The Global Leadership and Organizational Behaviour Effectiveness (GLOBE) Project is one of the largest and most comprehensive studies of its kind in the realm of social sciences and international management.
The project is an extension of over 25 years of collaborative work conducted by the GLOBE research team and the current network of 500+ researchers in over 160 countries.
The GLOBE Project is a series of research studies that examine the relationship between societal culture, leadership, and organizational practices.
We believe that today’s executives can’t choose whether to be globalists or nationalists. Instead, they must figure out how to be both at the same time.
Mansour Javidan & David A. Waldman. 2020. The False Dichotomy Between Globalism and Nationalism, Harvard Business Review.
11 Cultural Dimensions that GLOBE Measures:
- Uncertainty Avoidance: The extent to which a society, organization, or group relies on social norms, rules, and procedures to alleviate unpredictability of future events.
- Power Distance: The extent to which the community accepts and endorses authority, power differences, and status privileges.
- Institutional Collectivism: The degree to which organizational and societal institutional practices encourage and reward collective distribution of resources and collective action.
- In-Group Collectivism: The degree to which individuals express pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness in their organizations or families.
- Gender Egalitarianism: The degree to which a collective minimizes gender inequality.
- Assertiveness: The degree to which individuals are assertive, confrontational, and aggressive in their relationship with others.
- Future Orientation: The extent to which individuals engage in future-oriented behaviors such as planning, investing in the future, and delaying gratification.
- Performance Orientation: The degree to which a collective encourages and rewards group members for performance improvement and excellence.
- Humane Orientation: The degree to which a collective encourages and rewards individuals for being fair, altruistic, generous, caring, and kind to others.
- Trust (NEW!):Willingness of a party to be vulnerable to the actions of another based on the expectation that the target will perform the expected action irrespective of the ability to monitor.
- Religiosity (NEW!): The extent to which religion influences peoples’ daily lives and institutions.
8 Leadership Aspects that GLOBE Measures:
- Charismatic Leadership: The ability to inspire, to motivate, and to expect high performance outcomes from others based on firmly held core values.
- Team-Oriented Leadership: The ability to effectively build teams and implement a common purpose or goal among team members.
- Participative Leadership: The degree to which leaders involve others in making and implementing decisions.
- Humane-Oriented Leadership: The degree to which leaders are supportive and considerate but also includes compassion and generosity.
- Autonomous Leadership: The degree to which leaders are independent and individualistic.
- Self-Protective Leadership: The degree to which leaders focus on ensuring their own safety and security through status enhancement and face saving.
- Ethical Leadership (NEW!): The degree to which leaders demonstrate normatively appropriate conduct in personal interactions, interpersonal relationships and decision-making while communicating, promoting and reinforcing such behaviour with followers.
- Paternalistic Leadership (NEW!): A style that combines strong discipline and authority with fatherly benevolence and moral integrity.
The GLOBE Project is an extension of over 25 years of collaborative work conducted by the GLOBE research team.
In the early 1990’s, Professor Robert J. House from Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, who was a visiting professor at University of Victoria’s Gustavson School of Business at the time, conceived the idea of a large-scale international study of cultural, leadership and organizational practices. He partnered with the Gustavson School of Business’, Dr. Ali Dastmalchian, and colleagues Dr. Mansour Javidan and Peter Dorfman to initiate the data collection process. And thus, the GLOBE project was born!
The initial GLOBE project expanded to include more than 200 researchers focused on 59 countries.
Now, the GLOBE Project is one of the largest, most prestigious and most comprehensive studies of its kind in social sciences, has 500+ Country Co-Investigators from over 160 countries.
What studies has the GLOBE project undertaken so far?
GLOBE Culture and Leadership Study, 2004
The GLOBE 2004 study on Culture and Leadership was the culmination of a ten-year quantitative survey-based study of societal culture, organizational culture, and attributes of effective leadership in 62 societies around the world.
GLOBE Culture and Leadership Follow-Up Study, 2007
The second GLOBE study in 2007 was a follow-up to the 2004 study, with researchers in 25 countries reporting in depth on leadership and culture in their respective country contexts.
GLOBE CEO Study, 2014
The 2014 GLOBE study was the first large-scale study of CEOs and Top Management Team (TMT) members across cultures and countries. The study delves into how a society’s culture influences leadership behaviours expected in a culture, and whether leadership success depends on a CEO matching his/her leadership style to these societal expectations.
GLOBE 2020 Research Project
The GLOBE 2020 research study builds on the past two decades of findings and will focus on five important research questions:
- To what extent have the cultures of the many countries in the original GLOBE study changed and why?
- What are the major drivers of national culture change?
- What criteria do people in different countries use when determining whether or not they will trust someone?
- How does preferred leadership style vary across genders, industries and cultures around the world?
- What culture and leadership insights can be gained by expanding GLOBE to so many understudied but important countries, especially those in the Middle East and Africa?
Meet the GLOBE 2020 Core Research Team
Dr. Mansour Javidan
Dr. Mansour Javidan is the Past President and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the GLOBE project. He received his MBA and Ph.D. degrees from the Carlson School at the University of Minnesota, and is a multiple award-winning executive educator and author. He is currently the Project Director and Principal Co-Investigator of the GLOBE 2020 research project, working with a team of 500+ researchers studying culture change and trust dynamics in over 160 countries. Dr. Javidan’s article on global leadership received the Decade’s Best Paper Award (2006-2016) from the Academy of Management Perspectives. He was also recently recognized among the top 100 most influential authors in Organization Behaviour in the world. The World Bank and the United Nations Development Program have designated Dr. Javidan as an expert advisor on Global Leadership. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) has designated him an expert on managing diversity.
Dr. Carolyn Egri
Multiple award-winning executive educator and author whose teaching and research interests span the globe, Dr. Carolyn Egri is the William J.A. Rowe EMBA Alumni Professor and Associate Dean, Research and International at Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University. She is also a Principal Co-Investigator for the GLOBE project. She received her MSc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of British Columbia. Her expertise spans topics like CSR and sustainability as well as managerial values, influence tactics and corporate culture around the world. She currently serves on the editorial boards of 10 academic journals.
Dr. Rick Cotton
Dr. Rick Cotton is an Associate Professor at the Peter B. Gustavson School of Business at the University of Victoria, and is a Principal Co-Investigator for the GLOBE project. Dr. Cotton holds a B.S. in Management Information Systems and Marketing (dual) from Syracuse University and an MS and PhD in Organization Studies from Boston College. In addition to his role for the GLOBE research program, Rick is also a core research team member for the 35 country Cross-Cultural Collaboration on Contemporary Careers (5C) research program in addition to being in addition to being an elected Executive Committee member of the Academy of Management’s 900+ member Careers Division. Dr. Cotton’s research focuses on how individuals can better thrive in their careers and how they can better handle challenging work situations in a variety of occupational and country contexts. Specific research topics include career success, developmental networks, team chemistry, talent management, cross-cultural management and workforce analytics with a focus on how human capital (knowledge, skills, abilities), social capital (networks, friendships) and positive psychological capital (hope, self-efficacy, resilience, optimism) foster individual and collective success. His award-winning research has been published in a variety of top tier journals and business outlets and he has consulted with and provided executive education sessions to several well-known multinationals as well as small-medium sized enterprises, non-profits and government agencies.
Dr. Amanda Bullough
Dr. Amanda Bullough is an Associate Professor of Management at the University of Delaware, and is a Principal Co-Investigator for the GLOBE project. She has a Ph.D. in Management & International Business and an M.A. in International Studies, from Florida International University, and a B.S. in Marketing from the University of South Florida. She publishes in premier journals, has presented at numerous international business and management conferences, consults for high- profile clients, and has traveled and worked in approximately 40 countries. Her expertise spans global leadership, organizational behaviour, women and gender, cross- cultural management, international business, entrepreneurship, multicultural teams, and professional development.
Dr. Peter Dorfman
Dr. Peter W. Dorfman is one of the founding members of the GLOBE project and is Professor Emeritus of Management at New Mexico State University. He received his MA and PhD at the University of Maryland, College Park Md. His international research, teaching, and lecturing continues unabated and has been recognized as outstanding and award winning. While officially retired, he continues to engage in international leadership research and enjoys the camraderie and intellectual excitement provided by his working with his fellow GLOBE 2020 researchers. He has been the Chairman of the Board of Directors and President of GLOBE. He is a coauthor of the latest GLOBE book titled “Strategic Leadership across Cultures: The GLOBE Study of CEO Leadership Behavior and Effectiveness in 24 Countries” (Sage 2014). Dr. Dorfman’s current research continues to investigate the impact of cultural influences on leadership styles and organizational effectiveness through the GLOBE 2020 research project.
Dr. Mila Lazarova
Dr. Mila Lazarova (PhD, Rutgers University, USA) is an Associate Professor of International Business at the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University, and the Canada Research Chair in Global Workforce Management. She is the Director of the Centre for Global Workforce Strategy. She is also a Principal Co-Investigator for the GLOBE project. Her diverse research interests include global mobility and global careers, organizational career development and mobility practices in organizations; expatriate management, repatriation, knowledge transfer through assignments, career impact of international assignments; work/life balance issues related to assignments; the changing role of the HR department; comparative human resource management; and HR issues related to workplace integration of highly skilled immigrants.
Dr. Stacey Fitzsimmons
Dr. Stacey Fitzsimmons is an Associate Professor at the Gustavson School of Business, University of Victoria (Canada). She is part of the core research team for GLOBE 2020. Stacey holds Bachelors degrees in Commerce and Philosophy from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a PhD in International Business from Simon Fraser University.
Her current research examines how immigrants, their descendants, and bicultural employees each contribute to their teams and organizations. For example, when one person can see the world through more than one cultural lens, they can use those lenses to solve problems, build networks across groups, and think differently than people who have one culture. Her research helps organizations value multicultural employees’ skills that often go unrecognized.
Stacey's research has been published in Academy of Management Review, the Journal of International Business Studies, Human Resource Management Review, and Organization Studies. She won the International Human Resources Scholarly Research award from the Academy of Management, for most significant contribution to international human resources management in 2013, and was selected by the Women in the Academy of International Business as the top Emerging Scholar in 2016. She is currently guest editing a special issue of the Journal of the International Business Studies, called “Rethinking Global Mobility: Challenges and Opportunities for International Business”.
The GLOBE Research Network
- 500+ researchers from over 280 universities, collecting data in over 160 countries
- More than 87% of researchers have their PhDs
- Average of 3.4 Co-Investigators per country
- GLOBE 2020 countries represent 99%+ of World GDP and 98%+ of World Population
- Survey translated into 60 languages
- More than 70,000+ GLOBE 2020 respondents worldwide thus far
Story Starters
How can GLOBE 2020 findings enhance cross cultural understanding, communications and collaboration?
GLOBE 2020 will powerfully inform our nuanced understanding of how culture and leadership preferences compare in more than 160 countries, representing billions of people around the world. This understanding is key to articulating commonalities, bridging differences and building relationships that are diverse, inclusive, generative and rewarding.
Why should companies consider a country’s cultural profile when expanding?
Leaders of multinational companies (MNCs) need to understand a country’s cultural dimensions and leadership style to achieve better cross-cultural cooperation and to negotiate and form alliances and successfully execute mergers and acquisitions.
How does understanding cultural backgrounds help you better improve performance and implement change?
Leaders, managers, diplomats and other stakeholders need to understand a country’s unique culture to improve results, relationships and collaboration throughout the organization. Understanding a culture will also aid in the design, development and delivery of HR practices like training and mentoring programs, and improve team chemistry.
How can individuals target a country or region that best match their values and preferences?
Every country has a set of cultural dimensions that help define the nation as a whole. Individuals will be happiest and most productive working in countries whose values and culture best fit them.
Media Contact
Kathryn Wu | Beattie Tartan, P: 604.968.5153, E: Kathryn.Wu@beattiegroup.com