Creating resource passageways in cross-cultural virtual work teams: a longitudinal field study

Abstract

Purpose

Lens of conservation of resources (COR) theory has been used to study how organizations can create resource passageways for their employees via managers. This has been examined in cross-cultural virtual work teams distributed across time and space within the high-resource loss context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Design/methodology/approach

Longitudinal field design was used in a transnational organization involving data collection at three times over eight months. At Time 1, qualitative methodology was used to propose a conceptual model. At Time 2 and Time 3, an online survey was used to collect data for 205 virtual work teams across 10 countries in the Asia–Pacific region pre and post “manager as coach” training respectively.

Findings

Using COR theory, the study highlights that “manager as coach” training is an effective resource for managers in the high resource depletion context of the pandemic. Access to timely support increases saliency for the resource-gain spiral and has a cross-over impact on virtual work team outcomes suggesting transferability of resources from managers to subordinates. Also, managers across all nationalities view coaching training as an equally valuable resource.

Practical implications

The study provides evidence for investment in timely and relevant support for managers to positively and swiftly impact virtual work teams during high-resource loss contexts.

Originality/value

The study expands COR crossover theory across space and time dimensions using a longitudinal field research design.

Citation

Kaur, P., Prashar, A. and Bhatnagar, J. (2024), "Creating resource passageways in cross-cultural virtual work teams: a longitudinal field study", Personnel Review, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 336-352. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-10-2021-0719