Comprehensive examination on antecedents of cultural intelligence: case of South Korea

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the antecedents of expatriates' cultural intelligence (CQ) by simultaneously considering previous working experiences in one's home country prior to expatriation, the number of co-expatriates from their home country and local employees from the host country, perception of promotion opportunities, and self-monitoring. In addition, the paper aims to examine the moderating effects of expatriates' portion of interaction with local employee and knowledge on length of expatriation. Design/methodology/approach - Data were collected from 165 Korean expatriates using self-reported survey. Hypotheses were tested using multiple hierarchical regression analyses. Findings - Hypotheses were partially supported. Expatriates' previous working experiences with foreign nationals and in an overseas department in their home country were positively related to CQ. As expected, whereas the number of co-expatriates from home country was negatively related to CQ, the number of local employees in the host country was positively associated with CQ. Expatriates' perception of a promotion opportunity and self-monitoring were positively related to CQ. In addition, moderating effects of expatriates' portion of interaction with local employees and knowledge on the length of their foreign assignment were found. Originality/value - This study contributes to deepen understanding about expatriates' CQ by considering various antecedents, such as previous experiences, human resource practices, and dispositions. The authors' results provide practical implications for multinational companies.