Expatriates’ Cultural Intelligence and Cross Cultural Adjustment (original) (raw)
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Current Psychology
Today's increasingly global marketplace is resulting in more organizations sending employees to work outside their home countries as expatriates. Consequently, identifying factors influencing expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment at work and performance has become an increasingly important issue for both researchers and firms. Drawing on Kim et al. (2008), this study examines the critical elements to expatriate success, which are the relationships between cultural intelligence, cross-cultural adjustment at work, and assignment-specific performance. One-hundred and fifty-one expatriates working within the energy sector, who were mainly located in the Middle East completed questionnaires, investigating: cultural intelligence (Cultural Intelligence Scale), cross-cultural adjustment (Expatriate Adjustment Scale), performance (Expatriate Contextual/Managerial Performance Skills), cultural distance (Kogut and Singh' index), length of staying in the host country and international work experience. Findings indicated that the four cultural intelligence components were directly and indirectly (through cross-cultural adjustment at work) associated with performance. The positive relationship between motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment at work was stronger when cultural distance was low, when expatriates were at the beginning of a new international assignment, and when they had lower experience. Organizations can greatly benefit from hiring cross-culturally intelligent expatriates for international assignments, providing their employees with pre-departure training programs aimed at increasing cultural intelligence, and giving them organizational resources and logistical help to support them.
Malaysia with greater meta-cognitive and motivational CQ fared better in their general adjustment. Greater interaction adjustment was related to being greater meta-cognitive, greater cognitive and greater motivational CQ. Greater work adjustment was related to being greater motivational CQ. Secondly, it was found that greater contextual performance in expatriates was related to being greater meta-cognitive and behavioral CQ, while greater assignment specific performance was related to greater behavioral CQ. However, there was no support for the relationship between CQ and task performance. The findings of this study contributes to the body of knowledge in the cross-cultural management field as well as practical implication to expatriating firms especially in the area of selection and hiring of international candidates.
2021
Purpose-Organisations operate in diverse cultural environment, which is a challenging task due to absence of cultural knowledge and difficulty in adapting the native culture that usually leads to expatriate failure. In this context cultural intelligence plays an important role in the adjustment of employees. The purpose of the study is to examine the mediating role played by cultural intelligence between cross-cultural training and crosscultural adjustment relationship. It further analyses the moderating role of cross-cultural training and types of expatriate between cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment relationship. Design/methodology/approach-Set in a large culturally diverse emerging economy context, data have been gathered from 530 managers working in banking sector. Data have been duly assessed for reliability and validity. Findings-The results revealed that cultural intelligence mediates cross-cultural training and cross-cultural adjustment relationship. Evidence from the analysis further suggests that cross-cultural training and types of expatriate moderate the relationship between cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment. Lastly, the managerial and theoretical implications have been put forth for practical and academic perusal. Research limitations/implications-The study is cross-sectional in nature and data have been collected from single source. Practical implications-Organisations should design such training programmes, which motivate the managers to successfully complete out of home state assignment and help them to adapt in the cross-cultural situations. Social implications-Culturally intelligent employees/managers are able to communicate with people belonging to diverse culture, which results in building trust, loyalty and cordial relationship amongst the people. This will create the feeling of unity in the society thereby bringing national as well as global peace. Originality/value-The study develops the extant literature on cross-cultural training and types of expatriate as effective intercultural instruments to enhance the capability of the managers to interact and adjust in host region environment.
Organizations and Markets in Emerging Economies
The present study examined the role of self-monitoring, expatriate training, and prior international work experience on the cultural intelligence of expatriates. The data was collected from 223 Indian expatriates through a questionnaire survey. The results of data analysis indicated that self-monitoring has a significant impact on the cultural intelligence of the expatriates. Further analysis was done to examine the effect of these independent variables on individual dimensions of cultural intelligence. The findings signify that self-monitoring has a significant effect on all the three cultural dimensions, namely, cognitive, emotional/motivational and behavioral, and that expatriate training has a significant impact on the emotional/motivational dimension, but not on the other two. Prior international work experience was found not to have a significant effect on cultural intelligence and its dimensions. These findings provide significant insights into organizations for selecting and...
Cultural Intelligence – An Important Factor for Successful Work Abroad
Globalization impacts working patterns of employees from large and small countries all over the world. More people are starting careers in the global companies, and working in international teams abroad. As a result of these new needs, university curriculums are changing in order to meet expectations and prepare graduates for dealing with different cultures in diverse work spaces. Some schools in the USA even require a semester abroad for program completion.
impact of Cross Cultural Intelligence on job Performance: Role of Cross Cultural Adaptability
2014
Globalisation has made business a challenging proposition. Further, it has led to multicultural organisations where, people belonging to different cultures work under one roof. To manage diverse workforce, organisations need a new generation of managers, who are culturally sensitive. In this context, cultural intelligence is a tool, which increases the manager's ability to effectively interact with people belonging to other cultures. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of cultural intelligence on job performance and explore the role played by cross-cultural adaptability. The data for the study have been collected from 342 managers of Nationalised banks in JandK (India). Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis have been conducted to explore and validate the factors of different constructs. Hypotheses have been tested through structural equation modeling. The study reveals that cultural intelligence significantly affects job performance and. cross-cultural adaptability mediates the relationship between cultural intelligence and job performance. Implications and limitations of the study have also been discussed.
Effects of cultural intelligence on expatriate success
PsycEXTRA Dataset, 2000
2 Introduction Pat, a successful manager in JKL Corporation, is worried. He has just been offered the opportunity to transfer to the JKL plant in China for 18 months. He has been told that his success in the U.S. plant, especially his ability to turn around his department from a mediocre function to a highly profitable one, is the main reason for this decision. He also knows that managers are expected to accept these opportunities as they are presented. Although he's concerned that he doesn't know Chinese, nor has he had any contact with Chinese businessmen in the past, he thinks this experience will be a good career move. He now has to convince his wife to agree to the transfer and move their two preschool children to another country. They have moved twice within the U.S. for company assignments; he assures her that this move will be similar to those. Although he has never liked change, he and his wife were able to adapt to two new U.S. communities. How different could this be? Six months after the move, Pat is even more worried. He and his wife still do not speak any of the language, they are not comfortable with the food or public transportation, and his wife feels she needs to stay home with their children rather than place them in an international preschool where they would need to deal with many different languages and cultural practices. Their social life consists of dining out alone as neither has made friendseither local or other expatriates. Pat's attempts to replicate his previously successful work tasks have not been successful. He is angry at his new assignment, his coworkers, the country in general, and his inability to understand why everything is so different.
Investigating the factors influencing cultural adjustment and expatriate performance
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 2017
Purpose The fundamental question addressed in this research is: How do cultural intelligence, personality traits of expatriates, spousal support and cultural adjustment of expatriates impact their performance? The answer to the question is important to ensure that expatriation is successful. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach The integrated framework linking the factors was formulated and tested among the 139 expatriates employed by multinational corporations (MNC) in Malaysia. A questionnaire was developed and distributed. The framework was validated using structural equation modeling technique. Findings Based on the analysis, the important findings are: cultural empathy and social initiatives (personality traits) of expatriates, cultural intelligence and spousal support enhance cultural adjustment of expatriates; spousal support, cultural empathy and social initiatives influence the cultural intelligence of the expatriates; and cultural intelligenc...