Abstract

Despite much scholarly interest in team collaboration in virtual worlds, limited attention has been given to the risks posed by member mobility cascades and to identifying key members who play a critical role in sustaining team resilience under such conditions. This study proposes that key members can be recognized through their consistent interpersonal network-building preferences across social roles. Relational event models trace 6,114 individuals who joined or left 3,056 teams over three years on a large gaming platform. The results reveal an inbound mobility cascade, where prior member attraction increases subsequent inbound mobility and reduces outbound mobility. In this scenario, collaboration-prone individuals drive this trend because they prefer integration through coordinating disconnected members and recognition through prosocial contributions. Conversely, an outbound mobility cascade describes how prior attrition triggers further outbound mobility and suppresses inbound mobility. In this context, arbitration-prone individuals counteract this trend because they prefer vision through converging diverse resources and control of resource flows.

DOI

10.17705/1jais.00995

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