Cultural Intelligence (CQ) and Cultural Exposure Through Mobility Programs

Abstract

As a result of globalisation, a significant proportion of companies operate across borders and in many cases, work communities are also organised from workers with diverse cultural backgrounds. Due to the intensive flow of services, goods and labour, and cultural differences, conflicts can arise, and these tensions can negatively affect people and organisations' well-being and performance. Nowadays, cultural knowledge and intercultural competencies are more appreciated and highly requested by most employers.The younger generations (Generation Z and Millennials) were born into cultural diversity and have broad mobility possibilities to deepen their intercultural competencies, but the older generations in Hungary had more limited mobility opportunities. Cultural intelligence (CQ), which is the ability to adapt to different intercultural interactions effectively, can be developed effortlessly by spending extended periods abroad. High CQ results in better interpersonal relationships and work performance in culturally diverse environments. Cultural intelligence is a widely researched field within the managerial studies, but most studies focus on international students, young business students and sojourners. Thus, our primary goal was to explore not just the adolescents and young professionals, but the middle-aged and seniors as well.This quantitative study aimed to explore Hungarian generations' cultural intelligence and find possible connections between cultural intelligence and overseas exposure/mobility program participation. To answer our research questions, we analysed the total and dimensional CQ scores of 329 Hungarian respondents and compared the results based on participation in different mobility programs, length and frequency of cultural exposure.