The effects of cognitive thinking styles, trust, conflict management on online students’ learning and virtual team performance

Cognitive style has been regarded as one of the important variables to predict individual cognitive functioning. This paper describes an empirical study that examined the role of thinking styles in relation to students’ online learning and teamwork performance. Two hundred and eight students in an online MBA (Master of Business Administration) program participated in the study. Datawere collected through surveys and content analysis of online conference transcripts. Sternberg’s thinking style inventory was used to measure two dimensions of cognitive style: levels and scope. A personal reflection questionnaire was administrated to measure some variables concerning virtual team experiences including trust, conflict management styles and teamwork satisfaction. The evidence gathered suggests that cognitive styles may be a poor indicator of students’ overall online learning performance. However, cognitive style had predictive power over the students’ satisfaction with their teamwork experience, as well as the level of trust they exhibited in their team members. This study implies that it would be useful to integrate cognitive styles of individual students as one of the design factors which could foster successful online virtual team experiences.