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The purpose of this study was to identify what Colombians perceive as effective and least effective/ineffective managerial behavior.

This study was conducted following a qualitative methodology based on the philosophical assumptions of pragmatism and the “pragmatic approach” (Morgan, 2007). The critical incident technique was used to generate data from a purposive sample of 27 managers and non-managerial employees located in Medellin and Bogota, Colombia.

The results of this study suggest that effective managers in Colombia are those who are supportive, caring, considerate, participative, understanding, communicative and flexible, and are also good problem solvers.

This study focused on the perceptions of Colombian managers and non-managerial employees only. Therefore, the description of effective and least effective/ineffective managers in Colombia could be highly value-laden from the national cultural perspective. Hence, it is recommended that further research should be carried out to explore the perceptions of international managers who have frequently interacted or worked with Colombian managers.

The results of this study have practical implications for Colombian managers and international managers who manage the Colombian workforce. For Colombian managers, this study provides insight into what is considered effective or least effective/ineffective managerial and leadership behavior. The findings provide useful information on foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) that have operations in Colombia. MNCs can use the results of this study to create effective management development models for their expatriates in Colombia.

The purpose of this qualitative study is to compare the perceptions of employed people in Mexico and Colombia about managerial and leadership behavioural effectiveness.

A qualitative multiple cross-case and cross-nation comparative analysis of findings obtained from the two past emic replication (Mexico and Colombia) studies was conducted.

The study suggests that people within Mexican and Colombian organizations perceive “managerial and leadership behavioural effectiveness” in very similar ways. The findings support those researchers whose studies indicate that culture may not, as previously thought, play a significant role in the way managers should manage and lead their subordinates.

The authors acknowledge two main limitations related to the sample size and scope of the two compared sets of empirical source data. The number of critical incidents about perceived managerial behavioural effectiveness obtained from the two compared studies was unbalanced (318 from the Mexican study and 267 from the Colombian study). Thus, the authors suggest more indigenous replication managerial behaviour studies be carried out in both Mexico and Colombia with the objective of identifying (if possible) the existence of critical incidents that could lead to different findings. Furthermore, the authors suggest conducting replica studies focused on specific industries rather than a diverse range of organizations to test the generalizability of the findings.

The findings of the comparative study are relevant to those human resource development professionals in international companies with operations in Mexico and/or Colombia when preparing their executives for international assignments in these Latin American countries.

The comparative study attempts to generate new insights and better understanding within the context of “managerial and leadership behavioural effectiveness” research, which the authors hope will make a useful contribution to the existing small body of knowledge regarding similarities and differences in managerial practices across culturally diverse Latin American countries.

This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.

The aim of this study is to explore and understand corporate governance patterns in family firms across Latin America. This is in response to several calls in the academic literature urging for more empirical studies in corporate governance in developing regions.

Following a configurative perspective, a hierarchical cluster analysis is applied to a sample of the 155 largest Latin American family firms.

The authors identify three main corporate governance configurations across Latin American countries. First, the exported governance model resembles many characteristics of Anglo-American and Continental Europe governance patterns of public listed control, having independence from the board of directors, and mainly hiring non-family management. Second, the super-familial governance model describes private ownership where one or multiple families control both the board of directors and the top-management team. Finally, the hybrid governance model is the largest cluster identified in the sample and combines governance characteristics of both of the foregoing configurations. This configuration exhibits ownership structured through public offerings of shares combined with leadership of the board of directors by a family member as well as moderate family influence on the board and management.

This is the first study to investigate corporate governance in the largest listed and privately-owned family firms in Latin America. The article extends the conversation on family firm heterogeneity and contributes to the configurative approach in the family business field by offering a cross-country perspective and identifying meaningful taxonomies that are applicable beyond national boundaries.

The purpose of this paper is to identify workforce skills that protect an occupation from elimination due to automation technology.

The authors apply a Gaussian process (GP) classifier, based on the level of non-automatable work activities in an occupation, to USA and Colombian occupational datasets.

The authors find that communication, interpersonal relationship management and decision-making skills are most important in occupations that are resistant to automation.

The results are based on work activities data from the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) database developed for the USA labor market. This dataset does not capture significant differences in work activities, where they exist, for the same occupation between the two countries. The findings are also limited to Colombia. Readers should be careful to extrapolate the findings outside of this geography.

The authors discover that automation is likely to be a global phenomenon that can only be slightly mitigated by cultural and political factors.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how family-supportive supervisor behaviour (FSSB) and organisational work–family policies (WFP) influence turnover intention (TI), satisfaction with work–family balance (SWFB) and prosocial motivation (PSM) in employees in organisations in the private sector in Colombia and Chile. It also explores whether a family -friendly organisational culture (FFOC) moderates this relationship.

A questionnaire (the International Family-Responsible Employed Index) was used to survey 486 employees (Chile: 255, Colombia: 231). The questionnaire consisted of three main sections: independent variables (WFP, FSSB, (FFOC and individual characteristics); dependent variables (organisational outcomes of TI, loyalty and commitment, and individual outcomes of health, WFE, SWFB, PSM and intrinsic); and demographic indicators. Structural equation modelling was used to test the possibility of comparing both countries and the model proposed.

Results show a negative relationship between FSSB and TI, and a positive relationship between FSSB and SWFB and PSM. There are no significant differences among countries, except when looking at PSM. FFOC moderates the relationships between FSSB and TI, between policies and FSSB and SWFB and between FSSB and PSM. It also has a direct effect on PSM.

This paper is one of the first to offer comparative data from organisations and managers in Latin American countries at the work–family interface. It also contributes to the literature, offering results partly consistent with studies in Anglo–Saxon countries.

Este estudio explora cómo los comportamientos solidarios de los supervisores y las políticas de apoyo para el balance entre trabajo-familia influyen en la intención de dejar la empresa, la satisfacción con el balance trabajo-familia y la motivación pro-social de los empleados en organizaciones en el sector privado en Colombia y Chile. Además, se centra en cómo una cultura amigable para las familias modera la relación.

El cuestionario IFREI (International Family-Responsible Employed Index) fue utilizado para recabar información de 486 empleados (Chile: 255, Colombia: 231). El cuestionario consta de tres partes principales: variables independientes (Políticas Trabajo-Familia (WFP), Comportamientos solidarios de supervisores (FSSB), Cultura organizacional amigable para la familia (FFOC), y características individuales); variables dependientes (resultados organizacionales de intenciónde dejar la empresa, lealtad y compromiso; y resultados individuales de salud, enriquecimiento trabajo-familia, satisfacción con el balance trabajo-familia (SWFB) y motivación: pro-social (PSM) e intrínseca; e indicadores demográficos. Se usa ecuaciones estructuradas para probar la posibilidad de comparar ambos países y el modelo propuesto.

Los resultados muestran una relación negativa entre comportamientos solidarios e intención de dejar la empresa y una relación positiva entre comportamientos solidarios de supervisores y satisfacción con el balance trabajo-familia y motivación pro-social. No hay diferencias significativas entre los países, excepto en lo que se refiere a motivación pro-social. La cultura organizacional amigable para la familia modera la relación entre comportamientos solidarios de los supervisores y la intención de dejar la empresa, entre políticas y FSSB y SWFB, y entre FSSB y PSM. La cultura organizacional amigable a la familia tiene un efecto directo en la motivación pro-social.

Este trabajo es uno de los primeros en ofrecer información comparativa entre organizaciones y directivos de países Latinoamericanos alrededor de la esfera trabajo-familia. También contribuye a la literatura ofreciendo resultados parcialmente consistentes con estudios de países anglosajones.

This study aims to elucidate the relationship between women's participation on the board of directors and the company's financial performance in a sample of 45 Colombian companies listed on the Colombia Stock Exchange (CSE) (Bolsa de Valores de Colombia).

Using 50,214 financial records of 45 companies listed on the CSE during 2008–2016, the authors performed panel data regressions to explore the relationship between the measures of gender diversity on boards and the impact on corporate financial performance.

The authors show that the participation and presence of at least one woman on the board of directors are positively associated with firm financial performance as measured by return on equity (ROE), but not as measured by Tobin’s Q. This second indicator is positively associated with firm financial performance when there are at least three female directors on boards of 10 or more individuals.

The findings also provide evidence supporting the development of managerial and organizational mechanisms that strengthen female presence at the highest level of governance.

The study demonstrates that female presence on boards has a positive impact on firms’ financial performance, but the degree of diversity impacts differently ROE and Tobin’s Q. These findings are based on a study of an emerging economy in Latin America, and data on similar economies are scarce.

Despite gender parity in the general working population, the higher up one looks in ranks within the firm the fewer women one finds. This under-representation of women in top positions at firms is purportedly even more acute in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). LAC is a large and increasingly important region of the world where women are well-represented in the workforce and are comparatively better educated than men. Documenting if this resource is utilized at full potential is therefore of crucial importance. The purpose of this paper is to document the level and impact of female representation at the executive level in the region, as no systematic study exists on this topic.

The authors collect an original database of publicly listed companies to determine prevailing gender ratios among board members and executives in LAC region. The authors then estimate whether companies with women board members are more likely to appoint women executives. Finally, the authors estimate whether measures of female leadership at the firm are correlated with company performance.

The authors find that women are as under-represented in LAC as in the USA, but much less so in the Caribbean. The authors find that companies with women board members are more likely to appoint women executives in LAC. The authors find that measures of female leadership at the firm are correlated with company performance but only regarding board membership and only when the proportion of women on the board is greater than 30 percent. Again composition effects are important. Overall, the authors conclude that the LAC region exhibits empirical regularities about under-representation of women in leadership positions at the firm that are very similar to those found for high-income countries in Europe and North America.

The authors are the first and so far unique systematic study exists able to document the level and impact of female representation at the executive level in the region.

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 paper aims to investigate how gender diversity in top management – i.e. boardroom and top management positions – affects business performance among Colombian public businesses.

Building on the upper echelon theory which emphasizes that gender in an important characteristic that influences top management’s decision-making, panel data models are used on a sample of 54 Colombian public businesses for the period 2008-2015 to test the proposed hypotheses relating to gender diversity and subsequent business performance.

The results support that gender diversity is positively associated with subsequent business performance. More concretely, the relationship between gender diversity at the top of the corporate hierarchy – in the present case, as CEO and in the top management team – and subsequent performance becomes more evident when performance is linked to business operations (ROA), whereas the positive effect of women’s representation in the boardroom and subsequent performance is significant when performance is measured via shareholder-oriented metrics (ROE).

Few studies have addressed the role of gender diversity on performance in developing economies. This study contributes to better understand how gender diversity affects performance in contexts where women are underrepresented in the top management, and where the appointment of women directors or managers is not driven by regulatory pressures.