External validity of teamwork and leadership behavior in academic labs: evidence from samples in Peru and the U.S.

Abstract

In this investigation, we tested hypotheses concerning how external validity, in relation to leadership and teamwork, was affected as participants moved from organizational to academic settings. Participants consisted of working business students (N = 159) from two countries, Peru and the United States, who adopted leader/teammate roles across settings. Results indicated that (a) transactional leadership and teamwork behavior demonstrated in organizational contexts were predictive of similar behavior in academic contexts, (b) the cultural setting of the study moderates the carry over effect of teamwork and leadership behavior from organizations to laboratories, and (c) for several leadership and teamwork behaviors, role identity and self-awareness incrementally added to the prediction of similar behaviors in academic contexts. We discuss the implications of our findings for enhancing the external validity of laboratory studies in applied psychology and for instruction of teamwork and leadership in academe.