The moderating effects of active and agreeable conflict management styles on cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of cultural intelligence (CQ) and conflict management styles on a person’s cross-cultural adjustment in an Asian context. A total of 260 international students completed the paper-based questionnaires in Taiwan. We utilized multiple hierarchical regression to analyze the data and thereby to test the effects of CQ on cross-cultural adjustment as well as the moderating effects of conflict management styles on the relationship between CQ and cross-cultural adjustment. The results showed that CQ had a positive relationship with both general adjustment and interaction adjustment after controlling for age, length of residence in the local country, previous overseas experience, English language ability, and Chinese language ability. Moreover, we found that an active conflict management style negatively moderated the relationships between CQ and general adjustment and between CQ and interaction adjustment, while an agreeable conflict management style only positively moderated the relationship of CQ and general adjustment. Ultimately, we were able to demonstrate the importance of CQ and conflict management styles in understanding the links that are related to cross-cultural adjustment. We also provided several practical implications for firms and for individuals in order to improve their cross-cultural effectiveness.