Not Even Remotely Close: How Co‐Location Imbalance Affects Subgroup Formation in Hybrid Teams

ABSTRACT Despite the substantial proliferation of hybrid work, little has been done to reconcile extant individual‐ and team‐level perspectives. This is problematic because it does not acknowledge how individuals' hybrid work practices constrain team‐level interactions and subsequent outcomes. Specifically, the extant literature does not yet capture the complex configurations that result from team members alternating between co‐located and remote forms of collaboration and how these may provoke the formation of subgroups within the team. In this conceptual paper, we introduce the construct co‐location imbalance , which we define as the disparity in co‐location between different combinations of team members, as a way of capturing geographic configurations in hybrid teams. Through illustrative hybrid teamwork archetypes, we demonstrate the meaning and implications of co‐location imbalance on subgroup formation. We then map out a nomological network surrounding co‐location imbalance and derive testable propositions on its temporal dynamics and antecedents. Our paper concludes with a discussion of our research's theoretical and practical contributions and directions to advance future research on hybrid teamwork.