An investigation into the influence of personality factors on cultural intelligence and the direct and moderating effects of international experience

Abstract

Globalization has created tremendous opportunities for organizations, but also created challenges due to cultural diversity, highlighting the importance of cross-cultural competencies in becoming successful nowadays. Cultural Intelligence (CQ) has emerged as an important concept describing the individual capabilities needed to effectively interact across cultures. Utilizing the theory of evolutionary personality psychology, several relationships are predicted between certain personality traits and factors of CQ. In addition, social learning theory is applied to explain the expected relationships between international experience and CQ. Thirdly, several hypotheses are developed to investigate if international experience strengthens the relationship between certain personality traits and elements of CQ. Based on a sample size of 197 employees from a financial services company, exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses validate the theorized four-factor CQ model. The results, based on stepwise regression analyses, confirm the expected relationship between international experience and all factors of CQ, except BCQ. In addition, the results reveal several significant relationships between personality factors and CQ. Novel for the research on CQ is the confirmation of several significant correlations between “dark-side“ personality traits (which have been characterized as ineffective behaviours) and elements of CQ. This study also shows several moderating relationships, providing new insights and posing important questions for future research, contributing to the accumulating literature on CQ. In addition, the results of this study provide interesting suggestions for practice, emphasizing the importance of adapting Human Resources policies to recruit, enable and retain those employees who are likely to successfully grasp the opportunities that globalization offers. In order to achieve this, organizations should rely on a broad range of assessment and development tools, focussing on CQ, personality traits and previous international experience, when selecting and preparing individuals for cross-cultural careers.