Developing Cultural Intelligence

Developing Cultural Intelligence:The IATA Case

Guido GianassoUniversity of Geneva

8 September 2011

8 September 2011Guido GianassoDeveloping Cultural Intelligence: the IATA case

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Research Gaps

Global Competence:

No generally accepted definition of the construct and validated assessment instrument

Prior studies have focused on expatriates adjustment. Little research exists on the relationship between global competence and individual job performance

Little research exists on how organizations can develop global competence

Guido Gianasso Developing Cultural Intelligence: the IATA case

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Research Questions

What makes “global” individuals more capable to operate across cultural boundaries and what is the relationship between this capability and job performance when individuals operate in interculturally diverse contexts

How can CQ capability be developed and how can organizations do so

Research Context: IATA

Guido GianassoDeveloping Cultural Intelligence: the IATA case

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Intended contributions to research

To examine the link between employees’ CQ and job performance in a global organization (only one study to date)

To provide first insight to whether employees demonstrate improvement in their CQ after undergoing a structured CCT intervention combining didactic and experiential activities (no study to date)

To propose an integrative model for future research


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Intended contributions to practice

To provide the empirical evidence to show that organizations need to seriously consider how to select and develop employees working in intercultural environments

To provide a concrete example of how a CCT intervention could look like


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Theory Development

Cultural Intelligence (Ang & Early, 2003; Ang et al., 2007)

Capability to interact effectively in culturally diverse setting

Four factor conceptualization (Sternberg & Detterman, 1986)

Selected among different conceptualizations of global competence for its

Theoretical soundness and parsimony

Instrument reliability, validity and easiness of administration in IATA


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Study 1 - Hypothesis

H1: all four CQ factors are positively associated with job performance in culturally diverse settings

H1A: Metacognitive CQ is positively related to job performance

H1B: Cognitive CQ is positively related to job performance

H1C: Motivational CQ is positively related to job performance

H1D: Behavioral CQ is positively related to job performance


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Study 1: Results

Note: Results are controlled for participants’ age, gender, observer liking, and superior-subordinate similarity.

** p < .01 *p < .05

Observer CQ ratings across A and B players

Observer Ratings A Players B Players

CQ Factors M SD M SD

Motivational CQ 5.93 0.51 5.35 0.71

Cognitive CQ 5.47 0.65 5.09 0.73

Meta-Cognitive CQ 5.40 0.57 4.93 0.59

Behavioral CQ 5.01 0.58 4.69 0.61

Guido GianassoDeveloping Cultural Intelligence

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Study 1: Results

Note: Results are controlled for participants’ age and gender. ** p < .01 *p < .05 † p < .10

Self CQ ratings across A and B players

Self CQ Ratings A Players B Players

M SD M SD

Motivational CQ 6.13 1.03 6.12 0.99

Cognitive CQ 5.57 1.05 5.49 0.96

Meta-Cognitive CQ 5.50 0.89 5.58 0.95

Behavioral CQ 5.47 1.07 5.27 1.20

Guido GianassoDeveloping Cultural Intelligence

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Study 1: Discussion

Observer – ratingsAll four factors are positively correlated with job

performance

Self-ratingsOnly behavioral CQ is positively correlated with job

performance (metacognitive and behavioral in Ang’s study)

≠ Degree of cultural diversity

≠ Difference in sample size

≠ Observer ratings vs. self rating self enhancement

\Guido Gianasso Developing Cultural Intelligence: the IATA case

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Study 1: Theoretical contributions

First study showing that all four factors of CQ are positively correlated with job performance

Study addressing the methodological limitations of Ang’s study (size, self-reported CQ, limited geographical scope)


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Study 1: Limitations

Research design does not allow to assert that CQ causes performance, but that only employees with a higher CQ are more likely to perform better

I did not control for multiple types of intelligence

I focused on task performance only

I assessed the relationship between CQ and performance but not the psychological / behavioral mechanism underlying the relationship


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Study 2 - Hypothesis

H2: the IATA Intercultural Leadership Engagement and Development (I-LEAD) program - with its integrative approach focusing on experiential learning - enhances participants’ CQ.

H2A: Motivational CQ will increase after attending I-LEAD

H2B: Cognitive CQ will increase after attending I-LEAD

H2C: Metacognitive CQ will increase after attending I-LEAD

H2D: Behavioral CQ will increase after attending I-LEAD


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How I-LEAD activities will affect CQ

• Lectures on Culture

• Teaching Internal Teams

• Traveling / Visiting

• International Projects

• Managing Internal/ External Stakeholders

• Leading Internal Teams

• Producing videos on culture

• CQ Self-Assessment & 360°

• Being Coached and Coaching junior employees

EXPERIENTIAL

II--LEAD ACTIVITIESLEAD ACTIVITIES CQ DIMENSIONSCQ DIMENSIONS

DIDACTICDIDACTIC

SELF-AWARENESS

MotivationMotivation

CognitionCognition

MetacognitionMetacognition

BehaviorBehavior


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Study 2: Results

Descriptives and repeated measures ANOVA results for observer CQ ratings for 55 I-LEAD change agents

Note: Results are controlled for participants’ age and gender ** p < .01

Change Agents

Retrospective Pre I-Lead

Post I-Lead

MS

F (1,52)


Motivational CQ 5.08 0.62 6.00 0.52 0.94 10.15**

Cognitive CQ 5.03 0.60 5.90 0.52 0.68 8.11**

Meta-Cognitive CQ

4.95 0.58 5.85 0.52 0.63 8.33**

Behavioral CQ 4.75 0.58 5.56 0.62 0.78 9.76**

akyng

BOld it for better contrast with the next slide on team members.


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Study 2: Results

Descriptives and repeated measures ANOVA results for observer CQ ratings for 160 I-LEAD team members

Note: Results are controlled for participants’ age and gender ** p < .01

Team Members

Retrospective Pre I-Lead

Post I-Lead

MS

F (1,157)


Motivational CQ 4.84 0.59 5.59 0.60 0.55 6.09**

Cognitive CQ 4.75 0.56 5.39 0.56 1.06 15.94**

Meta-Cognitive CQ 4.60 0.56 5.33 0.61 1.52 17.01**

Behavioral CQ 4.43 0.54 5.06 0.61 1.47 16.99**

akyng

SHould we include the interactions results? we need not, but just remember that you conducted additional analyses to show that even though both change agents and team members increased in their CQ, the change is significantly greater for change agents than team members. This finding is not conveyed in your results here.


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Study 2: Discussion

Change Agents who went through the program were reported as having a significant increase in CQ +14.5 % Cognitive

+15.0 % Metacognitive

+15.3 % Motivational

+13.5 % Behavioral

Finding significant results despite low statistical power suggests strong effect size

Using a comparison group (I-LEAD Members) with results showing smaller CQ increase allows to rule out the possibility of maturation effects


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Study 2: Contributions

The study demonstrates that CQ is a measurable capability that can be systematically developed

Is the only study conducted in an organizational setting and based on observer reports that looked at impact on CQ specifically

Demonstrates that the scope and intensity of the program affects the level of CQ development and show cases the importance of an integrative training approach containing didactical, experiential and self-awareness elements


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Study 2: Limitations

I-LEAD team members are not a perfect comparison group

The non-randomized selection of change agents

The retrospective pretest measurement has limitations (socially desirable responding, etc)

The study did not test the relationship between specific training activities with specific dimensions


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Overall Discussion: Integrating Study 1 and Study 2

Employees’ Cultural

Intelligence

Motivation Cognition Metacognition Behavior

Employees’ Job

Performance

Integrative Cross-Cultural

Training Program

Didactic Experiential Self-Awareness

Proposed mediating role of CQ in translating global leadership training programs into performance at the workplace


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The model addresses some gaps in existing research:

Few studies on the relationship between CCT interventions and job performance

Few studies available focus on small groups of expatriates or students

Most CCT studies have examined the direct effects of training interventions without explaining the underlying mechanisms


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Implications for future research:

Future studies can empirically test the proposed integrative model that CCT programs affect job performance via the development of cultural intelligence

Future studies should conduct utility assessment of CCT interventions on the organization’s performance.


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Implications for global human resources systems

Global organizations should integrate CQ in their HR processes:

Global talent acquisition

Performance management and rewards systems

Global leadership development and training

Thank you!

Guido Gianasso8 September 2011

Developing Cultural Intelligence

Education

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