Short-term foreign trips correlates of the four factors model of cultural intelligence

Bhawana Bhardwaj

doi:10.1108/ramj-01-2021-0008

Bhawana Bhardwaj

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1108/ramj-01-2021-0008

Copy DOI

Abstract

PurposeIn today's global business environment, international assignments have become integral part of employee's job profile. Adaptation to a different cultural environment plays a role in affecting employee's performance. In such a situation, cultural intelligence plays an important role. In order to sustain in a diverse work setting, a global organization entails managers who are sensitive to different cultural requirements. Factors affecting cultural intelligence have been a major area of study. However, studies relating short-term foreign trips and their role on four aspect of cultural intelligence are lacking. Therefore, present study was undertaken to know role of foreign visits in affecting cultural intelligence among professionals of diverse background.Design/methodology/approachThe present study is a primary study conducted for a sample of 120 respondents divided into two groups. One group comprised professionals having experience of foreign visits while other group comprised professionals who had not visited a foreign country. We use Levene’s Test for equality of variances was applied to assess the difference of variation of cultural intelligence between two different groups of respondents.FindingsThe results revealed that short-term trips play a significant role in affecting metacognitive, cognitive and motivational components of cultural intelligence. However, behavior cultural intelligence is not affected by short-term trips significantly.Research limitations/implicationsOutcome of present research forms basis for future studies that can be conducted linking long-term trips and culture intelligence. This study is practically useful for improving cultural intelligence of professionals to enhance their success and effectiveness in international assignments.Originality/valueThe study adds novelty to the field of cultural intelligence as prior studies were lacking in relating role of short-term trips on four different components of cultural intelligence.

Highlights

Expansion of a business internationally is significant in the era of globalization
In order to sustain in a diverse work setting a global organization entails managers who are sensitive to different cultural requirements
Intelligent employee has creativity as well as innovation, persistence and ability to strategize which in turn builds up stamina to complete international assignments. These findings suggest that cultural intelligence plays a significant role in international assignments through employee’s adjustment and performance

Summary

Introduction

Globalization has rendered the organizations a complex business environment where employees are exposed to unfamiliar and different cultural contexts. These cultural differences and intercultural elements increase the complication of international business (Zhang, 2013; Lin et al, 2012) and can lead to conflicts (Gabel et al, 2005). In order to mitigate the complications of diverse culture in a business, an effective communication is a vital requirement. Different cultures have different value sets which make the communication exigent. In such context, cultural intelligence has attracted the attention of researchers especially in business at global level

Objectives

Methods

Results