Nationality Diversity and Performance in Global Software Development Teams: the Role of Temporal dispersion and Leadership

Data from 247 global software development teams were used to examine the impact of temporal dispersion and leadership roles on the relationship between nationality diversity and team performance. Nationality diversity was positively related to team performance when project leaders regularly coordinate and monitor team members’ activities, and acted as mentors and facilitator. However, when nationality diversity was low teams performed better when leaders did not regularly engage on these roles. Teams that experienced low temporal dispersion performed better that team that experienced high temporal dispersion regardless of their degree of nationality diversity. Finally, the effect of nationality diversity on team performance was positive on teams with low temporal dispersion, but negative on teams with high temporal dispersion. These findings suggest that teams under different conditions require different leadership schemas and emphasizes the complex roles that nationality diversity, temporal dispersion and leadership play on global teams.