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PurposeThe paper aims to introduce the papers in this special issue which highlight the importance of cooperation in organizations, and outline future research directions.Design/methodology/approachConceptual approaches to cooperation in organizations are described and a brief outline is given to each paper in the special issue.FindingsThis special issue brings together studies that enhance our theoretical understanding of cooperation, addressing core issues related to the role of cultural differences, virtual communication, team processes, leader behavior, and the impact of norms on cooperation.Practical implicationsFactors that facilitate or hinder cooperation in organizations are highlighted, and suggestions on how to deal with those issues in practice are provided. The papers facilitate understanding of the role of cultural differences, communication, team processes, and leader behavior on cooperation in organizations.Originality/valueThe paper provides an introduction to the special issue.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to inform readers on what is known on information processing in virtual teams and to discuss the consequences of these findings for the management of virtual teams.Design/methodology approachSystematic review of the literature on information processing in virtual teams based on a general information processing model for teams.FindingsAn overview of the most relevant factors that influence the effectiveness of virtual teams is provided.Research limitations/implicationsThe review is based on existing literature on virtual teams and it discusses future research directions opened by the conceptualization of virtual teams as information processing systems.Practical implicationsThe paper identifies the factors that can improve the effectiveness of information processing in virtual teams.Originality/valueThe general information‐processing model for teams enables a systematic integration of the fragmented literature on virtual teams.

PurposeThis paper sets out to test the mediating role of internal network density and external network range in the relationship between educational diversity (i.e. separation and variety) and group effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachThe authors surveyed 267 employees in 54 organizational groups.FindingsThe study's results show that educational separation has a U‐shaped relationship with the advice network density. Moreover, educational variety moderates the relation of educational separation with external network range in such a way that for groups with high educational variety, the relationship between educational separation and external network range is U‐shaped, while for groups with low educational variety the relationship has an inverted U shape. The results also show that internal network density and external network range mediate the relationship between educational diversity and group effectiveness.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper extends the literature on group diversity by simultaneously exploring two forms of educational diversity (separation and variety) as they relate to group network density and external network range. The study is cross‐sectional, restricting causal inferences and future research should further explore the way in which the alignment of educational variety and separation relates to social network structure and group effectiveness.Practical implicationsUnderstanding the association between educational diversity and group social network structure and the way they relate to group effectiveness enables managers to improve group effectiveness.Originality/valueThe paper is one of the first to explore the curvilinear association between educational diversity and social network structure.Social implicationsBy exploring the relation between diversity and social network structures, these results increase understanding of how to address diversity issues at the societal level.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the triple interaction of task conflict, emotion regulation and group temporariness on the emergence of relationship conflict.Design/methodology/approachA field study was conducted to test the interaction of emotion regulation and task conflict on the emergence of relationship conflict in 43 short‐term (temporary) groups and 44 long‐term groups.FindingsThe results show that the highest chance for task conflict to evolve into relationship conflict is when groups (both short‐term and long‐term) have less effective emotion regulation processes, while task and relationship conflict are rather decoupled in long‐term groups scoring high on emotion regulation.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper concludes with a discussion of the obtained results in terms of their implications for conflict management in groups. Further research should explore the moderation effects in longitudinal studies in order to fully test the variables in the model.Originality/valueThe paper answers the call for contingency models of intra‐group conflict and tests the moderating effect of two such contingencies in the relationship between task and relationship conflict.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to examine the influence of group composition in cultural values on conflict management styles in groups.Design/methodology/approachA field study using data from 125 groups was conducted.FindingsThe results show that in groups where members feel they are equal and connected (horizontal collectivism) cooperation is better, and contending and avoiding conflict management styles are used less. When people view themselves as unequal and independent (vertical individualism (VI)) the avoiding style of conflict management is more frequently used. Within‐group similarity (low variety) in VI leads to more cooperation and less avoidant conflict management strategies as well as less third party interventions. High group variety in views of being unequal, but interconnected (vertical collectivism), as well as in the views of being equal but independent (horizontal individualism), leads to more cooperative conflict resolution strategy.Practical implicationsThe results show that small and consistent within‐group differences in cultural values are beneficial (with the exception of VI) for cooperative strategies. By showing that group compositional configurations in cultural values (vertical/horizontal individualism and collectivism) impact on conflict management strategies, the study has important implications for team design.Originality/valueThe paper extends current research by conceptualizing cultural values (it considers the horizontal vs vertical orientation in individualism‐collectivism) as configural group properties and by testing the impact of specific team configurations in cultural values on conflict management strategies.