Abstract

This study is an exploration into the critical success factors of virtual project work to determine the effects on virtual project performance. The challenge of management today is developing strategically flexible organizations in response to high technological pressures and increasingly competitive marketplaces One of the widely adopted team-based designs by many organizations today is the technology-mediated group, or often referred to as the virtual team. As the shift to virtual environments becomes more prevalent in organizations, it would be extremely valuable to explore some of the factors that contribute to this successful shift. The aim of this research is to investigate some organizational and technological critical success factors of virtual project work and determine their impact on virtual project performance. The organizations targeted to participate in this study, were located in all provinces across Canada. The results indicate that (1) affective commitment, (2) perceived organizational support, (3) management support, (4) technological support and (5) perceived benefits are established critical success factors of virtual project performance among virtual teams. Managerial as well as theoretical implications are discussed and future avenues for research in this field are also provided based on the results obtained in this study