•Addresses three key theoretical issues in research on cultural intelligence (CQ).•Each factor in the CQ bi-factor model provides unique and holistic information.•CQ factors have differential ...relationships with intercultural effectiveness.•Cultural decision making and adjustment mediate relationships with task performance.•Addresses moderated CQ relationships.
Today’s pervasiveness of intercultural interactions has spawned scholarly interest in cultural intelligence (CQ) – the capability to function effectively across cultures. Applying meta-analytic techniques, we harness the recent explosion of research on the four-factor model of CQ to address three fundamental, yet unresolved theoretical issues. First, we explicate the benefits of conceptualizing and modeling CQ as a bi-factor model where each factor provides both unique and holistic information. Results shed light on Gelfand’s puzzle of whether to facet or not and clearly show the value of the four factors. Second, we advance and test a theoretical model delineating differential relationships between the four CQ factors and three forms of intercultural effectiveness. Findings, based on 199 independent samples (N = 44,155), underscore the value of a nuanced, theoretical model of CQ with differential effects of the four factors. Finally, going beyond prior research, we also address mediated and moderated relationships and expand our understanding of the CQ nomological network. We discuss the implications of these findings for theorizing about the CQ factors and suggest directions for future research.
Emphasizing the importance of cross‐border effectiveness in the contemporary globalized world, we propose that cultural intelligence—the leadership capability to manage effectively in culturally ...diverse settings—is a critical leadership competency for those with cross‐border responsibilities. We tested this hypothesis with multisource data, including multiple intelligences, in a sample of 126 Swiss military officers with both domestic and cross‐border leadership responsibilities. Results supported our predictions: (1) general intelligence predicted both domestic and cross‐border leadership effectiveness; (2) emotional intelligence was a stronger predictor of domestic leadership effectiveness, and (3) cultural intelligence was a stronger predictor of cross‐border leadership effectiveness. Overall, results show the value of cultural intelligence as a critical leadership competency in today's globalized world.
This study extends previous work on emotion communication across cultures with a large-scale investigation of the physical expression cues in vocal tone. In doing so, it provides the first direct ...test of a key proposition of dialect theory, namely that greater accuracy of detecting emotions from one's own cultural group-known as in-group advantage-results from a match between culturally specific schemas in emotional expression style and culturally specific schemas in emotion recognition. Study 1 used stimuli from 100 professional actors from five English-speaking nations vocally conveying 11 emotional states (anger, contempt, fear, happiness, interest, lust, neutral, pride, relief, sadness, and shame) using standard-content sentences. Detailed acoustic analyses showed many similarities across groups, and yet also systematic group differences. This provides evidence for cultural accents in expressive style at the level of acoustic cues. In Study 2, listeners evaluated these expressions in a 5 × 5 design balanced across groups. Cross-cultural accuracy was greater than expected by chance. However, there was also in-group advantage, which varied across emotions. A lens model analysis of fundamental acoustic properties examined patterns in emotional expression and perception within and across groups. Acoustic cues were used relatively similarly across groups both to produce and judge emotions, and yet there were also subtle cultural differences. Speakers appear to have a culturally nuanced schema for enacting vocal tones via acoustic cues, and perceivers have a culturally nuanced schema in judging them. Consistent with dialect theory's prediction, in-group judgments showed a greater match between these schemas used for emotional expression and perception.
Cultural intelligence (CQ) – the capability to function effectively in intercultural settings – has gained increasing attention from researchers and practitioners due to its contemporary relevance to ...globalization, international management, and workforce diversification. Research‐to‐date demonstrates that CQ predicts a variety of important outcomes in intercultural contexts, such as cultural adaptation, expatriate performance, global leadership, intercultural negotiation, and multicultural team processes. Moving beyond past research that tends to focus on the four primary factors of CQ – metacognitive CQ, cognitive CQ, motivational CQ, and behavioral CQ, we introduce an expanded conceptualization of CQ that delineates sub‐dimensions for each of the four factors. We briefly review psychometric evidence supporting the proposed second order 11‐factor structure and convergent/discriminant validity of the sub‐dimensions. We propose that the next wave of CQ research should be guided by a deeper understanding of each of four factors of CQ.
In recent years, emotional intelligence and emotional intelligence measures have been used in a plethora of countries and cultures. This is also the case for the Wong and Law Emotional Intelligence ...Scale (WLEIS), highlighting the importance of examining whether the WLEIS is invariant across regions other than the Far Eastern region (China) where it was originally developed. This study investigated the measurement invariance (MI) of the WLEIS scores across two countries, namely Singapore (N= 505) and Belgium (N= 339). Apart from items measuring the factor “use of emotion”, the measurement structure underlying the WLEIS ratings was generally invariant across both countries as there was no departure from MI in terms of factor form and factor loadings. The scalar invariance model (imposing an identical threshold structure) was partially supported. Factor intercorrelations (not involving the factor “use of emotion”) were also identical across countries. These results show promise for the invariance of the WLEIS scores across different countries, yet warn of the non‐invariance of the dimension “use of emotion”. Reducing the motivation‐oriented nature of these items is in order to come to an exact model fit in cross‐cultural comparisons.
Many scenario-based assessments (e.g., interviews, assessment center exercises, work samples, simulations, and situational judgment tests) use prompts (i.e., cues provided to respondents to increase ...the likelihood that the information received from them is clear, sufficient, and job-related). However, a dilemma for practitioners and researchers is how general or specific one should prompt people's answers. We posit that such differences in prompt-specificity (i.e., extent to which prompts cue performance criteria) have important implications for the predictive validity of scenario-based assessment scores. Drawing on the interplay of situation construal and situational strength theory, we propose that prompt-specificity leads to differential relationships between scenario-based scores and external constructs (personality traits vs. knowledge), which in turn affects the predictive validity of scenario-based assessments. We tested this general hypothesis using intercultural scenarios for predicting effectiveness in multicultural teams. Using a randomized predictive validation design, we contrast scores on these scenarios with general (N = 157) versus specific (N = 158) prompts. As a general conclusion, prompt-specificity mattered: Lesser prompt-specificity augmented the role of perspective taking and openness-to-experience in the intercultural scenario scores and their validity for predicting intercultural performance, whereas greater prompt-specificity increased the role of knowledge in these scores and their validity for predicting in-role performance. This study's theoretical and practical implications go beyond a specific assessment procedure and apply to a broad array of assessment and training approaches that rely on scenarios.
This paper presents the findings of an empirical study that investigated the relationship between cross-cultural training (CCT) effectiveness, self-efficacy, and adjustment of expatriate managers in ...Asia. Responses of 169 managers from four different national backgrounds, all currently on overseas assignments in Asia, indicate that the relationship between CCT effectiveness and adjustment is mediated by an increase in self-efficacy. Implications of the findings for professional practice and for future research are discussed.
This study extends leader-member exchange (LMX) research by meta-analyzing the role of national culture in moderating relationships between LMX and its correlates. Results based on 282 independent ...samples (N = 68,587) from 23 countries and controlling for extreme response style differences indicate that (a) relationships of LMX with organizational citizenship behavior, justice perceptions, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and leader trust are stronger in horizontal-individualistic (e.g., Western) contexts than in vertical-collectivistic (e.g., Asian) contexts; and (b) national culture does not affect relationships of LMX with task performance, organizational commitment, and transformational leadership. These findings highlight that although members are universally sensitive to how their leaders treat them, members' responses in Asian contexts may also be influenced by collective interests and role-based obligations.
There is controversy concerning whether, in recent years, organizational failures to act benevolently toward employees have lessened employees' social-exchange relationship (SER) with their work ...organization or whether, on the contrary, organizations' more favorable treatment of employees has strengthened the SER. With samples of U.S. employees, we examined changes over the past 3 decades in three key elements of the SER: perceived organizational support (POS: 317 samples, including 121,469 individuals), leader-member exchange (LMX: 191 samples, including 216,975 individuals), and affective organizational commitment (383 samples, including 116,766 individuals). We considered both how the average levels changed over time and how the associations of these 3 elements with the antecedents of procedural and distributive justice and the consequences of in-role and extra-role performance have changed. We found that the average levels of indicators of the SER have remained steady except for an increase in POS. LMX and affective commitment show levels near neutral, and POS has increased to only a moderately positive level. In contrast, the relationships between these elements with distributive and procedural justice and extra-role performance remain substantial. These findings suggest that employees on average do not currently have strong exchange relationships with their work organization but remain ready to more fully engage based on perceived voluntary favorable treatment by the work organization and its representatives.
Prior research is equivocal about whether leadership is more effective when it matches typical cultural practices (the
cultural congruence
argument) or compensates for "ineffective" cultural ...practices (the
cultural compensation
argument). We propose that a more nuanced answer to the congruence-versus-compensation debate requires the joint consideration of leadership, culture, and task contexts. A meta-analysis of 460 field samples of transformational leadership (
N
= 124,646) and 139 field samples of transactional leadership (
N
= 38,327) across 53 cultures revealed three key results: First, both transformational and transactional leadership universally relate positively to follower performance outcomes. The strength of these relationships ranges between 0.25 and 0.39 for transformational leadership and between 0.12 and 0.24 for transactional leadership. Second, the positive effects of transformational leadership on convergent performance outcomes are more pronounced in cultures characterized by norms of vertical differentiation (including high power distance) and harmony (including collectivism), consistent with the cultural congruence perspective. Third, the positive effects of transactional leadership on divergent performance outcomes are more pronounced in cultures characterized by norms of low performance-focus (including low uncertainty avoidance), consistent with the cultural compensation perspective. We discuss the implications of these findings for transformational and transactional leadership research and practice.
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