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The purpose of this paper is to introduce the anniversary issue marking 30 years of academic publication.

This anniversary issue contains 12 articles from 11 countries and 17 academic institutions which present literature reviews, meta-analyses, and novel studies. It also contains testimonials about the history of the journal from Enrique Ogliastri (Editor and/or Director between 1998 and 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editor between 2002 and 2013), and Carlos Pombo (Chief Editor, 2013 to the present).

The history of the journal may be divided into five stages: first, the foundation at the Universidad de Chile (1988-1998); second, the move to the Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá) and the preparation of a proposal to the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) for inclusion among the scientific journals of the world (1999-2004); third, a period of consolidation in Latin America (2004-2007); fourth, the acceptance of the journal in ISI and the development of an electronic platform with free access to the journal (2008-2013); and fifth, the entry of the Emerald group as editorial partner (2013-2018).

The 12 articles present literature reviews, meta-analyzes, and novel studies.

El propósito de este editorial es presentar el tema del aniversario.

Se publican doce artículos provenientes de once países y 17 instituciones académicas. Se presentan los testimonios de Enrique Ogliastri (editor y/o director entre 1998 y 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editora entre 2002 y 2013), y Carlos Pombo (jefe editorial 2013-2018).

Se publican doce artículos provenientes de once países y 17 instituciones académicas. Se presentan los testimonios de Enrique Ogliastri (editor y/o director entre 1998 y 2018), Elvira Salgado (Editora entre 2002 y 2013), y Carlos Pombo (jefe editorial 2013-2018). La historia de la revista de CLADEA se podría dividir en cinco etapas: la fundación en la Universidad de Chile (1988-1998); pasó a cargo de la Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá), un período de puesta a punto para presentar al Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) la solicitud de ser analizada e incluida entre las revistas científicas del mundo (1999-2004); el período de consolidación en América Latina (2004-2007); la aceptación en ISI y el desarrollo de una plataforma electrónica de acceso libre a la revista (2008-2013); y el ingreso del grupo Emerald como socio editorial (2013-2018).

Los 12 artículos presentan revisiones de literatura, metanálisis y estudios novedosos

Three broad behavioral categories have been related to organizational goals: task (in‐role), citizenship (extra‐role), and counterproductive behaviors. Because most studies modeling these behaviors have been conducted in culturally similar contexts (individualistic and relatively low power distance settings), the purpose of this paper is to test the invariance of such a triad categorization of performance in collectivistic and high power distance contexts.

Data of employees' proficiencies (n = 1,022) in 34 work activities representing the three behavioral performance categories were factor analyzed. Data were collected by adapting existing behavioral‐based instruments exhibiting strong psychometric properties.

Although results corroborate the existence of a triad categorization of employee behaviors, culture‐specific variations attesting to the partitioning of in‐role behaviors according to the distribution of power in organizations were found. Results also suggest that collectivistic individuals narrowly conceptualize extra‐role behaviors by excluding discretionary interpersonal actions.

The paper's findings contribute to our understanding of how job performance varies in a global economy. These variations must be considered in appraisal instruments, especially in organizations operating across cultural contexts.

This paper is believed to be the first to test the cultural invariance of a triad categorization of relevant employee behaviors.

This issue is dedicated to the memory of Luis J. Sanz and this editorial is made up of three parts: an account of his work with the journal, words from the editor (2001-2013), and a brief CV which he had written shortly before his passing.

Este número se dedica a la memoria de Luis J. Sanz y este editorial consta de tres partes. Un recuento de su trabajo con la revista, el recuerdo de la editora 2001-2013, y un breve CV que él mismo escribió poco antes de su muerte.

Because women ' s status in Latin American countries appears comparable to their status in organizations of more economically advanced nations, this paper probes the mystery of how and why these women fare relatively well in their careers, given that socioeconomic and cultural factors could limit their possibilities of achieving higher management positions. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Exploratory study of 162 Latin American women who demonstrated exceptional success by attaining first and second level positions in private organizations. They responded to a semi-structured interview of 49 closed-ended questions about career challenges and barriers, leadership style, ambition, personal goals and work-life balance, plus two open-ended questions about men and women ' s leadership differences and how they understand their success.

Interviewees disagreed on issues of discrimination, recognized few serious professional career barriers and regarded work-life balance as their main challenge. They understood their success in terms of individual factors such as personality characteristics, performance and results, and their own leadership traits. Most admitted that machismo limits women ' s access to upper level positions. They recognized their ambition to attain power positions mainly for personal satisfaction, and their main goal was personal development and fulfilment.

Given the sample size per country, future research could include a more representative and large sample or concentrate on one country per region to establish relationships between women ' s personal characteristics and organizations ' sector, or challenges faced and leadership style. Also family-owned companies as well as women entrepreneurs could contribute knowledge about women ' s leadership in these countries. Studying only national companies, a more neatly description of local culture and gender awareness in its organizational practices that hinder or promote women ' s leadership and participation in decision-making positions may be obtained. Transcultural studies that compare women ' s rise and upper management performance in countries where support from domestic help and extended family as well as cultural values are very different, could permit to understand more fully what it takes to reach top management positions and the weight that these particular cultural conditions have.

This study is unique in shedding light on a multinational sample of Latin American female executives and their perceptions of their success, leadership style and barriers and challenges faced.

This issue includes five contributions from six countries; four of these are revised versions of the best works presented at the Business Association of Latin American Studies Congress (BALAS), in 2012. The first article is a study of the effectiveness of price promotion strategies in retail chains across Chile; a topic of growing importance in Latin America. The second is a study of the literature on the accounting treatment of the decision to buy or lease with option to buy, which is a topic that reflects international changes in accounting practices that will take place as from 2013. The third contribution is a case study of the strategy of Miss Venezuela, an organisation of the Cisneros group that has become an icon of overwhelming success in international beauty contests. The fourth article narrates the difficulties faced by a Brazilian restaurant chain in their internationalisation process through the master franchises concept. The last contribution is the Britt case study, telling the story of a Costa Rican company founded by an innovating North American businessman. The article recounts the company's interesting process of development in international business and the complex strategic decisions it faced when it came to the subsequent steps to be taken in international markets. Although all the articles are in English, Academia is multilingual. As from 2013, all its articles will be available in their original language as well as in English.

Este número incluye cinco contribuciones originadas en seis países, cuatro de las cuales son versiones revisadas de los mejores trabajos presentados en el congreso de la Business Association of Latin American Studies (Balas) de 2012. La primera contribución es un estudio sobre la efectividad de las estrategias de promoción de precios en cadenas detallistas en Chile, un tema de creciente importancia en América Latina. La segunda es un estudio de la literatura sobre el tratamiento contable de la decisión de comprar o de realizar un arrendamiento con opción de compra (lease), tema que refleja el cambio internacional en las prácticas contables que ocurrirá a partir de 2013. La tercera contribución es el caso de la estrategia de Miss Venezuela, la organización del grupo Cisneros que se ha constituido en un icono en Venezuela por su éxito avasallador en concursos internacionales de belleza. El cuarto es un caso que narra las vicisitudes de una cadena brasileña de restaurantes con la internacionalización mediante el concepto de máster de marca. La última contribución es el caso Grupo Britt N.V., empresa fundada por un empresario estadounidense en Curazao y Costa Rica, que ha tenido un interesante desarrollo de negocios internacionales y se enfrenta a decisiones estratégicas complejas sobre sus siguientes pasos en los mercados mundiales. Aunque todos los trabajos están en inglés, Academia es multilenguaje. A partir de 2013 todos los artículos de la revista están disponibles en inglés, además de su idioma original.

Over the last decade, some Mexican public organisations have begun to enter into a dynamic in which issues such as service quality, ongoing improvement, and internal and external customer orientation are becoming essential to their day‐to‐day management. The purpose of this paper is to present a successful example of how Lean‐Kaizen is implemented in the human resource service process of a Mexican public service organisation.

The research method adopted is the case study. Research is carried out in a Mexican public service organisation, and adopts a retrospective focus. Four methods are used to gather data: direct observation; participative observation; documentary analysis; and semi‐structured interviews.

The Lean‐Kaizen approach helps this public service organisation to improve cycle times in the human resource selection and hiring process. Various enablers and inhibitors are also identified during implementation.

Research is based on a single case study. However, rather than seeking empirical generalisation, it tries to examine how the Lean‐Kaizen approach can be successfully implemented in a service process.

The research is effectively a guide for practitioners (public managers) wishing to apply or already applying Lean‐Kaizen in their service processes.

A review of academic and practitioner literature on the subject indicated that implementation of the Lean‐Kaizen approach has hardly begun to be explored. It is also significant that in Mexico and Latin America, examples of the transfer and implementation of this kind of approach are practically non‐existent in academic literature on the subject.

Several comprehensive reviews are united in drawing the conclusion that the cumulative research evidence on work team diversity is equivocal. Rather than review the extant state of diversity research, in this paper we redirect attention to the context of workplace diversity as a possible explanation for these mixed findings. We discuss how diversity context may be conceptualized, specify various aspects of this context at multiple levels of analysis, and consider how contextual variables can shape the outcomes of work team diversity. We present findings from a literature review (1999–2006) to identify key trends and patterns of results reported in recent research as well as contextual factors that have received attention to date. This paper also considers how the non-significant, positive, negative, and curvilinear effects of diversity reported in studies can be explained by the contextual factors outlined. Implications for future research are also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to use an institutional theory (IT) approach to analyse the institutional context for diversity management (DM) in Chile, El Salvador and Guatemala, the influence of such a context on the DM issues that organisations’ face, and the DM practices that firms implement.

Focus groups and a survey are used to assess managers and workers’ perceptions about DM in their countries, while an analysis of the content of firms’ web pages is used to assess the formal public information about DM provided by firms.

Results suggest prevalence of perceptions, among both managers and employees, of discrimination at the workplace, facilitated by cultural forces that undervalue human diversity. Firms’ DM responses seem to be led by multinational companies, and focussed on fighting discrimination, facilitating inclusion and pursuing external legitimacy.

This study is among the first to analyse DM in Latin American organisations. Furthermore, three studies, with different methodologies, support several IT propositions that emphasise the role of institutional forces in explaining organisations’ implementation of DM practices. The relevance and challenges of developing DM programmes in Latin America are discussed.

Este artículo utiliza la Teoría Institucional para analizar el contexto que rodea la Gestión de la Diversidad (GD) en empresas operando en Chile, El Salvador y Guatemala, y la influencia de este contexto en los temas de GD que enfrentan las organizaciones, y en las prácticas de GD que éstas implementan.

Se utilizan grupos focales y una encuesta para evaluar la percepción de administradores y trabajadores sobre la GD en sus países, y se utiliza un análisis del contenido de las páginas web de las empresas para evaluar la información pública y formal proporcionada por las empresas sobre la GD.

Los resultados sugieren la prevalencia, tanto entre los directivos como empleados, de percepciones de discriminación en el lugar de trabajo, facilitadas por fuerzas culturales que desvalorizan la diversidad humana. Las intervenciones de las empresas en GD aparecen lideradas por compañías multinacionales, y se enfocan en combatir la discriminación, facilitar la inclusión y buscar legitimidad externa.

Este artículo es uno de los primeros en analizar la GD en organizaciones latinoamericanas. Además, se presentan tres estudios que, con diferentes metodologías, apoyan varias proposiciones de la Teoría Institucional, las que enfatizan el rol de las fuerzas institucionales en explicar la implementación de prácticas de GD por parte de las organizaciones. Se discute la relevancia y desafíos del desarrollo de programas de GD en América Latina.