Cohesion in virtual teams

Abstract

With the advent of new technology-enabled organizational forms, firms are increasingly relying on virtual teams to accomplish organizational objectives. For those studying these environments, sound measurement of work team phenomena, such as group cohesion, is the key to understanding the impact of these new technologies on team processes and performance. Bollen and Hoyle (1990) created a six-item Perceived Cohesion Scale (PCS) to measure cohesion in groups and employed a study of large groups to assess the psychometric qualities of their scale. Chin et al. (1999) validated the PCS measure using a study of small groups that were collocated. The present effort extends the Chin et al. (1999) adaptation of Bollen and Hoyle's PCS scale to virtual teams and attempts to validate it in this setting. Our findings indicate support for the validity, reliability and factorial stability of the measure in this virtual team context.