Situated Coworker Familiarity: How Site Visits Transform Relationships Among Distributed Workers

Pamela J. Hinds () and Catherine Durnell Cramton ()
Additional contact information
Pamela J. Hinds: Center for Work, Technology and Organization, Department of Management Science and Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California 94305
Catherine Durnell Cramton: School of Management, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia 22030

Organization Science, 2014, vol. 25, issue 3, 794-814

Abstract: Previous research describes significant benefits from coworker familiarity but has largely assumed proximity and that familiarity accrues simply with the passage of time. Based on a qualitative study of 164 workers on globally distributed teams, we propose that relationships transform as a result of situated coworker familiarity established when people are collocated in a shared space for an extended period of time. Site visits play a pivotal role in enabling coworkers to become more familiar with one another’s communication and work styles, capabilities and interests, personalities, work and social roles, and the cultural context in which they are embedded, thus transforming their relationships. After returning home, situated familiarity fosters behaviors reflecting closer ties, which then reinforce those bonds, suggesting that the situated nature of site visits transforms work relationships between distant coworkers in enduring ways. We contribute grounded theory about how situated coworker familiarity comes about and how coworker relationships transform as a result, particularly when workers spend most of their time apart.

Keywords: computer-supported collaborative work; organization communication and information systems; qualitative research; research design and methods; psychological processes; organizational behavior (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

Downloads: (external link)
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2013.0869 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:inm:ororsc:v:25:y:2014:i:3:p:794-814

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Organization Science from INFORMS Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Asher ().