Foreign Language Use, Virtuality, and the Creative Performance of Dyadic Teams
通过95个二元团队的实验，发现使用外语会降低团队创意表现，但外语熟练度可缓解；在虚拟互动中，外语团队的创意表现反而更好。
Abstract Firms rely on their employees’ creativity to drive innovation and secure competitive advantages. In the modern workplace, team members often collaborate in a non-native language and interact virtually rather than face-to-face. Yet, the effects of foreign language use and virtuality on the creative performance of teams have not been fully explored. The present study addresses this issue using an experiment with 95 dyadic teams, which we randomly assigned to either a foreign or a native language condition. In line with our theoretical reasoning, we find that foreign language use is detrimental for team creative performance, an effect that can be alleviated by team members’ foreign language proficiency. We further observe that, at least in the foreign language condition, interacting virtually rather than face-to-face can stimulate team creative performance. Virtuality may thus help alleviate some globalization-induced challenges to nurturing creative performance.