Content area
Full text
This study explores the relationship of the motivational factor of cultural intelligence (CQ) and realistic previews to cross-cultural adjustment (work, general, and interaction adjustment) of global professionals. Regression analyses demonstrate positive relationships between motivational CQ and all three adjustment criteria after controlling for gender, age, time in the host country, and prior international assignment. Realistic job preview relates to work adjustment, realistic living conditions preview relates to general adjustment, and motivational CQ relates to work and general adjustment over and above realistic job and living conditions preview. This study demonstrates the importance and utility of motivational CQ in understanding cross-cultural adjustment. We discuss implications for cross-cultural adjustment research and suggest practical implications for organizations and individuals seeking overseas assignments.
Keywords: cultural intelligence; expatriate; realistic job preview; realistic living conditions preview; cross-cultural adjustment
Globalization encourages mobility of labor across national and cultural boundaries. This increases the need to understand why some global professionals, that is, skilled employees who work on international assignments outside their home country, are more successful than others. When global professionals perform ineffectively in a foreign work assignment they incur substantial direct and indirect costs to themselves (e.g., diminished selfesteem, impaired relationships, and interrupted careers) and to their employing organization (e.g., damaged corporate image and reputation; Black, Gregersen, & Mendenhall, 1992; Copeland & Griggs, 1985; Mendenhall & Oddou, 1985). In response, sojourner and expatriation research investigated determinants of cross-cultural adjustment to guide practice in assessing and managing the success of foreign work assignments. In this article, we explore and employ two theoretical perspectives that are underresearched in the literature on cross-cultural adjustment: motivational CQ and realistic preview.
Prior research on cross-cultural adjustment has established that individual-level factors, such as personality, self-monitoring, and selfefficacy, are important predictors of cross-cultural adjustment (Caligiuri, 2000; Hechanova, Beehr, & Christiansen, 2003; Ones & Viswesvaran, 1999; Parker & McEvoy, 1993). Earley and Ang (2003) introduced a promising multidimensional individual attribute, CQ. Defined as a person's capability to deal effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Earley & Ang, 2003), CQ comprises cognitive CQ, metacognitive CQ, motivational CQ, and behavioral CQ and has specific relevance to studies in cross-cultural contexts. Earley and Ang (2003) regarded motivational CQ as a critical CQ component and a key element in the adaptation...