PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose a research framework that identifies crucial leadership capabilities pertaining to the different lifecycle stages of a virtual team (VT). More specifically, the framework seeks to identify and explain the role of social, cognitive, and behavioral capabilities as important determinants of effective VT leadership and success.Design/methodology/approachThis article provides an overview of literature on VT leadership, categorizes leadership capabilities, and relates the capabilities to various stages of VT life‐cycle. A research analysis is undertaken to depict the proposed relationships.FindingsThe propositions demonstrate that for effective VT leadership to happen it is important to understand the specific set of capabilities that contributes to successful management of a particular VT stage.Social implicationsVT leaders' application of appropriate capabilities may result in the development of greater levels of tolerance toward cultural, temporal and geographic diversity that exists among VT members and leaders. Such tolerance may actually help improve worker satisfaction, cohesiveness among team members, and promote better work‐life balance – outcomes that are beneficial to society. In addition, more effective and successful VT leadership will lead to better VT performance and organizational success – suggesting positive social impact.Originality/valueResearch relating to VT leadership has been limited. With the usage of VTs predicted to gain more importance in the future there is a greater need to understand how specific leadership capabilities contribute to the successful management and development of VTs. This study fills the void in the extant literature by exploring the specific leadership capabilities and by analyzing their relative influence and relationships with VT lifecycle stages.

The moderating role of decision latitude on the relationship between work–family conflict and psychological strain was examined across five countries. It was hypothesised that decision latitude would moderate the relationship more strongly in the individualistic countries (the United States and Canada) than in the collectivistic countries (India, Indonesia, and South Korea). The results supported the hypotheses of this five‐country‐based cross‐national investigation. The implications of the findings for theory and practice in the area of international and cross‐cultural research on work and family conflicts in the organisational context are discussed.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to enhance the understanding of employers’ responses to the restroom requests of transgender employees, and to assess the ability as educators to reduce transphobia in the students. Design/methodology/approach – Subjects were 194 undergraduate business students at a medium-sized public university in the northeastern USA who were enrolled in an undergraduate course in organizational behavior. During class, they read a brief case which asked the students to play the role of a CEO in Little Rock, Arkansas, receiving a complaint from a female employee about using the same restroom as a coworker who is transitioning from male to female. Findings – The most inclusive response was also the rarest, with only 27 percent of students recommending unisex bathrooms. Hostile actions, forcing the transitioning employee to use the men's restroom, were recommended by 38 percent of those who correctly realized that an employee would be unprotected by sexual orientation discrimination law in this case and by 30 percent of those who thought that she could sue for that type of discrimination in that jurisdiction. Research limitations/implications – It would be interesting to replicate this with non-student samples such as human resource managers and executives. The use of a US sample and of a text-based case can also be viewed as weaknesses. Because gender identity is embodied, self-constructed, and socially constructed, no single research study can capture the totality of work life for transgender employees. Practical implications – Transphobia is so powerful that a substantial percentage of the students recommended courses of action that they believed to be illegal even though the study was designed to discourage a hostile response. Employers that are concerned about transgender rights will need to do a lot more than just grafting the word “transgender” onto their extant set of policies. Social implications – Since today's business students are tomorrow's business leaders, the authors could eventually make the business world more tolerant if the authors could identify a message that resonates with the students and causes them to re-evaluate their homophobia and transphobia. Originality/value – Empirical studies of transgender issues have been dominated by the qualitative approach, so there is a need for more quantitative research on this topic. The hostile responses usually indicated greater acceptance of transgender employees who have completed gender reassignment surgery. This seems difficult to reconcile with a conception of transphobia as a generalized distaste towards all those who transgress gender norms.

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In this study, we examine the role of cultural variations conceptualized in terms of vertical and horizontal individualism and collectivism in the prediction of work-family conflict in four distinct national contexts of the United States, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. The results of our study suggest that vertical individualism is a strong predictor of work-family conflict across cultural and national boundaries. The findings indicate the importance of cultural dimensions as correlates or predictors of work-family conflict-especially, it highlights the role of the two components of the polythetic construct of individualism-collectivism: horizontal and vertical. Implications are discussed for future research in the area of international and cross-cultural studies of work-family conflict-related issues.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating roles of two distinct styles of coping and decision latitude on the relationship between three facets of role stress and psychological strain in six national contexts. Design/methodology/approach -The objective of the research is to examine the relative predictive efficacies of three theory specific moderators in six countries which differ on the cultural dimension of individualism-collectivism. The data are analyzed using moderated regression analysis. Findings -The results show that problem-focused coping is a better moderator in the individualistic countries and that emotion-focused coping is a better moderator in the collectivistic contexts. None of the three moderators moderate the relationships in Germany and South Africa -the two countries which had scores in the mid-range of the individualism-collectivism continuum. Findings are discussed for their significance into the interplay of cultural variations and coping with work stress in predicting psychological strain or distress on the job. Practical implications -Practical implications for managing human resources in various subsidiaries of multinational and global organizations are discussed. Originality/value -This paper confirms existing theories and expands the authors' understanding of role stress and psychological strain in different cultural contexts.

Transgender employees may suffer from discrimination due to transphobia. This article evaluates a pedagogical intervention designed to reduce the transphobia of North American undergraduate business students. Participants were enrolled in an organizational behavior course. They resolved a simulated dispute between coworkers over accommodating the bathroom choices of a transgender employee. Answers were classified as demonstrating inclusion, compliance, or hostility with the inclusive response being the establishment of gender-neutral restrooms and the hostile response being refusal to accept the transgender employee's bathroom choice. In the first year, 194 students completed the exercise with no advance preparation, while in the second year, 221 students performed the same task after reading a brief article about transgender employees. Results suggest that the intervention was effective as the inclusive response was most popular in the second year even though it had been least popular in the first year. Complete success was not attained, as one sixth of the students in the second year chose hostile responses. Implications for research, teaching, and practice are discussed.