Psychological Safety Antecedents in Co-Located vs. Distributed Agile Software Development Teams

Distributed teams are becoming increasingly popular owing to geographically dispersed enterprises and the COVID-19 pandemic, putting the Agile Manifesto's resiliency into test. Although prior research has shown that Psychological Safety (PS) is key to learning and performance in diverse teams, little is known about whether the strategies for building PS in distributed agile teams differ from those that work well in co-located agile teams. We conducted a survey (N = 423) and used a regression analysis to examine whether the relationships between psychological safety and its antecedents are contingent on the extent to which a team is co-located. We found that collective decision-making and non-blame norms promote psychological safety, regardless of whether the team is co-located or distributed. Leadership support and openness were more beneficial to psychological safety in distributed teams than in co-located teams. Conversely, safety net practices and team autonomy were more beneficial for psychological safety in co-located teams. Our research revealed that distributed teams have a distinct need to foster PS. Our contribution emphasizes the various requirements that emerge and that have an impact on work arrangements to establish PS in agile teams.