The Role of Cultural Intelligence in Teams with Newcomers: A Multi-Level Model

Abstract

We examine the importance of team cultural intelligence (CQ) in multicultural teams that have two common characteristics—teams tasked with creative performance that have culturally different newcomers. Team CQ is conceptualized as a shared cognitive system of cultural capabilities among longer tenured, incumbent members on the team. We argue that this set of team-level cultural cognitive capabilities influences team creativity as mediated by team information elaboration. We incorporate the role of motivation and suggest that team learning goal orientation will enhance the effect of team CQ on team outcomes. At the individual level, we explain how newcomers’ CQ may impact newcomer creativity via their information seeking behaviors. This model suggests that more attention to how team CQ is conceptualized, what motivations are contextually important, and how teams with culturally distinct newcomers incorporate these new members in team processes will be important themes in future CQ research.