Strategy, team cohesion and team member satisfaction: The effects of gender and group composition

•Seven teams with different gender compositions played an online game.•We examined team cohesion, team member satisfaction and team strategy.•Team cohesion was higher for all-female teams than all-male.•Team member satisfaction was higher for all-female teams.•All-male teams pursued more varied and riskier strategies.

Gender differences in team cohesion, team member satisfaction and play style were examined in small, single-gender groups playing an online game simulating small scale farming in Africa. Six women and nine men formed seven self-selected teams, with three teams being all-female and four all-male teams. The teams played the game for three hours, after which they completed a survey on team cohesion and team member satisfaction before taking part in a debriefing session, which covered strategies used by the respective teams. The all-female teams exhibited a significantly higher rate of team cohesion and team member satisfaction, while the all-male teams were shown to pursue riskier and wider-ranging strategies.