A cross-level study of identification in geographically dispersed teams: The role of leadership

Overcoming the barriers imposed by distance, culture, and time zones to develop a shared identity and perform effectively as a team is a key challenge in globally dispersed settings. In this paper we investigate the role of inspirational leadership in influencing identification in geographically dispersed teams. Based on social identity theory, we proposed that leaders, particularly inspirational leaders, can play a key role in enhancing an individual's identification with the team. We considered trust in team members as a partial mediator of the relationship between inspirational leadership and identification. Further, using a cross-level methodology we examined team level dispersion as a moderating influence on the individual level relationship between perceptions of inspirational leadership and identification with the team. Based on a sample of 170 dispersed employees nested within 41 teams providing customer service and support in a Fortune 500 software and hardware company with operations in over 40 countries, our results indicate that inspirational leadership predicted identification with the team. Inspirational leadership also predicted trust in team members which, in turn, predicted identification with the team. In addition, team dispersion moderated the relationship between inspirational leadership and individual's team identification as well as trust. The positive relationship between inspirational leadership and identification with the team and trust in team members was strengthened in teams that were more dispersed. Finally, aggregated members' identification with the team predicted team performance.