Virtual Interactions

Virtual interactions include any interpersonal experience conducted between people who are not physically in the same location and must use technology to communicate. As technology improves, people who would otherwise never meet increasingly engage in virtual interactions. Technology has also given more people a platform for sharing information and opinions, a privilege held only by formal media outlets just a decade ago. This technology-enabled interconnectedness has created a new culture in many companies in which work is conducted around the clock, either by global teams or by individuals who continue their virtual interactions during nonwork hours. Thus, virtual interactions have many implications for organizations, employees, and industrial and organizational psychology in general.