Photo sharing in diverse distributed teams

In this research we examined the impact of photo sharing on attitudes and behaviors towards local versus distant team members. In an online experiment, we varied content and presentation of photos shared by a hypothetical team spanning two locations. We found similarity in shared photo content promoted pro-social behaviors towards team members regardless of location. We also found that the way the photos were organized moderated the impact of photo similarity, with diverging effects towards local versus distant team members. Our results indicate that photo sharing can promote positive behavior towards distant others under certain conditions. These results can inform the nature of photo sharing for team building.

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