文摘
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) enable new organizational forms such as global virtual teams (GVT) which are made up of spatially and temporally separated members. Members of GVTs may be separated not only by distance and time, but by cultural backgrounds. While enjoying benefits brought by ICTs, GVTs also face challenges induced by new communication and collaboration environments. Intercultural interaction among members has been found to be critically important to the success of GVT communication and coordination.;Culture, as a boundary condition for interpersonal interaction, shapes the ways individuals communicate, and different cultures shape these ways differently. Members of a culturally diverse GVT are likely to employ different communication styles when interacting with their fellow team members. These styles are posited to influence perceptions of the fit between ICTs and communication goals. Based on the task-technology fit (TTF) framework, this study empirically examines whether and how individual cultural orientation (ICO) influences GVT members' perceived ICT fit for various communication tasks over time, and explores the effects of ICT design on these perceptions.;A four-week longitudinal experiment involving thirty-five GVTs engaged in a repeated simulation decision-making task was conducted to address these issues. Each team communicated through either a basic or an enhanced asynchronous discussion forum. Participants' ICOs were identified with a pre-task questionnaire, and perceptions of TTF were collected weekly.;The results indicated that not all ICO dimensions had the same level of influence on GVT members' perceived TTF. Uncertainty avoidance (UA) had stronger influence on perceived TTF for process management, and P-Time schedule showed greater influence on perceived TTF for social/relational communication. Individualistic and collectivistic GVT members exhibited different patterns of perceived TTF for task convergence and process management over time. The perceived TTF for task conveyance and process management of high UA GVT members using the enhanced ICT increased significantly over time. These findings suggest that, when using an ICT, one may need to pay attention to different ICO dimensions when communicating for different purposes. They also suggest that making small changes in an ICT design may trigger different reactions among GVT members with different ICOs.
