Virtual Team Member Perspectives on Personal Development: A Sequential Explanatory Study

Abstract

The use of virtual teams in organizations has shifted upward exponentially since the onset of COVID–19, yet available research does not include findings based on workplace virtual team members, as opposed to student populations. Research is limited on what virtual workplace team members consider important in the performance coaching and personal development processes. Research on virtual team member perspectives is valuable for human resource professionals and organizational leaders and particularly helpful to organizations struggling to respond to the new work–at–home environment. The purpose of the mixed–methods study was to explore the perspectives of virtual team members about how performance coaching, mentoring, and training contribute to their personal development. Participants for the study were members of social network virtual team groups who have been members of virtual work teams. The sequential explanatory study data was from a sample of 149 virtual team members (12 for the pilot survey and 137 for the full study). The Kruskal–Wallis results led to the rejection of the null hypothesis at an overall significance level of 0.05, with significance levels of 0.014 for coaching and 0.008 for mentoring, indicating a perceived positive contribution from performance development efforts (coaching and mentoring) on the personal development of individual virtual team members. These results on the interpersonal aspects of virtual teams from team members and consideration of perspectives on their personal development provide organizations, leadership, and human resources professionals, valuable information to improve virtual teams and the team member experience in normal and unusual work situations.