Although culture operates at multiple levels of analysis, this article is concerned primarily with national culture as it relates to organizational behavior. Cross-cultural OB has a long past but a short research history. Some of the earliest accounts of cultural differences at work can be found in writings by the Greek historian Herodotus, who observed differences in work behavior throughout the Persian Empire circa 400 BC (Herodotus et al. 2003).
Trade between people of different cultures was also widespread along the Silk Road, which stretched from Rome and Syria in the West to China in the East and to Egypt and Iran in the Middle East dating from the second century BC (Elisseeff 2000).
Although globalization in the twenty-? rst century has certainly increased the ease and scope of cross-cultural interactions at work exponentially, this is clearly an ancient phenomenon. It is only in the past two decades, however, that cross-cultural theory and research have started to take on a central role in the 1 This review covers the period of 1996–2005.
