A configurational analysis of university ranking, cognitive ability and cultural intelligence in global virtual teams: The role of academic pedigree

Abstract

Previous research examining the GVTs with business students from different universities and with different characteristics has begun to reveal significant findings on team compositions leading to team performance. However, few studies have addressed academic pedigree at the team level and examined its relationship with team performance. This study explores the configurations of academic pedigree, cognitive ability (IQ), and cultural intelligence (CQ) that lead to high levels of performance in GVTs. We performed a fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis on a sample of 3688 students nested within 731 GVTs participating in an international project. The results show that three configurations could achieve the same outcome equally and effectively. In particular, two configurations show that IQ and CQ within teams led to high team performance when either the academic pedigree average or the academic pedigree diversity is not high. The third configuration reveals that IQ combined with academic pedigree average and the presence of a team member from a highly ranked institution results in high levels of team performance when academic pedigree diversity is not high. This study offers insights into configurational relationships between team compositions and performance in GVTs, explaining when and if academic pedigree impacts team performance.