How the Internet of Things is reshaping teamwork: An experimental study

As a result of the increasing number of Internet of Things (IoT) systems in industrial organizations, the way in which teams are composed is changing. Specifically, forms of collaboration in various working environments are subject to transformation, leading to unstable membership within teams (i.e., fluid teams). Drawing on the theory of affordances, we aim to investigate the relationship between IoT implementation and the prevalence of fluid teams. The results of an experimental vignette study featuring 1001 respondents indicate that (1) the degree of IoT implementation has a highly significant impact on the utility of creating fluid teams and (2) the type of task in question does not moderate this relationship. Our study has relevant theoretical implications fostering an integrated understanding of the interplay of IoT systems and the resulting changes at the team level. In this context, we contribute specifically to improving the understanding of affordance existence and affordance perception, as we consider IoT-specific attributes with respect to their impact at the ‘meso’ level.