Team Communication Actions: Beyond the Dichotomy of Face-to-Face versus Virtual Interactions in Teams

The usage of multiple communication media, including face-to-face interactions and information communication technologies (ICTs), is a relevant characteristic of modern teams. Yet, the examination of this phenomenon has presented several limitations in the literature. First, research has usually linked the use of ICTs to conditions of spatial and/or temporal dispersion between team members, studying them as part of virtual teams or team virtuality. Second, the capabilities offered by ICTs have been mostly ignored, considering them inferior means of communication compared to face-to-face interactions. Third, past research in teams has also adopted deterministic views of media in which their material attributes are assumed to be used by users without considering the role of human agency. Considering all the above, this thesis will present the new construct of team communication actions to address some of these limitations. This thesis follows a Thesis-by-publication format comprising three different articles. The first article will develop and present the idea of team communication actions. The second develops and validates a scale to measure team communication actions. The final article examines how different team communication actions can be relevant for team effectiveness by analysing their impacts on several teamwork processes and, ultimately, on team performance.