Abstract
This empirical study explores the effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) on migrant workers’ innovative behavior, as well as the mediating role of knowledge sharing on the CQ-innovative behavior relationship. Besides, it also examines the extent to which the mediating process is moderated by climate for inclusion. Using survey data collected from Chinese migrant workers and their supervisors working in South Korea (n = 386), migrant workers’ CQ is found to positively impact their innovative behavior through enhanced knowledge sharing. However, it is observed that this indirect relationship is significant, only for migrant workers in a strong climate for inclusion. Thus, these findings reveal the underlying mediation and moderation mechanism and consequently unveil the important role of migrant workers’ CQ in shaping their behavior. This study provides insightful and practical implications to a multicultural organization, where culturally diverse migrant workers work together.
Highlights
The mobilization of human and nonhuman resources is one of the important developments in the world
When knowledge sharing was included into the regression equation with CQ, the relationship between CQ and innovative behavior decreased slightly (β = 0.23, p < 0.001), while knowledge sharing was positively related to innovative behavior (β = 0.40, p < 0.001)
The results showed that knowledge sharing partly mediated the CQ-innovative behavior relationship
Summary
The mobilization of human and nonhuman resources is one of the important developments in the world. A sharp rise in workforce mobility has been observed, especially in Asian countries (Chen, 2015). South Korea, for example, is one of the major destinations for many Asian migrant workers. It is documented that approximately 41.1% (n = 215,665) of the migrant workers in South Korea were of Chinese nationality in September 2018 (Lee and Cho, 2019). The cross-cultural diversity that the workforce mobility brings to organizations can provide a variety of information and resources for innovation by employing effective interaction (Ritter and Gemünden, 2004; Fang et al, 2018; Giorgi et al, 2020). Cultural intelligence (CQ) refers to “an individual’s capability to deal with culturally diverse situations effectively” (Earley and Ang, 2003, p. 4)
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