Virtual team leadership scale development in multinational companies

As a result of developments in technology, globalization and digitalization, virtual teams have become indispensable for many industries. Transformations in information and communication technology have provided new opportunities for businesses to create and manage virtual teams. Today, all organizations have had to introduce new methods of communication and started to continue their conversations through digital platforms. It has become inevitable for teams to form in such virtual environments. Virtual team members are made up of individuals from different genders, experiences, cultures and geographic locations. While there are leaders in virtual teams as in face-to-face environments, this type of leadership performs its function through information and communication technologies, unlike traditional types. Although there are many studies on face-to-face leadership in academic studies and despite the increasing use of digital platforms, it is observed that there is a need for studies on leadership styles in virtual organizations. The main purpose of this study is to create a scale about leadership characteristics in virtual teams. With the present study, it is aimed to develop a valid and reliable scale in order to discover and analyze the virtual team leadership characteristics of individuals within the multinational companies. During the scale development process, literatüre review, focus group interviews and statistical analysis were used to create the items to be included in the scale. First of all, focus group discussions were conducted by examining the scale developments on the leadership phenomenon. A total of three focus group interviews were held, expert opinions were used to ensure the content validity of the results, and a draft scale with 36 items was created as a result. After drafting the scale, a pilot study was carried out on a sample of 123 people from multinational companies located in the Marmara region. The results were listed with the exploratory factor analysis performed in order to measure the construct validity of the results obtained as a result of the pilot application. In the study, Kaiser Meyer Olkin (KMO) and Bartlett's tests were conducted to determine the suitability of the data set used for factor analysis, and this value was 0.826. While the value sought in the Barlett test was p <0.05, it was seen in the present study that the sufficient ratio between the variables was provided with this value and it was concluded that there was a high correlation. The total variance associated with all factors is shown with scree plot. Varimax method, which is among the vertical rotation methods, was preferred as the factor rotation method. As a result, a measurement tool consisting of 36 expressions and 7 sub-dimensions was obtained. However, due to the overlap between some items, the analysis was repeated and 7 items were removed from the scale, and 6 factors were reached, explaining 59.429% of the total variance. The virtual team leadership scale was obtained by ordering the managerial characteristics dimension as 8 items, the interactivity dimension 6 items, the human relations dimension 6 items, the personal traits dimension 3 items, the rewarding dimension 3 items, and the flexibility dimension 3 items. With this study, it is aimed to obtain a valid and reliable measurement tool by considering the perception of employees in multinational companies in order to approach the virtual team leadership phenomenon from a different perspective and determine the characteristics of the leader in the virtual environment. With this leadership scale created for virtual teams, the factors of effective and efficient leadership in the developing phenomenon of digitalization and online environments have been tried to be explained. Keywords: Multinational Company, Virtual Team, Leadership, Scale Development, Virtual Team Leadership