Full Text Available

Note: Clicking the button above will open the full text document at the original institutional repository in a new window.

Virtual team leadership identity work

Thesis (PhD (Organisational Behaviour))--University of Pretoria, 2024.

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Other Authors: Stanz, Karel J.
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: University of Pretoria 2025
Subjects:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1867613635867574272
access_status_str Open Access
author2 Stanz, Karel J.
author_browse Stanz, Karel J.
author_facet Stanz, Karel J.
collection Thesis
dc_rights_str_mv © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria.
description Thesis (PhD (Organisational Behaviour))--University of Pretoria, 2024.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101393
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:39:17.410Z
license_str Other — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2025
publishDateRange 2025
publishDateSort 2025
publisher University of Pretoria
publisherStr University of Pretoria
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/101393 Virtual team leadership identity work Stanz, Karel J. elonya@cybersmart.co.za Luyt, Karen Coetzee, Elonya UCTD Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) COVID-induced virtual teams Behavioural complexity Complex adaptive agency Identity work Paradoxes Role identity Virtual leadership Thesis (PhD (Organisational Behaviour))--University of Pretoria, 2024. The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the work-from-home movement, introducing COVID-induced virtual teams. The enforced nature of these teams posed new complexities and paradoxes that the team leader needed to address, thereby requiring new role descriptions as virtual team leaders. The aim was to theorise the identity work involved in reconstructing role identity when leaders transition to leading teams in COVID-induced virtual contexts, and how they respond to the paradoxical tensions posed by virtuality. Little empirical research is available on the role transition of leaders and the complexities and paradoxes that emerge when being necessitated to lead teams virtually due to an external crisis such as a global pandemic. A qualitative, constructivist grounded theory approach was used. Online interviews were conducted with 18 participants. The analytical strategies of a constructivist grounded theory approach and the Gioia methodology guided the data analysis process. The collaboration, productivity, role identity, technology, and work-life paradoxes introduced several role complexities for leaders of COVID-induced virtual teams. These role complexities were triggers for identity tensions as leaders needed to adjust their leadership roles to address the complexities and remain effective in their roles as leaders. The adaptive solutions that they used to claim their role as virtual leaders entailed the behavioural complexity between transactional and transformational practices. This study offers a novel view of role theory by proposing that roles are complex adaptive systems that respond to the paradoxes and complexities that emerge when teams shift to working remotely, resulting in the emergence of adapted leadership role behaviours. A grounded model was developed whereby the concept of complex adaptive agency is used to describe the identity work of leaders. Human Resource Management PhD (Organisational Behaviour) Unrestricted Faculty of Economic And Management Sciences None 2025-03-07T13:31:16Z 2025-03-07T13:31:16Z 2025-04 2024-10 Thesis * A2025 http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101393 https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.28507427 en © 2023 University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. application/pdf University of Pretoria
spellingShingle UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
COVID-induced virtual teams
Behavioural complexity
Complex adaptive agency
Identity work
Paradoxes
Role identity
Virtual leadership
Virtual team leadership identity work
title Virtual team leadership identity work
title_full Virtual team leadership identity work
title_fullStr Virtual team leadership identity work
title_full_unstemmed Virtual team leadership identity work
title_short Virtual team leadership identity work
title_sort virtual team leadership identity work
topic UCTD
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
COVID-induced virtual teams
Behavioural complexity
Complex adaptive agency
Identity work
Paradoxes
Role identity
Virtual leadership
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/101393
https://doi.org/10.25403/UPresearchdata.28507427