students use theories of computer-mediated communication when trying to make sense of those challenges. The results of the reflexive thematic analysis indicated that the challenges in communication of virtual teams stem from cultural and motivational differences. These challenges could be alleviated by increasing the shared work time allocated for social information sharing and for constructing appropriate, team-specific ways to express online social presence and propinquity. The findings highlight the meaningfulness and relationality of virtual team communication and provide insight into motivational factors and the sense of belonging when communication challenges arise.</p>
</abstract>

As technology has enabled people across the world to collaborate and create virtual communities, the ability to interact in computer-mediated, cross-cultural environments in a meaningful way has become a necessity. This is particularly true for younger adults who operate in virtual teams during their studies, for instance in virtual exchange projects, and later in their professional life. In this qualitative study, we examined the features and functionality of cross-cultural communication in virtual exchange teams. By analysing three datasets produced by Finnish university and American community college students (n=38) who participated in a virtual exchange, we examined what kinds of challenges emerge in the communication of virtual teams and how students use theories of computer-mediated communication when trying to make sense of those challenges. The results of the reflexive thematic analysis indicated that the challenges in communication of virtual teams stem from cultural and motivational differences. These challenges could be alleviated by increasing the shared work time allocated for social information sharing and for constructing appropriate, team-specific ways to express online social presence and propinquity. The findings highlight the meaningfulness and relationality of virtual team communication and provide insight into motivational factors and the sense of belonging when communication challenges arise.

Challenges in virtual team communication in the context of virtual exchange experience

European Journal of Open, Distance and E-Learning

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

As technology has enabled people across the world to collaborate and create virtual communities, the ability to interact in computer-mediated, cross-cultural...

	Individual-level challenges	Team-level challenges
Practical challenges	Temporal Personality-related (introversion) Competence-related	Implementation-related (time + team size) Knowledge level-related
Communicational challenges	Lack of communication and participation Unresponsiveness	Lack of communication and participation Unresponsiveness Lack of overt listening behaviour Lack of feedback (expressions of confusion, [dis] agreements)
Attitudinal challenges	Negative attitudes towards the task Lack of resourcefulness	No social consequences from not participating
Relational challenges	Negative interpretations Unwillingness to compromise Varying expectations	Negative attitudes towards other team members Roles and communication patterns formed early and were permanent De-individuation (we vs. they)

Challenges in virtual team communication in the context of virtual exchange experience

Article Category: Research Article

Publié en ligne: 28 mars 2023

Pages: 49 - 61

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eurodl-2023-0004

Mots clés
Computer-mediated communication, Cross-cultural communication, Virtual exchange, Virtual teams, Sense-making

© 2023 Sanna Ala-Kortesmaa et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Motivation-related challenges in virtual team communication

Challenges in virtual team communication in the context of virtual exchange experience

Article Category: Research Article

Publié en ligne: 28 mars 2023

Pages: 49 - 61

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/eurodl-2023-0004

Mots clésComputer-mediated communication, Cross-cultural communication, Virtual exchange, Virtual teams, Sense-making

© 2023 Sanna Ala-Kortesmaa et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Figure 1.

Figure 2.

Figure 3.

Motivation-related challenges in virtual team communication

Mots clés
Computer-mediated communication, Cross-cultural communication, Virtual exchange, Virtual teams, Sense-making