Virtual communities (VCs) have become essential in current organizations and society, and so their sustainability is a topic of interest for researchers and practitioners. We focus on the sense of virtual community (SoVC) and commitment as relevant antecedents in achieving the success and maintenance of different types of VCs (communities of interest, virtual learning communities, and VCs of practice). Specifically, this study examines a moderated mediation model in which the type of VC moderates the indirect effect of a SoVC on the intention to continue through the perceived commitment of the users of the VC. The sample consists of 299 members of VCs. The results showed that SoVC influenced the intention to continue via commitment to VCs. Additionally, the relationship between SoVC and commitment was higher for communities of interest and virtual learning communities than for VCs of practice. This article contributes to previous literature by identifying the importance of participants’ engagement and the contingent effect of the type of community. Implications of the study and directions for future research are discussed.

The aim of this study was twofold. First, we examined the relationship between virtual teams’ emotional intelligence composition and three indicators of their members’ well-being, members’ satisfaction with the team, and positive and negative affective states. Second, we analyzed the moderator role of an online team emotional management intervention in the effects of the team emotional intelligence composition. One hundred and two virtual teams participated in an experimental study with repeated measures. Teams were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to help them detect and manage emotions during virtual teamwork or a control condition (with no intervention). We followed a hierarchical data strategy and examined a number of nested models using Hierarchical Linear Modeling. Our findings showed that virtual teams’ emotional intelligence composition is a key driver of the team members’ well-being, and that a team emotional management intervention moderated the impact of the team composition of emotional intelligence, buffering its influence.

The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of an online affect management intervention on relationship conflict through the rate of growth of team resilience in virtual teams with diversity faultlines. Fifty-two 4-person teams participated in a randomized controlled trial design with repeated measures (i.e., three measurement occasions). Teams were randomly assigned to either an intervention designed to help them manage emotions in virtual teams or a control condition. Our findings showed that affect management can reduce the level of relationship conflict in virtual teams with diversity faultlines and that this effect can be explained by the pattern of change in team resilience in response to the intervention. This study contributes to past research on identifying ways to prevent or mitigate team conflicts arising from diversity faultlines.

A disruptive digitalization recently occurred that led to the fast adoption of virtual teams. However, membership diversity and team virtuality threaten members’ well-being, especially if faultlines appear (i.e., subgroups). Considering the job demands–resources model and the role of group affect in shaping members’ perceptions of well-being, we test the effectiveness of a short-term affect management training for increasing members’ eudaimonic well-being. Moreover, based on the trait activation theory and the contingent configuration approach, we draw on the personality composition literature to test how different openness to experience configurations of team level and diversity together moderate the effect of the training. Hypotheses were tested using a pre–post design in an online randomized controlled trial in an educational context in Spain, with a sample of 52 virtual teams with faultlines. Results show that affect management training increased eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, there was a moderation effect (three-way interaction) of openness to experience configurations, so that the training was more effective in teams with high levels and low diversity in openness to experience. We discuss implications for training, well-being, and personality composition literature. This study helps organizations develop sustainable virtual teams with engaged members through affect management training and selection processes based on the openness to experience trait.

Virtual communities are essential in contemporary social and organizational domains. Their sustainability is largely propelled by members’ contributions, and yet the mechanisms for achieving significant participation remain ambiguous. Grounded in the Technology Acceptance Model, our primary objective is to identify the factors that may predict the intention to participate in a virtual community of practice; secondly, we aim to detect the most influential predictor(s) and the best model. In this paper, we conduct a cross-sectional study with a sample of 114 virtual community participants. Our multiple and weighted regression analyses reveal that technological, personal, and motivational factors sway participation intentions. Nevertheless, a combination of specific factors, interactivity, self-efficacy, and identification, are the most closely related to participation intention. This research offers valuable insights for organizations and community promoters, enhancing member retention and interaction stimulation and thereby constructing sustainable virtual environments through effective community design and management.