The mediating effects of cross-cultural dynamic competencies on the relationship between multicultural personality and cross-cultural adjustment

Although the mediating effects of dynamic competencies on the relationship between personality traits and cross-cultural adjustment have been conceptually judged by several scholars, none of them have been empirically validated. Consequently, this study examines the mediating effects of dynamic cross-cultural competencies including general self-efficacy, relational skills and non-ethnocentrism on the relationship between multicultural personality traits and cross-cultural adjustment. The empirical results provide some support that relational skills and general self-efficacy mediate the relationship between multicultural personality traits and certain facets of cross-cultural adjustment. Relational skills completely mediate either the relationship between social initiative and interaction adjustment or that of cultural empathy and interaction adjustment. General self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between emotional stability and psychological adjustment. However, the results suggest that multicultural personality traits have direct effects on cross-cultural adjustment. The practical implications of these findings for dynamic and stable cross-cultural competencies are discussed.