Leadership and Conflict in Virtual teams: A Bibliometric Analysis

Covid 19 presents a major challenge and opportunity for remote working, highlighting the need for electronically mediated leadership in team tasks and performance. The social dynamics underlying the leadership benefits of conflict management in Virtual Teams (VTs) remain elusive thus far. This study focuses on the leader's conflict management dynamics in VTs. From the perspective of leadership as a solution to social problems, we argue that leadership is related to functional team problem solving solution-oriented, framed within the digital leadership and conflict management literature. Therefore, the authors formulated the following research questions to guide the analysis to conduct the bibliometric study: What is the current extent and analysis of research on the relationship between leadership and conflict in VTs? Who are the most influential authors and articles in the field of leadership and conflict in VTs? How have keywords and topics related to leadership and conflict evolved in VTs and what are the implications for future research? Some of the responses emerged from our review of the existing literature on VTs; others are rooted in the team's larger literature or discussed within the VTs practitioner literature. Within the domain of VTs, technological innovation is reshaping team interactions, enabling previously disconnected individuals to collaborate. As a result, VTs hold great promise for organizations and the field continues to be filled with re-search opportunities for the next few decades. Our analysis affirms the increasing interest in this topic and marks an initial exploratory phase of the literature study, guiding future research steps.