Individual resources and intercultural interactions

Abstract

The work environment in multinational corporations (MNCs) is specific and demanding including intercultural interactions with co-workers and clients and using a foreign language. Some individual resources can help in dealing with these circumstances. Individual resources refer to personal dispositions, competencies and prior experiences. With regard to previous studies, a caravan of personal resources, namely Psychological Capital (Luthans et al., Pers Psychol 60(3): 541–572, 2007), can reveal the source of inconsistencies in results in a multicultural work setting. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between positive psychological capital and other individual and professional resources (functional language, prior international experiences, age, and job tenure), which can help employees to deal with a demanding multinational work environment and particularly with intercultural interactions. The results of a quantitative study among a Polish group of employees in MNCs have demonstrated that psychological capital was slightly correlated with their international experience and moderately correlated with proficiency in a foreign language used in the corporation as a functional language. The psychological capital of the respondents was not correlated with age, but was slightly correlated with their job tenure. The differences between the two subgroups depended on the job position, indicating that the supervisors had a higher level of psychological capital than employees (large effect size) as well as having a higher level of resilience, hope and optimism (moderate effect sizes). Including some shortcomings of the study, the association between positive psychological capital and other individual resources was discussed and some practical implications were also indicated. The research suggests that organizations can reap benefits from the individual resources of employees and can play an active role in the development of psychological capital. Thus, they may create their competitive advantage on the labour market.