Group Dynamics: Theory, Research, and Practice, Vol 28(1), Mar 2024, 1-16; doi:10.1037/gdn0000208
Objective: The COVID-19 pandemic transitioned many professionally led groups from in-person to virtual settings. This survey-based study explored the relationships between leader virtual self-efficacy, leader perceptions of participants’ behaviors (undermining of group boundaries and emotional expressiveness), and leader perceptions of adaptive interpersonal group processes (how the group-as-a-whole manages conflicts, builds confidence and motivation, and regulates affect). Drawing on social-cognitive theory and virtual group literature, we hypothesized that leader virtual self-efficacy would be positively related to leader perceptions of adaptive interpersonal group processes via two forms of participant behaviors: undermining of group boundaries and emotional expressiveness. Method: Our sample was composed of professional group leaders with little or no prior experience in virtual facilitation who transitioned to leading at least one virtual synchronous video group for the first time (N = 123, Mage = 43.3, SD = 10.88 years) due to the pandemic. Participants completed self-report measures, and linear regression mediation analyses were conducted using PROCESS. Results: Leader self-efficacy was related positively to adaptive interpersonal group processes (β = .17), negatively to participants’ undermining of boundaries (β = −.38), and positively to participants’ emotional expressiveness (β = .46). Participants’ undermining of boundaries was negatively related to leader perceptions of adaptive interpersonal group processes (β = −.11), while emotional expressiveness was positively related to interpersonal group processes (β = .30). Findings suggest direct and indirect associations between leader self-efficacy and adaptive interpersonal group processes. Conclusions: Results highlight the importance of leaders’ self-efficacy in virtual group facilitation, especially in transitional times, and indicate two possible participant behaviors associated with negative perception of group processes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)