Hype or hope? A new look at the research on cultural intelligence

Cultural intelligence (CQ), the capability by which expatriates, managers, and others involved in cross-cultural interactions function effectively in a globalized world, was introduced in 2003 and has garnered wide attention recently. In this paper, we present a detailed and up-to-date review of 142 empirical articles in the CQ research field. We first examine the concept of CQ, including its definition, structure, measurement, and validity. We then review the vast number of empirical studies that investigate the antecedents, development, direct and indirect effects, moderating effects, and aggregated effects of CQ, as well as qualitative studies. The analysis shows several issues that likely will be relevant to the research debate in the near future. These issues include investigations of (1) whether cultural intelligence is universal or culture-specific, (2) why objective measures that assess CQ are lacking, (3) to what extent a person can develop cultural intelligence, (4) to what extent there are dark sides to cultural intelligence, and (5) the role cultural intelligence plays as a predictor of individual and group performance. Addressing these questions may help us reveal the true potential of CQ in contemporary organizations and thus, affirm that the promise of CQ is more than just hype

Online Shopping Behavior in Cross-cultural Context: An Empirical Research in China

As a newly evolved emergence from e-business, social commerce has attracted increasingly attention from both researchers and practitioners. Distinguished from the majority of extant research paradigm, the current empirical study extends social commerce research into cross-cultural context and unveils the underlying mechanism through which two dimensions of social media usage (informational and socializing) impact user’s intention to purchase on social commerce websites, thereby facilitating online shopping behaviors. In addition, the research demonstrates the role of cultural distance as a boundary condition attenuating the positive effects of social media usage in cross-cultural social commerce application. Research implications and limitations for future venues are also discussed

The Mediating and Moderating Relationship Between Cultural Intelligence Dimensions

Lack of knowledge sharing has led to increased deaths during the pandemic as well as cooperate revenue losses in the billions. Cultural intelligence (CQ) increases knowledge sharing because the creation of laws, public and corporate policies, and personal biases are founded in culture. To raise CQ in the real-world, developers of training programs need information regarding how the construct develops. The purpose of this study was to provide more information regarding the development of CQ, specifically testing higher-order and indirect relations between cognitive and behavioral CQ. A sample of 225 SurveyMonkey audience members completed the surveys. The results showed that (a) simple mediation was significant with motivational CQ and metacognitive CQ acting singly as mediators, (b) serial mediation was significant through motivational CQ followed by metacognitive CQ and through metacognitive CQ followed by motivational CQ, (c), parallel mediation was significant along the same paths, and (d) no moderation paths were significant. These findings show that there were four causal chains in the development of CQ. All the mediation paths from cognitive to behavioral CQ included either metacognitive CQ, motivational CQ, or both; this knowledge can be used by developers of CQ training to create new test models with the goal of creating long-lasting CQ in the real world and creating positive social change

Exploring Experiences of Diverse Faculty With Diverse Students in Distance Education

This study aims to explore faculty’s experiences regarding teaching methods and student-teacher interaction. The interaction between the majority groups and diverse (minority) groups on the college and university campuses needs to be addressed in order for colleges to achieve the universal goal of education for all (Akombo, 2013). Such interactions can be achieved through a curriculum that fosters cultural perspectives within the college communities (Akombo, 2013). Due to the diversity and pluralism of educational environments, academic faculty must be able to discuss multiple cultural perspectives in the classroom (Akombo, 2013). For this reason, the Roger’s Diffusion of Innovation Theory will be used to explore the experiences of diverse faculty with diverse students. Moreover, this diffusion of innovation will empower faculty to establish a platform that advocates cultural competence as well as adopts best practices for cultural awareness and inclusion. In view of that, the purpose of this study is to explore the following: (a) faculty experiences with diverse students in an institute of higher learning, (b) faculty experiences cultivating student learning, and (c) instructor’s resources and best practices that are available for diverse faculty in addressing student learning. The target population of this study will consist of administrators, faculty, instructional designers, and online success coaches from business technology program at the institute of higher learning

Teaming at a Distance: The Work Experience on Global Virtual Teams

Global Virtual Teams (GVTs) enable organizations to become more flexible, and to adapt and react to turbulent, complex and dynamic environments. These teams span boundaries such as space, time, and geography, working collaboratively to achieve a shared purpose. Due to their reliance on technology for communication, knowledge sharing, and project management, structural and nonstructural components of their design must exist to enable these teams to exist and flourish at the edge of innovation. The human experience of working in virtual teams remains insufficiently observed, yet crucial to their sustainability. This dissertation study employed an exploratory sequential mixed methods design to provide insights into the experience of working as a member or leader on a GVT. In phase one, a theoretical framework was developed to identify themes and sub-themes that emerged from 21 interviews with GVT practitioners from seven nations and multiple time zones across many sectors. The data revealed that experiences of working on a GVT are best expressed by four major themes: team design (both structural and nonstructural) components, cross-cultural communication, human dynamics, and technology. One meta-theme emerged, adaptability, which is well supported by the chosen guiding theoretical framework, adaptive structuration theory (AST), as well as extant research. The results of phase one informed development of a survey instrument; a pilot test of this instrument showed promise for future validation of a scale that accurately depicts the experiences of working on a GVT. The current findings support practical applications toward better understanding team functioning, essential human needs, and best practices for team awareness and functioning. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive, http://aura.antioch.edu/and OhioLINK ETD Center, https://etd.ohiolink.edu/

Three Essays on Diversity-Performance Relationship from a Positive Psychology Lens

Workplace diversity is an incessant notion in today’s world. Scholars have examined different aspects of diversity (e.g. demographic, cultural, and informational) in context of varying processes and outcomes (e.g. satisfaction, innovation, creativity, and performance). Diversity has been proposed as a double-edged sword, but the overall effects of diversity have been inconclusive, necessitating the investigation of more contextual variables. Efforts have been made to focus on this paucity of diversity research, however, the emphasis has been on objective variables and the positive characteristics of an individual or a team are neglected. Thus, the purpose of this three-essay dissertation is to address this gap by integrating the positive organizational behavior theme with the diversity literature. I aim to amalgamate positive psychology components in the diversity-performance relation and identify its fruitful effects. As a foundational step, the first essay offers insights on the extant patterns and research trends of diversity research at two levels – individual and team. In this comprehensive literature review, I analyze different variables used to investigate effects of both, relational demography and diversity, on performance. The study highlights theoretical underpinnings, distinguishes the analytical approaches, and offers guidelines for future research. In Essay 2, I theorize a multi-level model highlighting the direct and interaction effects of relational demography and positive psychology traits on individual outcomes. I propose that the detrimental effects of surface- and deep-level diversity on individual team members will be alleviated by the positive effects such as cultural intelligence and psychological empowerment at the individual-level and empowerment and psychological capital at the team-level. A longitudinal investigation of more than 480 participants constituting 139 teams at two major research universities provides evidence for the interesting effects of these positive traits. Results demonstrate that cultural quotient of an individual has a positive significant interaction effect on psychological empowerment and intrinsic motivation. Also, the level of psychological empowerment has a direct positive effect on the sense of thriving at work. In a similar setting, in Essay 3 a team-level model is proposed to identify the effect of surface- and deep-level diversity with social integration and team learning. I investigate the interaction effects of collective psychological capital, team goal orientation, and team empowerment. Further, the direct effect of psychological capital and team processes on team performance is also analyzed. Findings from this study suggest that team goal orientation acts as a positive moderator for both social integration and team learning behavior. Likewise, team psychological capital has a positive interaction effect on the two team processes. Overall, this dissertation highlights the importance of considering the positive psychological capacities of individuals to overcome diversity-related challenges. This research makes a critical contribution by including the unexplored positive psychological traits in the diversity literature and illustrating its virtues. Findings from the studies generate several fruitful implications for theory and practice. Future research directions are suggested

How does social media use affect creativity?

Social media is a parasitic relationship that is more beneficial for data companies and the platforms than it is the user. However, users still reap many unexpected benefits from engaging with different socials. Through observing how users interact with the platforms and each other using a Creativity focused framework, it is quite observable social media can be an effective tool to improve one’s creativity if used properly. Social media facilitates a combination of humor and community in a way that is difficult for traditional media and community to replicate. While humor inspires positive emotion and novelty and laughter binds a community together, only social media can combine the two in a formation that provides support for those with niche interests. Despite this unique benefit, the creative benefits of social media are mirrored by their negative counterparts, specifically jealousy and envy. Any given user may experience envy of the audience and respect that comes with another user’s creativity, and this envy seems to create a barrier to entry in the minds of those who are not naturally talented content creators. Additionally, social media comes with extremely fascinating and unique challenges, from the potential for a creator to be canceled for past social wrongs, classic cultural insensitivity in new virtual forms (ex: digital blackface) and the ever present and proliferating threat of getting content stolen. The most important aspect to recognize in this relationship between creative users and social media platforms is that personal data is harvested as a by-product of users engaging with new and creative content. Creativity on social media is incentivized then not for its own sake, but for the sake of the market and to improve the algorithm in a cylindrical process that makes creative authenticity difficult to identify

Does Exposure to Foreign Culture Influence Creativity? Maybe It's Not Only Due to Concept Expansion

Multicultural experience refers to those experiences gained through individuals' contact with other cultures. This study focused on exploring whether knowledge of different cultures can improve creative performance-and also how multicultural experiences influenced this performance through changes in individual's physiological mechanisms. Study 1 explored the influence of different cultural priming on creative story-writing tasks. Eighty-nine Chinese college students were randomly assigned to 4 conditions: sole American culture, dual cultures, sole Chinese culture or control condition, and made to watch 45 min slides with cultural elements—including pictures, music and videos,—and then they were asked to complete the creative story-writing task. The results showed that American culture priming group's score was significantly higher than the control condition with regards to the uniqueness and novelty of the creative story-writing task. Study 2 was aimed at exploring the relationship between physiological arousal levels induced by different cultural and creative performance. We divided the whole experiment into five stages,—including the baseline, picture, listening to music, watching video, and completing creative tasks. Through Biofeedback measurement, we recorded the physiological indexes of participants in different groups in every stage, including skin conductance, thermal, electroencephalographic, and heart rate. The results showed that contacting with foreign cultures would increase individuals' physiological arousal level and brain activity, which contributed to the following creative task