GLOBE Model

Pursuing global opportunities is a high priority for most corporations. In a survey of 500 executives at 100 corporations 75% of the respondents’ corporations were planning to compete in foreign markets, and 50% expected their corporations to receive more revenue from foreign markets than their domestic markets. The increasing global exposure of corporations increases managerial interest in understanding national cultures and their implications for executives and corporations. In a recent survey, CEOs identified “mobilizing teams and working across cultures” as the top two leadership competencies. There are also compelling academic reasons for considering the impact of societal culture on leadership. The goal of science is to develop universally valid theories. There are inherent limitations in transferring social science theories across cultures. What works in one culture may not work in another. As Harry Triandis suggests, leadership researchers will be able to “fine-tune” theories by investigating cultural variations as parameters of those theories. Furthermore, a focus on cross-cultural issues can help uncover new relationships by including a broader range of variables. The GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) research program was founded by Robert House in 1991. GLOBE is a multiphase, multimethod, multisample research project to examine the interrelationships between societal culture and organizational leadership. Over 200 scholars from 69 cultures are engaged in this long-term series of studies. The investigators studied over 900 domestic corporations in 62 countries in the first two GLOBE phases and over 1,000 corporations in 24 countries in the third phase of GLOBE. Of the latter 24 countries, 17 were in common with the first two phases, so 69 societies in total were studied. This entry summarizes the main findings of the model and presents some of its most important implications for contemporary management practice.