Central European Business Review 2023, 12(5):117-149 | DOI: 10.18267/j.cebr.341

How to Enable Trust While Transforming Teamwork from a Face-to-Face to a Virtual Environment in the Context of COVID-19

Ina Kern ORCID...1, Philip Emmerich ORCID...2, Anna Lübbe3
1 Technical University of Berlin, Faculty 7: Economics and Management, Department of Technology and Innovations Management, Berlin, Germany, ina.kern@campus.tu-berlin.de (corresponding author)
2 Technical University of Berlin, Faculty 7: Economics and Management, Department of Technology and Innovations Management, Berlin, Germany, philip.emmerich@tu-berlin.de
3 Robert Koch Institute, Berlin, Germany, luebbea@rki.de

The coronavirus pandemic was one of the greatest global challenges in history – primarily as a health issue, but also as an economic challenge. The need to control the pandemic has led to a significant shift towards virtual collaboration, which has also exposed the lack of preparedness of most German companies for the abrupt virtualization of teamwork. This raises the question of approaches to the implementation and design of virtual collaboration in practice. This paper reviews and extends the current state of research into virtual collaboration by interviewing experts in the IT consulting industry, considering the challenges in the context of the pandemic. As a response, this paper proposes practical approaches to the implementation and design of virtual collaboration, including a guideline for adapting to the increasingly virtual collaboration environment within teams and beyond the pandemic.
Implications for Central European audience: The model presented in this paper includes factors that are relevant to current practice and can enhance efficient and productive virtual collaboration in the post-pandemic world. 

Keywords: virtual teams; trust; transfer problem; technology adaption
JEL classification: D91, O33

Received: March 30, 2023; Revised: May 16, 2023; Accepted: June 15, 2023; Prepublished online: September 4, 2023; Published: December 18, 2023  Show citation

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Kern, I., Emmerich, P., & Lübbe, A. (2023). How to Enable Trust While Transforming Teamwork from a Face-to-Face to a Virtual Environment in the Context of COVID-19. Central European Business Review, 12(5), 117-149. doi: 10.18267/j.cebr.341
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