The influence of metacognitive cultural intelligence on global virtual team members' psychological safety during COVID-19

Abstract

Global virtual teams have become a dominant organizational form in the current organizational landscape. Research has emphasized the challenge and importance of cross-cultural competence, including the relevance of cultural intelligence (CQ), in working globally and virtually. We argue that positive outcomes of CQ are related to global virtual team members’ experience of psychological safety. In this chapter we explore the relationship between team member CQ and psychological safety in two time periods: pre-COVID-19 and during-COVID-19. We examine differences in virtuality between these time periods and their impact on the relationship between CQ and psychological safety. Drawing upon a sample of 110 global virtual team members in North and South America who completed their work together during one of these two time periods, we found that time period (pre-COVID-19 or during-COVID-19) moderated the effect of metacognitive CQ on psychological safety. We discuss the implications of our findings and suggest directions for future research.