A research on understanding the effects of foreign language proficiency on team leadership and performance in multinational teams: The case of Survivor contest

Multinational teams in the modern business world prove that only leaders with a high level of language and cultural proficiency can effectively manage the diversity of members representing two or more countries. The aim of this study is to understand the effect of foreign language proficiency on team leadership and performance in multinational teams. In this manner, the study is qualitative research. Two methods were employed to carry out this study. First, the videos of the 2019 season of the "Survivor" contest, which has been broadcasted on Turkish television channels for 16 years, were watched. Second, some semi-structured interviews were conducted with contestants of Survivor contest 2019 on the internet environment. The findings of this study indicate that the language proficiency of individuals affects the performance and leadership of multinational teams positively and negatively. This study mainly tries to explain three perspectives on language proficiency and leadership. First, it tries to understand the factors that determine the leader in multinational teams. Second, examine the requirement of individuals' language proficiency for the efficiency of leadership and performance. And third, trying to examine how language proficiency affects leadership in the context of multinational teams. Key Words: Multinational teams, language barriers, team leadership, team performance.