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1 – 10 of over 4000This study contributes to the literature by explicating why individuals become effective in performing tasks in intercultural context. Drawing from the social axioms theory and…
Abstract
Purpose
This study contributes to the literature by explicating why individuals become effective in performing tasks in intercultural context. Drawing from the social axioms theory and intelligence theory, this study specifically investigates and generates new insights about the role of social complexity belief and cultural intelligence (CQ) in enhancing intercultural task performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Two sets of studies were conducted. Study 1 was conducted in Australia (n = 222) wherein survey data were collected from employees (i.e. self-reports). In a subsequent study which was conducted in the Philippines (Study 2; n = 211), archival data were obtained from the annual performance reviews of the employees (provided by immediate supervisors) in addition to the employees' self-reports.
Findings
Results are validated in both studies that social complexity belief relates positively and significantly to intercultural task performance. Moreover, results show that social complexity belief influences overall CQ (and its cognitive and metacognitive dimensions) and in the process impacts intercultural task performance.
Originality/value
This study offers new insights related to intercultural task performance effectiveness. In particular, this study highlights the role of social complexity belief system. Furthermore, this study extends the nomological network of CQ by explicating how an individual's belief can relate to his/her level of CQ which then influences intercultural task performance. Aside from generating knowledge, this study also offers practical insights for human resources practitioners and for employees who are finding new ways to improve and enhance intercultural task performance.
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Andrea Graf and Marion Mertesacker
The purpose of this paper is to develop recommendations for measures assessing intercultural training needs for international human resource management. Based on scientific as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop recommendations for measures assessing intercultural training needs for international human resource management. Based on scientific as well as application‐oriented criteria the aim is to select six measures assessing general intercultural competencies and with the help of behaviour ratings in interactive intercultural exercises to evaluate the psychometric quality and practicability of the questionnaires for training purposes.
Design/methodology/approach
Psychometric quality including prognostic power of ICSI, FLCS, NVCCS, ISAS, TIHK, and SIB was tested by correlating subjects' questionnaires results with observations of their actual behaviour in intercultural exercises.
Findings
Satisfying psychometric quality and prognostic validity of almost all measures was found. Especially TIHK, ICSI, and FLCS score well for assessing training needs whereas the results for SIB were problematic.
Research limitations/implications
The study observed student participants of the same culture. Replication studies should examine large samples of different cultural backgrounds and manager populations.
Practical implications
Human resource managers may benefit from gaining knowledge about which measures to use for identifying employee's weaknesses in intercultural competence in order to create tailor‐made training interventions.
Originality/value
The study is the first providing information about the psychometric quality, including predictive power, of six measures, that assess intercultural skills to detect intercultural training needs.
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Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding how managers in position of leadership experience culture is essential to avoid instability and poor performance in international strategic alliances. This study tests the proposition that national culture, top management team culture, and manager's personality influence leadership and shapes intercultural fit through the predominant management style in US‐Mexican strategic alliances.
Design/methodology/approach
Strategic leadership and personality theories constitute the framework for this study. Managers from the US‐Mexican strategic alliances which partners hold an equity position were surveyed and provided data to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Findings show that American and Mexican managers construct their own social reality with rules and norms bounded primarily by the existing organizational culture in the alliance. Both managers' management styles are similar and converge into a participative “consultative” style emerging as a “third culture” characterized by task innovation and emotional concern as American managers' input and task support and social relationships as Mexican managers' contribution. This study suggests that if adequately balanced, individualism‐collectivism is a source of intercultural fit while building shared leadership.
Practical implications
Managers of international alliances may reconfigure individual and cultural orientations and styles of alliance partners in the design of management teams to build high levels of social effectiveness. The innovator style of American managers supports the dynamics of change for the alliance to advance while the adaptor style of Mexican managers builds stability, order, and maintains group cohesion and cooperation.
Originality/value
Intercultural fit in international strategic alliances is achieved through designing organizational cultures that incorporate partners' cognitive diversity into the relationship.
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Barrie O. Pettman and Richard Dobbins
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
Abstract
This issue is a selected bibliography covering the subject of leadership.
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Emerson K. Keung and Amanda J. Rockinson-Szapkiw
– The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between the factors of cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine if there is a relationship between the factors of cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders.
Design/methodology/approach
This correlational research study examined 193 international school leaders, who participated in a survey that included the Cultural Intelligence Scale and the Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire 5X. A standard multiple regression analysis was used to determine if the factors of cultural intelligence predict transformational leadership. The individual contribution of each factor to the model was examined.
Findings
The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between cultural intelligence and transformational leadership in international school leaders. Leaders who have a higher level of cultural intelligence exhibit a higher level of transformational leadership style, which suggests that individuals with high-cultural intelligence are able to lead and to manage more effectively in multicultural environments. Behavioral cultural intelligence and cognitive cultural intelligence were found to be the best predictors of transformational leadership.
Practical implication
The results provide insight into the selection, training, and professional development of international school leaders. Practical implications are provided for integrating cultural intelligence into higher education curriculum.
Originality/value
This paper makes a unique contribution to the nomological network of cultural intelligence by identifying which factors of cultural intelligence best predict transformational leadership in international school leaders, a population to which this model had not been previously applied.
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Marc A. Geil and Jessica Greenwald
The purpose of this study is to unite research in cultural intelligence (CQ), core confidence and multitasking to examine how these characteristics interplay in the perceptions of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to unite research in cultural intelligence (CQ), core confidence and multitasking to examine how these characteristics interplay in the perceptions of global leadership effectiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample comprised 149 employees, mostly managers from 21 countries with 18 native languages spoken who had global leadership experience while working fulltime for international organizations. Relationships were examined using the hierarchical linear regression of survey data.
Findings
Support is found for core confidence moderating the relationship between CQ and other-rated and self-rated perceptions of global leadership effectiveness such that the relationship is stronger when leader core confidence is high. Moreover, support is found for CQ and core confidence having positive relationships with self-rated perceptions of global leadership effectiveness, and the study found a positive relationship between CQ and multitasking.
Practical implications
The relationships studied provide practitioners with information to supplement the employee selection process for global leaders. The ability to assess current or future employees and hedge organizational risk in assignment to global leadership positions could have a significant impact.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature by investigating individual characteristics contributing to the perceptions of global leadership effectiveness. Because perceptions are often acted on as if reality and globalization in our personal and work lives is expansive, understanding these relationships is important.
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Findings of research on behavior of school principals in four developing countries are summarized to shed light on the question of university of certain patterns of leader…
Abstract
Findings of research on behavior of school principals in four developing countries are summarized to shed light on the question of university of certain patterns of leader behavior. Certain similarities in the way leaders behave in different cultures lead, at least in a tentative way, to the conclusion that extra‐organizational (i.e. cultural) variables seem to be of little importance in the study of leadership. Implications of the findings are discussed, especially in regard to development of theory in administration.
Priyan Khakhar, Hussain Gulzar Rammal and Vijay Pereira
Biculturals possess higher cultural intelligence than monocultural individuals. This study explores biculturals' key factors and attributes and how their cultural knowledge and…
Abstract
Purpose
Biculturals possess higher cultural intelligence than monocultural individuals. This study explores biculturals' key factors and attributes and how their cultural knowledge and identification influence International Business Negotiations (IBNs) and help their firms outperform others.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 35 bicultural senior managers in Lebanon.
Findings
The findings highlight three essential qualities and behaviors that allow biculturals to act as a bridge between the parties during IBN: adaptability, cultural frame switching (CFS) and creativity.
Originality/value
This study explores the notion of bicultural personnel using their understanding of multiple cultures to be innovative, avoid groupthink and generate new creative ideas that help overcome stalemates during IBNs.
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Gregory B. Fisher and Charmine E.J. Härtel
Expatriates who perform poorly in their overseas assignments cost multinational enterprises billions of dollars, damage firm reputation, disrupt relationships with local…
Abstract
Expatriates who perform poorly in their overseas assignments cost multinational enterprises billions of dollars, damage firm reputation, disrupt relationships with local nationals, and often exact a cost on expatriates’ psychological well‐being. International human resource management, which assumes the crucial responsibility of managing expatriates, should therefore be able to identify the competencies underlying effective expatriate performance, and evaluate crosscultural competence and overall effectiveness. Little research, however, is available on the role of culture in determining cross‐cultural effectiveness in expatriate‐client interactions. Moreover, it is rarely acknowledged that the customer impacts upon the effectiveness of such interactions. This paper provides a theoretical explication of the relationships between the factors of intercultural effectiveness, sociobiographical characteristics, and perceived task and contextual performance of individual managers operating in an intercultural environment. Qualitative research is conducted which, in general, demonstrates the importance of examining intercultural effectiveness from the respective cultural perspectives of the expatriate and the host country client. The findings elucidate the factors contributing to the intercultural effectiveness of Western expatriate managers operating in intercultural teams in Thailand.
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