We investigated the relationship between team empowerment and virtual team performance
and the moderating role of the extent of face-to-face interaction using 35
sales and service virtual teams in a high-technology organization. Team empowerment
was positively related to two independent assessments of virtual team performance—
process improvement and customer satisfaction. Further, the number of face-to-face
meetings moderated the relationship between team empowerment and process improvement:
team empowerment was a stronger predictor for teams that met face-toface
less, rather than more, frequently.