The mediating role of transformational leadership in the relationship between cultural intelligence and employee voice behavior: A case of hotel employees

This study, for the first time, evaluates the mediating effect of transformational leadership in the relationship between cultural intelligence and voice behavior. Data were collected from 316 non-national employees from various hotels in Thailand. Structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. The results show that non-national employees with a higher level of cultural intelligence are more likely to display voice behaviors. Furthermore, this relationship is partially mediated by transformational leadership. This study offers a unique perspective by presenting cultural intelligence as a personal antecedent of voice behavior and by identifying the underlying mediation mechanism that affects this relationship. This investigation has important implications to manage and lead multicultural organizations, especially to promote voice behavior.     

The effect of study abroad and personality on cultural intelligence: A deeper understanding using the expanded model of cultural intelligence

Using an expanded assessment of cultural intelligence (CQ), this study provides a detailed analysis of how studying abroad impacts the development of CQ. We examined (1) the effect of a study abroad semester on the development of each of the eleven subdimensions of cultural intelligence – Expanded-CQ or E-CQ over time; and (2) whether personality traits (i.e., extraversion and openness to experience) had a moderating role in the relationship between a study abroad semester and E-CQ in a longitudinal study. Data were collected from 361 students both before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the study abroad semester. Mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance showed that the study abroad semester did have a statistically significant effect on the development of ten subdimensions of E-CQ over time. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that individuals who were low on extraversion improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness) more than did individuals who were high on extraversion. Similarly, individuals who were low on openness to experience improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness), their cognitive CQ (culture-general knowledge), and their motivational CQ (intrinsic interest) more than did individuals who were high on openness to experience. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Exploring resilience as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between cultural intelligence and sociocultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Switzerland

Recent studies suggest that cultural intelligence (CQ) and resilience play a key role in sociocultural adjustment in expatriate populations. The current study aimed to clarify the relationships between CQ, resilience and sociocultural adjustment in a population of expatriates in Switzerland. Participants (N = 126) completed validated, self-report measures of resilience, cultural intelligence, and sociocultural adjustment and hierarchical linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses tested relationships between the study variables. Preliminary results verified findings from previous research indicating that increased resilience and CQ predict fewer sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Additional analyses showed that the CQ Skills subscale explained a significant amount of variance in sociocultural adjustment while the other subscales, metacognition and knowledge, did not. Finally, we found that resilience partially mediates the relationship between CQ and sociocultural adjustment but does not act as a moderator in this relationship. The results have theoretical implications for understanding the process of sociocultural adjustment, as well as practical implications for implementing targeted training programmes to support expatriate adjustment.     

Short form measure of cultural intelligence: A Portuguese validation

More and more workplaces need employees who can work effectively with people of diverse cultural contexts. Cultural intelligence is a core social ability to interact successfully in cross-cultural environments. The Short Form measure of Cultural Intelligence (SFCQ) has been validated in several countries, although not for Portuguese-speaking countries. This paper describes the findings of three studies conceived to validate the SFCQ in the Portuguese language. The first study supports the SFCQ scale as unidimensional with three intermediate facets and possessing adequate internal consistency in a sample of college students (N = 217). In favor of construct validity, the instrument is weakly associated with but dissimilar to ethnocentrism and personality and is positively related to various markers of multicultural experience. Regarding criterion-validity, the SFCQ is related, as expected, to sociocultural adaptation and having a close friend from another culture. The second study supports the construct validity and the concurrent validity of the Portuguese SFCQ scale using a different sample of national college students (N = 195). The final study (N = 181) also supported the construct, the convergent, and the criterion-related validities of the Portuguese SFCQ scale in a sample of international students. It merits noting that in these three studies cultural intelligence emerged as a second-order single factor with three first-order factors, in particular, cultural knowledge, cultural skills, and cultural metacognition. These results substantiate the validity of the SFCQ and demonstrate this Portuguese version as a tool with substantial evidence for easily assessing cultural intelligence.     

Proactive personality and cross-cultural adjustment: Roles of social media usage and cultural intelligence

Proactive personality has been theoretically defined as a natural disposition that determines the manner in which an individual responds to social environmental changes. However, in cross-cultural context, knowledge about the role of proactive personality and its boundary conditions in expatriate cross-cultural adjustment remains limited. To address the gaps, this study aims to investigate whether and how proactive personality accounts for variance phenomena in expatriate cross-cultural adjustment with intervention of boundary conditions. A survey was conducted in three public universities in China, and 247 informative responses were obtained for hypothesis testing analysis. Results reveal that proactive personality contributes to expatriate cross-cultural adjustment. This contribution occurs through the conduit of cultural intelligence (CQ). CQ partially mediates the relationship between proactive personality and academic adjustment but fully mediates that between proactive personality and social adjustment. Moreover, social media usage for gathering information negatively influences the relationship between proactive personality and CQ. Implications and future research directions are discussed as well.     

The relationship between cultural intelligence and performance with the mediating effect of culture shock: A case from Philippine laborers in Taiwan

This purpose of the present study was to explore the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) and its effect on performance of foreign laborers. We also examined the mediating effect of culture shock on the relationship between CQ and performance. Data were collected from Philippine laborers working in Taiwan. A paper-based survey, with a return rate of 76.4%, was completed by 382 Philippine laborers working in Taiwan's manufacturing industries. The results showed that CQ was positively related to the performance of Philippine laborers and negatively related to culture shock. In addition, we found that culture shock partly mediated the relationship of CQ and performance. These findings suggested that CQ can serve as a predictor for cross-cultural effectiveness. Implications for practice and direction for future research are offered.     

Travels in hyper-diversity: Multiculturalism and the contextual assessment of acculturation

We argue that current acculturation research offers an incomplete picture of the psychological changes taking place in contemporary multicultural societies. Several characteristics of the Canadian multicultural context highlight the limitations in current acculturation research: namely, themes of hyper-diversity, hybridity, dimensionality and the importance of local context. Canada is a case in point, but these themes are generalizable to other contemporary multicultural contexts. To address the limitations of the traditional psychological acculturation paradigm, we propose an innovative research approach to study acculturation: the Cultural Day Reconstruction Method (C-DRM). We report on two studies that implemented this diary method, to demonstrate that this research tool (1) addresses theoretical critiques of current acculturation research and (2) captures some of the complexity of acculturation in contemporary multicultural contexts. The C-DRM was constructed in response to the local research environment but we hope it will become part of a new generation of tools for the contextual assessment of acculturation.     

Cultural adaptation and societal context: The role of historical heterogeneity in cultural adaptation of newcomers

In today’s global world, it has become increasingly important for individuals moving to a different country for work, study, or permanent relocation to successfully adapt to this new culture. Responding to recent calls in the literature for more ecological approaches to the study of cultural adaptation, we examine the effect of host country historical heterogeneity—or, the extent to which a country’s current inhabitants descended from a diverse pool of ancestors—on newcomers’ cultural adaptation to that country. Across two studies, we find that higher levels of host country historical heterogeneity predict higher rates of cultural adaptation among newcomers. This relationship persists even when accounting for individual characteristics of the newcomers and sociocultural/economic characteristics of the home and host countries. These results suggest that a country’s historical levels of diversity may contribute to the successful adaptation of newcomers above and beyond their personal characteristics, their home country environment, or current conditions in the host country, including current levels of diversity. These results have practical implications for facilitating newcomers’ successful cultural adaptation.     

The impact of emotional intelligence on depression among international students studying in China: The mediating effect of acculturative stress

Psychological resources such as emotional intelligence are claimed to act as protective factors against negative psychological adjustment outcomes of acculturative stress and depression for international students in their intercultural transition in the host country despite the dearth of substantial empirical evidence. With this in mind, the study was conducted to investigate the relationships between emotional intelligence, acculturative stress and depression. The study recruited international university students (N = 506) who were purposefully drawn from seven Chinese universities located in Wuhan. Participants completed three self-report questionnaires: Emotional Intelligence Scale, Acculturative Stress for International Students scale and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale. The result of the study revealed that students with a higher level of acculturative stress were found to have greater depressive symptoms. The study also indicated that emotionally intelligent students were likely to experience a lower level of acculturative stress and fewer depressive symptoms. The finding of the study further suggested that students with a higher level of emotional intelligence were likely to experience a lower level of acculturative stress and consequently appeared less depressed. Findings of the present study may assist university communities to have an insight into the nature of emotional intelligence and its impact on acculturative stress and depression, and then make the best use of this insight to work on facilitating the psychological adaptation of international students in the new environment. Implications, limitations, and future research directions for the study are discussed.     

Workplace and school microaggressions on anxiety symptoms: The role of cultural values among Hispanic Americans

ObjectivesThis study examined the main and interaction effects of the workplace and school microaggressions and cultural values of cultural pride, familismo, espiritismo, and simpatia on anxiety symptoms among Hispanic Americans.Design266 U.S. Hispanic American college students participated in this cross-sectional survey research. Of the 266 participants, 68% identified as cisgender women; 87% reported English mastery. The reported mean age was 19.92 (SD = 3.07).ResultsTo test whether cultural values moderated the relationship between workplace and school microaggression on anxiety symptoms, we conducted separate interaction models for each interaction term. Findings showed that overall, cultural values and specific values of cultural pride and espiritismo moderated the relationship between workplace and school microaggression on anxiety symptoms. Specifically, the positive relationship between workplace and school microaggression and anxiety symptoms was most robust for Hispanic Americans endorsing greater cultural values and specific values of cultural pride and espiritismo.ConclusionsThese findings suggest that Hispanic Americans who closely associate with these cultural values may be more conscious of being othered and marginalized by these microaggressions, which may lead to higher reports of anxiety symptoms. Taken together, our findings suggest that these cultural values may serve as a risk or protective factor in the relationship between workplace and school microaggressions and anxiety symptoms and has implications for vocational interventions.     

The mediating effect of sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence on citizens and migrants: Impact on perceptions of country images

Reports indicate that international migration patterns will continue to grow between 50 and 60 million per decade. Consequently, people’s perceptions of a country’s image will evolve. Country image is an important phenomenon affecting organizations and people’s decisions to travel, invest, study, migrate, and many more. Hence, this study aims to examine the influence of global and local identity on citizens’ and migrants’ perceptions of their countries’ images. In addition, the paper investigates the mediating effect of lower sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence on a country’s image. Our sample is drawn from Indonesians and Australians who completed survey questionnaires in the two countries. The sample comprises citizens and migrants (n = 1188) from Australia and Indonesia. The results show local and global identity differences in how individuals perceive other countries. For Indonesians, local identity makes people perceive Australia more positively. In contrast, for Australians, global identity makes people perceive Indonesia more negatively. Furthermore, the results indicate the importance of cultural intelligence over sociocultural adaptation. This paper will make several theoretical and managerial contributions. First, the paper contributes to cultural and identity literature. Individuals’ perceptions of a country are influenced by their identity and values. Second, this study shows the importance of sociocultural adaptation and cultural intelligence. Mere identity (global or local) is insufficient to justify the relationship between identity and perception of a country.     

Extending the cultural research infrastructure: The rise of the regional cultural consortiums in England

Two distinguishing features of the New Labour Government have been its focus on regionalism and the establishment of a department of state, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), explicitly dedicated to ‘cultural’ policy. This paper tracks the development of a new set of regional cultural organizations, the Regional Cultural Consortiums (RCCs). These were established to contribute to regional development and to deliver the DCMS's national policy goals. The paper examines the RCCs' remit, challenges, achievements and prospects, and locates these in wider debates about evidence-based policy and continuity and change in cultural and regional policy. Particular consideration is given to the RCCs' research and data collection activities and their role in developing a move towards improved capacity in regional cultural research and data collection.     

The mediating role of moral exclusion between authoritarianism and outgroup discrimination

It has been well-documented that right wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation as two facets of the authoritarian personality differentially account for a variety of negative intergroup behaviors. Integrating the Dual Process Model (Duckitt, 2001), with the literature on “Moral exclusion” (e.g., Opotow, 1990; Tileagă, 2007) we investigated whether or not moral exclusion would mediate such a relationship. Employing survey data (N = 1015), collected from a representative Hungarian sample, we found that moral exclusion mediated the effects of both RWA and SDO on the negative behavioral intentions against Roma as well as Jewish minorities in Hungary. Moreover, we argued that the concept of moral exclusion should be interpreted not as a generalized tendency, but as a mechanism which can be stemmed from distinct social cognitive motivations.     

Facilitating adaptation and intercultural contact: The role of integration and multicultural ideology in dominant and non-dominant groups

Research on acculturation has documented that adaptation to a receiving society is affected by both the immigrants’ acculturation strategies and the dominant group's expectations about how immigrants should acculturate. However, the acculturation expectations have received relatively less attention from researchers, and support for multiculturalism has rarely been examined from the perspective of immigrants. The present study used the framework of the Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies (MIRIPS) project to investigate the acculturation experiences and intercultural relations in Hong Kong by incorporating mutual views of both the dominant and non-dominant groups. It also tested the mediating role of the dominant group's tolerance towards different cultural groups and the non-dominant group's perceived discrimination. Two community samples were recruited, including Hong Kong residents (N = 181) and immigrants from Mainland China (N = 182). Among Mainland immigrants, the integration strategy predicted both psychological adaptation and sociocultural adaptation. Multicultural ideology predicted psychological adaptation and played a significant role in intercultural contact with Hong Kong people through the mediation of lower perceived discrimination. Among Hong Kong residents, the integration expectation predicted psychological adaptation. Multicultural ideology indirectly affected intercultural contact with Mainland immigrants through the mediation of greater tolerance. These results suggest that the integration strategy and expectation are more important to intrapersonal functioning, whereas multicultural ideology may be more crucial in facilitating social interactions between members of the society of settlement and immigrants in culturally plural milieus. Future research should test the proposed models of dominant and non-dominant groups in other cultures.     

Cross-country comparisons of cultural statistics: Issues and good practice

Cross-country comparisons are popular in cultural policy. This paper looks at how cultural statistics are used in the making of such comparisons. Analysts have identified a general ‘sloppiness’ in current cultural statistics comparisons. Some of the major problems in both data production and data presentation are documented, and a ‘checklist’ of good practice is provided. The paper aims to provide guidance and ideas for anyone making cross-country comparisons of cultural statistics.     

Threat and Prejudice against Syrian Refugees in Canada: Assessing the Moderating Effects of Multiculturalism,Interculturalism, and Assimilation

A survey experiment (N = 529) was used to test the moderating effects of intergroup ideologies (assimilation, multiculturalism, and interculturalism) on the relationship between social dominance orientation (SDO) and expressions of prejudice under conditions of intergroup threat. Moderated multiple regression analyses suggest a multicultural integration frame moderates the relationship between SDO and feelings toward Syrian refugees in Canada when the target outgroup is portrayed as a source of intergroup threat. This moderating effect was unique to the relationship between SDO and feelings toward Syrians and did not extend to other correlates of prejudice including beliefs in zero-sum group competition or a multicultural ideology, nor did it extend to more general measures of prejudice (i.e., attitudes toward immigrants or evaluations of intercultural contact). Findings suggest the prejudice-reducing effects of a multicultural integration narrative affect group evaluations and functions by targeting beliefs in social dominance, rather than zero-sum group competition or ideological support for cultural diversity. The results offer insights into the prejudice-reducing potential for two alternative integration narratives that are institutionalized in Canada.     

The cultural correlates of learning poverty: The roles of long-term orientation and power distance

Learning poverty, defined as being unable to read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school, is a critical social problem. Past studies on learning poverty have mostly focused on the role of economic and demographic factors but have seldom explored the role of culture. To address this gap, we examined whether national cultural values (i.e., power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence) were associated with learning poverty in 45 countries. Ecological analyses indicated that among the different cultural values, long-term orientation was negatively associated with learning poverty, but power distance was positively associated with it. These associations remained robust after accounting for the roles of economic and demographic factors. These findings extend the literature on learning poverty by emphasizing the cultural correlates of learning poverty. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

The role of multicultural and colorblind ideologies and typicality in imagined contact interventions

Recent studies have demonstrated that simply imagining a positive interaction with an outgroup member reduces prejudice, especially if the outgroup member is typical of the whole outgroup. In this research, we tested how a multicultural vs. colorblind mindset might impact the efficacy of imagined contact with a typical or atypical outgroup member. Specifically, we tested the interactive effects between ideologies (multiculturalism vs. colorblindness) and the typicality of the outgroup member (typical vs. atypical) in the imagined encounter. Results revealed that participants exposed to the multicultural ideology who imagined an encounter with an atypical outgroup member expressed fewer positive perceptions (warmth and competence) toward both primary and secondary outgroups compared with respondents exposed to the multicultural ideology who imagined an interaction with a typical outgroup member, and compared with respondents exposed to a colorblind ideology (irrespective of typicality of the outgroup member). The study highlights the importance of considering the interaction between cultural ideologies and typicality during intergroup contact when designing interventions aimed at promoting positive intergroup perceptions.     

Discrimination and multicultural identity configurations: The mediating role of stress

The present research examines perceived discrimination as a predictor of how multicultural individuals negotiate and configure their different cultural identities within the self. We focused on three multicultural identity configurations: having one predominant identity (categorization), compartmentalizing one’s different identities, and integrating one’s identities. Since discrimination is related to intraindividual discordance and is stressful, we examined the mediating role of stress in the associations between discrimination and the identity configurations in 259 multicultural individuals. Mediation analyses revealed that greater discrimination predicted compartmentalization through greater stress, while lower discrimination predicted greater identity integration through lower stress. Categorization was not predicted by discrimination or by stress. Discrimination and stress appear to have damaging and depleting roles that hamper multiculturals’ capacity to reconcile their identities into a cohesive whole.     

Criteria of sociocultural adjustment: The case of the Russian Community in Israel since 1989

This research focuses on criteria for evaluating the success of sociocultural adjustment among immigrants in the target society. The major research objective is to clarify whether the desired outcome of integration as described by immigrants from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and natives (Israelis) reflects the same or different models of sociocultural adjustment. Representative samples of immigrants and long-time Israelis completed a 67-item questionnaire where each item represented a criterion of sociocultural adjustment. These items were organized by factor analysis into 12 spheres of sociocultural adjustment (e.g., psychological, economical, educational, etc.). The immigrants preferred the selected acculturation model of sociocultural adjustment: selective adoption of the target culture while maintaining an affinity to the native one. In comparison, the host Israelis favored an integrative model: general (unselective) adoption of the new culture and preservation of an affinity to the native one.