Implications for management The outcomes of this study are relevant for management education, adding extra flavors to the adagio:

Implications for management The outcomes of this study are relevant for management education, adding extra flavors to the adagio:

think globally, act locally. Thinking globally implies understanding cultural differences, as well as seeing commonalities. And these commonalities are indeed substantial. Particularly, the stereotypical image that helping behaviors in teams are more prevalent in collectivistic societies, needs to be reconsidered. Moreover, managers can strongly contribute to GOCB through supportive behavior, and this holds true globally. The moderating effects of culture are limited indeed. Managers should not forget that consideration is indeed the key element in their work. Particularly in individualistic societies this element might be under pressure, due to rapid career moves, constantly changing organizational environments, and working teams. Consideration was addressed as a ‘ forgotten’ style in a recent publication by Judge et al. (2004). We agree with these authors that supportive leadership should have a central place in management training. We might add that also in selection of management trainees, personality and competencies for expressing consideration deserve more attention.

Traditionally, western management models are primarily focused on management of individuals. New organizational structures emphasize team work, which depends––among other elements—on GOCB. Creating awareness of the concept of GOCB, and how to promote GOCB, is an area for management that can and should be explored more, both in management training and education, as well as in applied research. Here again, supportive leadership contributes to different aspects of team performance, and team learning (Burke et al., 2006).

One of the strengths and at the same time of the limitations of this study is the sample. The participating organizations and respondents tend to have an international or even Western orientation. That is, typical local organizations are less likely to hire an international, US based HR consultancy firm. Though the client group is highly diverse, international firms are over-represented in most countries. This might cause a response bias, in the sense that these companies might under-represent the actual national culture they are part of. Even with this sample, however, we find clear main effects of culture on managerial behavior, as well as on the relationship of directive behavior to team functioning (GOCB).

A limitation of the current study is the lack of information on the type of tasks, team structure and level of interdependence, and performance of team members. All of these are highly relevant for team processes such as GOCB, as well as for the required leadership.

Future studies would benefit from the use of more validated measures of GOCB, differentiating aspects of (G)OCB such as helping behavior, and taking initiatives. The current general measure might help scholars evaluate the likelihood that their findings will generalize throughout the world. In addition, including measurement of other leadership styles, such as coaching, participative and transformational leadership, would help to understand the effects of directive and supportive leadership in a broader perspective. However, meeting all the measurement criteria for comparative international research at this scale is a complicated and demanding challenge. Also, the lack of demographic data for

a large part of our sample is a serious limitation. This will be covered in future research. Finally, it should be mentioned that there is an under-representation of Eastern European and African countries in

LEADERSHIP AND GOCB ACROSS CULTURES

this sample, as has been the case in most cross-cultural databases (Den Hartog et al., 1999; Hofstede, 2001).

In conclusion, this study demonstrates that culture does make a difference in the effects of managerial behavior on team processes. At the same time, cultural differences should not be overestimated.