3D Collaborative Virtual Environments: Exploring the Link between Collaborative Behaviors and Team Performance
通过39个虚拟团队的实验，识别出与不同绩效水平相关的协作行为模式，揭示三维协作虚拟环境的空间和视觉特征如何改变虚拟工作。
Increasingly, organizational work is conducted by virtual teams interacting across boundaries of space and time. Despite advances in collaborative technologies, members of virtual teams often find the experience challenging and a far cry from physically “being there.” In response, immersive and interactive three-dimensional collaborative virtual environments (3D CVEs) are emerging and purported to address the shortcoming of earlier technologies. How teams will interact and ultimately perform in a 3D environment remains to be seen. In this study, drawing from group and communication theories, we explore the link between collaborative behaviors and the performance of virtual teams working in a 3D CVE. We report on the results of a controlled experiment consisting of 39 virtual teams of 91 individuals. Through cluster analysis, we identify distinct patterns of collaborative behaviors associated with differential levels of performance. Our findings provide a deeper understanding of how the unique spatial and visual characteristics of 3D CVEs may transform virtual work.