Going virtual in the e-world – an environment-adaptation perspective on organisational virtuality

Widespread applications of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) and their advancements have led to a flourishing e-world, where organisations are profoundly changing their ways of doing business to take advantage of the electronic environment. An increasing number of organisations are going 'virtual', as part of the prevailing e-phenomenon, using ICTs to connect to geographically dispersed and functionally diverse units. Despite the sweeping trend of going virtual, the existing literature lacks a clear understanding of what makes an organisation virtual, and how environmental factors may affect the extent of organisational virtuality. To rectify this omission, this paper offers a definition of organisational virtuality. Based on the technical environment-adaptation theory, the authors investigate environmental influences on organisational form, and conclude the study with a discussion of the implications of going virtual for researchers and practitioners.