Abstract
As researchers today seek to understand how virtual worlds may be effectively leveraged for collaborative purposes, exploring the role of leadership in virtual world teams may help shed light on how to manage synchronous and highly interdependent work activities for better team outcomes. Based upon Leader-Member Exchange (LMX) Theory, this dissertation seeks to understand how leadership affects team member performance and proposes that 1) the relationship between a leader and a team member influences the degree to which a team member is allocated and develops resources and 2) to the extent which a team member receives or develops resources, their performance will be enhanced.
Findings from a field survey of 61 members in a large virtual world team (VWT) within the MMORPG Everquest suggest that leader-member relationships matter, having a direct impact on members’ allocation and development of resources. However, a mediation test strongly suggests that it is the quantity and the type of resource that impacts performance and not the direct influence of the leader-member relationship. From a theoretical standpoint, opening the “black box” of LMX theory has revealed more precise causal mechanisms by which leader-member relationships impact performance. The influential resources identified include two dimensions of empowerment, access to better work assignments, benevolence-based trust, obligation, and identification. From a practical standpoint, this research provides guidance into what leaders may do to effectively management VWTs. For example, better member performance could be achieved through coaching and avoiding micro-management, providing members with better team assignments, and binding VWT members to each other such that collective interest replaces self-interest.
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