Virtual intelligence dealing with distance: Conceptual review and synthesis

This chapter addresses the need to work, learn and interact socially at a distance as considered to be the new normal. As the impacts of distance on social and professional realms grow, there is an increasing need to look at distance and its consequences at both team and individual levels. Thus, the author defines and calculates the “virtual distance” among teammates by measuring physical, operational, and affinity forms of distance. Also, “distance virtuality”, as being dealt in numerous publications, relates to “the degree of separation of the team's members.” A meaning of the term “virtual” signifies “not physically existing”. Previous research on this subject suggests that the more teams move away from the proximate form, the more the traditional measures of team effectiveness are negatively impacted. Research on virtuality has been done prior to the introduction of advanced online communication solutions, whereas the recent extensive push for virtual work, due to responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and the establishment of the metaverse infrastructure, requires further attention. This chapter pursues the provision of a comprehensive outlook and conceptualisation of virtual intelligence, its dimensions, and measures as well as providing a discussion of the feasibility of practical applications of virtual intelligence in diverse settings exemplified by distance.