So-called display rules can be defined as informal social norms about when, where and how emotions should be expressed in a given social setting. While most research has focused on emotional labor and emotion display rules in face-to-face work-settings between employees and customers, empirical insights into the emotional functioning of online work groups remain scarce so far, especially from a cross-cultural perspective. In the present paper we examined aspects of emotional labor and emotion display norms among 71 students from Germany and Spain that coordinated their academic activities in online text-based chat groups. In our cross-sectional online survey we wanted to know how these informal norms shape the individuals’ expression of their feelings, the interpretation of the emotions of other team members and how these processes affect the team members’ work, their work satisfaction and well-being. Results suggest that German and Spanish students differ regarding their online emotional regulation behavior and with regard to the appropriateness of different display norms. Additionally, the usage of some emotion regulation strategies and their impact on well-being could be confirmed for both national groups. Despite the explanatory character of our study, the presented results are of high value to further understand the interplay between human factors in virtual teamwork.