A higher perceived cultural intelligence of the leader is associated with higher engagement of the employee. The behavioural component of cultural intelligence appeared to be the most critical one.
The results of this study have practical implications for international HRM. The results showed the importance of cultural intelligence of leaders as a mechanism of engaging employees. Note that cross-cultural employees are engaged in different ways and as organisations desire an engaged workforce, leaders should be made aware of the fact that engaging employees is also dependent on the cultural background of their employees.
Additionally, organisations should be aware of the presence of a cultural intelligence to develop assessments for application of expats and cross-cultural leaders. Relevant for today’s multinationals, it might be an idea to develop a training course to teach leaders and employees about cultural intelligence since this has the benefit of improving individuals and therefore organisations as a whole.
This study took place in one organisation, which means that it is not certain whether the findings can be generalised to other settings. Studying more organisations in
different business contexts is needed. In our sample, blue collar workers and employees with lower job levels were underrepresented. These workers did not all have access to computers, and moreover, English proficiency is not a prerequisite for being employed in the company. Because the data were gathered at one point in time, it is difficult to draw conclusions on causality. Longitudinal research could shed more light on the direction of causality.
Future research could focus on organisation characteristics. Organisational culture could influence an employee’s attitude towards the leader. For example openness to change might be an important trait in the multi-cultural environment. Organisations that proliferate that they are open and flexible will attract a different kind of employees than organisations that are bureaucratic and static. It would be interesting to compare different organisational settings. Assessing the opinions of the direct supervisors as was well would provide a multi- actor perspective and give a broader picture.
About the author:
Prof Dr René Schalk is a faculty member of the Department of Human Resource Studies and holds a special chair in Policy and Aging at Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
Schalk earned his PhD in Social and Organisational Psychology from Radboud University. His research focuses on organisations and employees, with a special interest in psychological contracts, international differences, policy issues, and aging.
66 Management Today | January 2012
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