This book offers a comprehensive and systematic exploration of how cultural diversity shapes collaboration in global virtual teams, examining both the challenges and opportunities that arise when multicultural teams work across digital platforms in today's globalised workplace. Combining a rigorous systematic literature review with computational topic modelling, it traces how cross-cultural differences influence seven interconnected dimensions of team life: language, conflict management, leadership, trust formation, knowledge sharing, media choice, and cultural intelligence. Readers will encounter key debates, landmark studies, and emerging findings across each of these domains, before arriving at the book's original contribution: the Flower Model, which positions cultural Intelligence as the central mechanism determining whether cultural diversity becomes a source of innovation or a driver of fragmentation in geographically dispersed teams. Designed for scholars, doctoral students, and professionals in cross-cultural management, organisational behaviour, and international human resource management, the book offers both theoretical insight and practical strategies for leading multicultural virtual teams effectively, equipping readers with the tools to transform cultural complexity into a genuine competitive advantage.

Mariya Kargina, PhD, is a scholar in organisational behaviour, cross-cultural management, and global virtual teams, based between the University of Rome "Tor Vergata", Italy, and the University of Lincoln, UK. She is a recipient of the Emerald Literati Outstanding Paper Award and serves as Associate Editor of Strategic Change (Wiley).