Multinational and Multicultural Distributed Teams

TLDR

Teams spanning multiple geographic, temporal, and cultural boundaries are increasingly common across industries, prompting multidisciplinary research into multinational, multicultural distributed teams. This article reviews and critiques existing research on multinational, multicultural distributed teams. The authors examine how scholars conceptualize culture, discuss the role of distribution, and propose a research agenda for MNMC distributed teams. They argue that scholars should adopt more nuanced views of culture and distribution to capture the complexities of MNMC distributed team characteristics and processes.

Abstract

Teams that span multiple geographic, temporal, and cultural boundaries have become prevalent in many industries and sectors. Researchers from multiple disciplines have begun to examine these multinational, multicultural (MNMC) distributed teams. The purpose of this article is to provide a review and critique of existing research in this area. To this end, the authors examine the ways scholars have conceptualized culture in this research, discuss the role that distribution is found to play in these teams, and provide a research agenda. The authors argue that scholars should continue to complicate their views of culture and embrace nuanced views of distribution to reflect the complexities of MNMC distributed team characteristics and processes.