ارتباط شخصیت با هوش فرهنگی: یک اثر تعاملی تجربه پذیری و سازشکاری Linking personality to cultural intelligence: An interactive effect of openness and agreeableness

Abstract The personality trait of openness is generally believed to influence an individual’s cultural intelligence, which is an ability to deal effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds. This study examines whether a relationship between the two depends on the individual’s degree of agreeableness, a personality trait important for building interpersonal relationships. Data collected from 244 international professionals shows that openness is positively related to three facets of cultural intelligence when agreeableness is high, but not when agreeableness is low. The findings suggest that research on personality and cultural intelligence would benefit from an interactive approach, and that assessment, selection and development of international talents should consider personality traits not in isolation, but in concert. ۱٫ Introduction In today’s globalized world, individuals need to develop cultural intelligence (CQ) to adapt more effectively to a new cultural setting where people think and behave differently (Kim, Yamaguchi, Kim, & Miyahara, 2015; Ward, Wilson, & Fischer, 2011). CQ is conceptualized as a type of intelligence which reflects an individual’s ability to deal effectively with people from different cultural backgrounds (Earley & Ang, 2003). Construct validity and discriminative validity of CQ have been established in various cultural contexts (Ang et al., 2007; Şahin, Gürbüz, Köksal, & Ercan, 2013) and its antecedents and nomological network have been widely studied (e.g., Ang, Van Dyne, & Koh, 2006, Ang et al., 2007, Li, Mobley, & Kelly, 2013). Five factor personality traits are established as determinants of CQ (Ang et al., 2006). However, no attention has been paid to how personality traits interact to influence CQ. Without this knowledge, we do not fully understand the vital role of personality traits in culturally competent individuals to guide the assessment, selection and development of international talents. Therefore, departing from the dominant emphasis of previous studies on independent five factor personality traits and individual’s competencies to be effective in an international context, this study examined an interactive effect of openness and agreeableness personality traits on CQ. While intelligence is commonly defined in terms of generalized adaptation to the environment (Sternberg, 1999), CQ is a unique intelligence for adaptation to cultural environment hence helps us understand why some individuals are more effective than others in culturally diverse situations (Thomas et al., 2015). Following Sternberg’s (1986) multiple-facets framework of intelligence, CQ is conceptualized as a multidimensional construct including metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral dimensions (Earley & Ang, 2003). Metacognitive CQ refers to the processes of ‘thinking about thinking’ that individuals use to acquire and understand cultural knowledge and make sense of intercultural experiences. Cognitive CQ is a person’s ability to understand both similarities and differences among cultures; and to do so requires general knowledge structures and mental maps about different cultures (Ang et al., 2006). Motivational CQ refers to a person’s interest in experiencing other cultures and a belief that they can function effectively in a different cultural environment (Ang et al., 2006). Behavioral CQ is a person’s ability to acquire or adapt behaviors appropriate for a new culture (Earley & Peterson, 2004). Despite the criticism about the multi-facets theory of intelligence (e.g., Gottfredson, 2003), a theory based CQ concept continues to develop (e.g. Thomas, 2006, Thomas et al., 2015). CQ measurements, by far predominantly self-report instruments similar to psychometric measurements of other types of intelligence, their validity and reliability continue to improve (e.g. Ang et al., 2007, Thomas et al., 2015). Hence research about CQ has generated ample evidence of the uniqueness of CQ construct and its outcomes. It has been found not to be correlated with general intelligence (IQ), but correlated with emotional intelligence (EQ) (Moon, 2010; Rockstuhl, Seiler, Ang, Van Dyne, & Annen, 2011). CQ and IQ are important for cross-cultural leadership while EQ and IQ are important for domestic leadership (Rockstuhl et al., 2011). CQ enhances learning from international experience (Ng, Van Dyne, & Ang, 2009), cultural judgment (Ang et al., 2007), and intercultural negotiation (Imai & Gelfand, 2010), and it enables managers to lead multicultural teams and organizational innovation more effectively (Elenkov & Manev, 2009; Groves & Feyerherm, 2011). It is crucial for global organizations to select and develop talents with higher levels of CQ or higher potential to develop CQ in order to remain competitive in an ever more challenging global environment (Triandis, 2006). The five independent personality factors were found to correlate with CQ dimensions (Ang et al., 2006). More specifically, significant links were found between conscientiousness and metacognitive CQ; agreeableness and emotional stability with behavioral CQ; extraversion with cognitive, motivational, and behavioral CQ; and openness with all four factors of CQ (Ang et al., 2006). Although the five-factor model has come to be considered as the most frequent representation of personality trait structure (Costa & McCrae, 1992a; Robert R McCrae & Costa, 1997; Robert R. McCrae & John, 1992), personality traits do not exist in a vacuum, but co-exist within individuals along with other traits (Merz & Roesch, 2011; Penney, David, & Witt, 2011). The interactive effects of personality traits were found to predict job performance and behavior beyond the additive effect of the five factors individually (Hofstee, Martin, Moor, & Pervin, 2012; King, George, & Hebl, 2005; Pease & Lewis, 2015; Witt, Burke, Barrick, & Mount, 2002). This study examines the interactive effect of personality traits on CQ with a focus on openness and agreeableness based on social learning theory. Social learning theory proposes that individuals develop through learning from people around them (Bandura, 1971) and CQ is developed from reacting to external cultural stimuli and learning from the interaction with people from different cultures (Li et al., 2013; Thomas & Inkson, 2005). Hence agreeableness, a personality trait that relates to interpersonal competency (Witt et al., 2002), is vital for CQ. To date, the most critical personality trait that relates to CQ is deemed to be openness (Ang et al., 2006; Triandis, 2006). However, open individuals who are low on agreeableness are less likely to learn from culturally different others in comparison with open individuals who are high on agreeableness due to their lower level of interpersonal competencies. Agreeableness is also highly correlated with cultural empathy (Leone, Van der Zee, van Oudenhoven, Perugini, & Ercolani, 2005), which is the individual’s ability to empathize with the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of members from different cultural groups; so high agreeableness is important for not only behavioral CQ but also for metacognitive CQ and cognitive CQ. However, these relationships have not been established in previous research. The role of agreeableness on CQ may rest in interaction with openness personality trait. We anticipate that the positive relationship between openness and the four facets of CQ is stronger when agreeableness is high than when it is low.