Team Faultlines in Online Visual Programming Learning Platform: Considering the Effect of Team Leaders’ Characteristics

This study investigates the impact of faultlines, created by differences in multiple attribute characteristics among team members, on the learning performance of online programming teams, utilizing data from all studios on the Codemao platform. Contrasting with traditional offline work teams or online crowdsourcing competition teams, online learning teams exhibit lower competitiveness and a more flexible internal structure. Our findings reveal that team faultlines impede team interaction, thereby negatively affecting overall team performance, and the leader ability controversially exacerbate the adverse effects of team faultlines on interaction and performance. We also discovered that task-oriented rather than relationship-oriented team management is more conducive for early-stage teams, serving as a complementary factor to mitigate the negative impacts of faultlines. Lastly, the study discusses the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, proposes future research directions, and acknowledges the limitations of the current research.