Cultural intelligence and innovative work behavior: the role of work engagement and interpersonal trust

Abstract

PurposeBecause of the rapidly changing environment and fleeting market opportunities, employee's innovative work behavior is increasingly assuming a pivotal role in enhancing organizational effectiveness and competitive advantage. The success of organizations is largely depended on their employees' ability to innovate. The role of cultural intelligence to enhance innovative work behavior is yet to be explored in the innovation research. The purpose of this study is to examine how cultural intelligence enhances employees' innovative work behavior through work engagement and interpersonal trust.Design/methodology/approachThe study is a cross-sectional design which utilizes data from 381 participants from multinational corporations in Saudi Arabia.FindingsThe results indicate that cultural intelligence can significantly affect employee's innovative work behavior. It further reveals that both work engagement and interpersonal trust partially mediate the effect of cultural intelligence on innovative work behavior.Originality/valueThis study adds to the literature on intelligence by examining an underexplored type of intelligence (i.e. cultural intelligence) in relation to employee's innovative work behavior. It reveals work engagement and interpersonal trust as the psychological mechanisms that can link cultural intelligence to innovative work behaviors.

Influencing Mechanism of Job Satisfaction on Safety Behavior of New Generation of Construction Workers Based on Chinese Context: The Mediating Roles of Work Engagement and Safety Knowledge Sharing

“…Employees with high engagement have a more positive attitude towards their work and organization, pay more respect to their colleagues, help others heighten the work efficiency, improve their own work skills, and perform at a very active state, which contributes to improving the performance of their in-role and extra-role behaviors [ 67 ]. Lyu et al [ 69 ] and Afsar et al [ 70 ] have confirmed the opinion, which also shows that there is a positive association between engagement, organizational citizenship behavior and innovative work behavior.…”

Can Cultural Intelligence Affect Employee’s Innovative Behavior? Evidence From Chinese Migrant Workers in South Korea

“…A recent longitudinal pilot study also confirmed that CQ training can improve individual innovative work behavior ( Azevedo and Shane, 2019 ). Afsar et al (in press) also found that CQ could influence individual’s innovative behavior significantly. In this study, we argue that high CQ could bring migrant workers the informational and effective support from colleagues, which is of immense significance and essential for the migrant workers to accomplish challenging tasks, develop novel ideas, and adopt innovative behavior in a culturally diverse workplace ( Madjar, 2008 ).…”

“…Particularly, in a diverse workplace comprising members of different cultures, the capability of interacting effectively becomes extremely important to acquiring information and important resources from each other. On the one hand, employees with higher CQ have a stronger motivation to communicate frequently and effectively with the colleagues from different cultural backgrounds, which could elevate an employee’s central position in the social context, consequently enabling them to acquire diverse information from others ( Chen et al, 2008 ; Afsar et al, in press ). Additionally, communicating with colleagues frequently and effectively can also facilitate members to reach consensus on task-related issues, enhance sharing of critical information, and enable the employee’s acquisition of high-quality information ( Chen et al, 2008 ).…”

“…Hence, high CQ helps employees succeed in obtaining the informational assistance from colleagues to generate innovative ideas and engage in innovative behavior ( Hu et al, 2019 ). On the other hand, the employees with higher CQ are also capable of understanding other members’ thinking and behavioral pattern better, so that they can actively adjust their mental modes and take appropriate actions to make others feel comfortable and build harmonious interpersonal relationships and an affective support system ( Gregory et al, 2009 ; Ng et al, 2019 ; Afsar et al, in press ). The effective support and encouragement of other members can help improve employees’ confidence and reduce their negative emotions when dealing with novel, risky, and challenging tasks ( Liao et al, 2010 ; Liu et al, 2013 ).…”

“… Elenkov and Manev (2009) have asserted that CQ is needed for expatriates to integrate knowledge from colleagues with cultural diversity into their innovative behavior. Lacking CQ may lead to knowledge hiding and conflicts ( Bogilović et al, 2017 ), making innovation more challenging ( Afsar et al, in press ). Therefore, migrant workers need high CQ to share knowledge with their colleagues in a better manner and integrate knowledge from two or more cultures effectively because they can develop more precise understanding of the cultural scheme and difference ( Chen and Lin, 2013 ; Korzilius et al, 2017 ).…”