Impact of virtualness and task interdependence on extra-role performance in software development teams

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of virtualness on extra-role performance within software development teams and the moderating effect of task interdependence on this relationship. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 192 software professionals from 33 software development teams. Teams were taken as the unit of analysis. Extra-role performance was measured using organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) scale and task interdependence within the team was measured by interdependence scale developed by Pearce and Gregersen. Virtualness was measured using an objective measure developed by the authors. Regression was used to study the moderation and main effects. Findings - Virtualness negatively influenced overall extra-role performance within the team. In terms of individual dimensions, virtualness had a negative influence on extra-role performances directed towards team as an entity (civic virtue and generalized compliance) but it had no impact over extra-role performances directed towards other team members (altruism and courtesy). Although task interdependence had a positive impact on OCBs, it did not moderate the relationship between virtualness and OCBs. Practical implications - The findings will help teams understand the need to manage virtualness within the team in order to increase extra-role performance among its members. Originality/value - The authors have developed an objective method to compute virtualness within the team context. The moderating effect of task interdependence on the relationship between virtualness and extra-role performance has been studied for the first time and is documented in this paper.