A new perspective on "virtual": analyzing discontinuities in the work environment

The word "virtual" has become a potent buzzword and, as such, is freely applied to many situations, with many meanings. As a result, it, like other buzzwords, is in danger of meaning nothing. In this paper, we develop a more precise understanding of the use of the word "virtual" to describe changing work environments. Our specific contribution is to propose a framework to classify these different work environments based on the type of discontinuities involved. This framework enables us to compare research across a variety of different topics and work settings and further develop a foundation for future research investigating managing and working in this new environment. In this paper; we test our framework by using it to classify 75 published articles on virtual work environments and from earlier research streams.