Unpacking the black box: The underlying mechanics of culturally intelligent behavior

To say there is an increasingly global economy has become axiomatic. To ensure businesses can successfully manage in diverse multi-cultural environments, organizational leaders are adopting cultural intelligence (CI) as means of understanding how to operate successfully in these environments. The purpose of this paper was to conduct a systematic review using a combination of realist and thematic synthesis lensed through social exchange theory as a means of suggesting an initial framework of processes involved in behaving in a culturally intelligent manner. The primary findings of this research were that behaving culturally intelligent involves an iterative and cyclic process of weighted cultural offerings, aggregated value judgments made by the cultural actor or representative, and the outcomes of those aggregated judgments. Furthermore, the limitations of this study, implications for scholars, implications for practitioners, provisional findings as well as recommendations for further research were also discussed.Dissertation Title: UNPACKING THE BLACK BOX: THE UNDERLYING MECHANICS OF CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR Joseph Scott Madison, Doctor of Management, 2018 Dissertation directed by: Professor W. Christopher Cason, Department of Management Abstract To say there is an increasingly global economy has become axiomatic. To ensure businesses can successfully manage in diverse multi-cultural environments, organizational leaders are adopting cultural intelligence (CI) as means of understanding how to operate successfully in these environments. The purpose of this paper was to conduct a systematic review using a combination of realist and thematic synthesis lensed through social exchange theory as a means of suggesting an initial framework of processes involved in behaving in a culturally intelligent manner. The primary findings of this research were that behaving culturally intelligent involves an iterative and cyclic process of weighted cultural offerings, aggregated value judgments made by the cultural actor or representative, and the outcomes of those aggregated judgments. Furthermore, the limitations of this study, implications for scholars, implications for practitioners, provisional findings as well as recommendations for further research were also discussed. KEYWORDS: cultural intelligence, processes, behavior, realist synthesis, social exchange UNPACKING THE BLACK BOX: THE UNDERLYING MECHANICS OF CULTURALLY INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR by Joseph Scott Madison 31 May, 2018 Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland University College, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Management. Approved by: ________________________________ W. Christopher Cason, D.M. ________________________________ J. Heather Welzant, Ph.D. ________________________________ K. Candice Best, Ph.D. © Copyright by Joseph Scott Madison 2018 Dedication i I dedicate this to my wife, Elisha. Your unwavering belief, support, and encouragement (not to mention insane house packing skills) made this journey not only possible, but also bearable. I am so very fortunate to have you in my life, and I look forward to supporting you along your own doctoral adventure and far, far beyond. I also dedicate this to my children; Lyndsi, Kaleb, and Alexis. Few of life’s journeys (worth making) are easy or short. But anything worth doing is made easier with the support of great family, great mentors, and great friends. So be diligent, and always follow your dreams, as that is where contentment lies. ii Acknowledgments I would first like to acknowledge Dr. W. Christopher Cason, professor, committee chair, and my primary advisor. Without his sharp observations and calming guidance, this research could would have taken much longer to accomplish. Second, I would like to thank the members of my cohort. Their motivation, determination, and diligence made me up my own game, and whose invaluable insight, feedback, and pushback has made me a better researcher and writer. I would like to thank Kathleen McQueen, without whose support I would never have been able to take the first steps of what has turned out to be a much longer and unexpectedly amazing journey. Finally, a sincere thank you to Dr. Janet Leonard, who introduced me to the idea that this was possible. Thank you all so very much. iii Table of Contents Dedication ........................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ................................................................................................................. v Chapter One: Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Definitions ................................................................................................................ 4 Statement and Significance of the Problem ................................................................ 6 Importance to Management ....................................................................................... 8 Research Questions, Assumption, and Proposition..................................................... 9 Research Question ............................................................................................... 9 Proposition ........................................................................................................ 11 Assumption ....................................................................................................... 11 Scope and Limitations ............................................................................................. 12 Dissertation Layout ................................................................................................. 13 Chapter Two: Literature Review ................................................................................... 14 Foundational Theories of Cultural Intelligence ........................................................ 14 Four-Factor Model of Cultural Intelligence ............................................................. 20 Metacognitive Cultural Intelligence ......................................................................... 21 Cognitive Cultural Intelligence ................................................................................ 21 Motivational Cultural Intelligence ........................................................................... 22 Behavioral Cultural Intelligence .............................................................................. 23 Conceptual Framework ........................................................................................... 24 Chapter Three: Methodology ......................................................................................... 27 Evidence-Based Research ........................................................................................ 27 Systematic Review .................................................................................................. 28 Realist Synthesis ..................................................................................................... 31 Thematic Synthesis ................................................................................................. 37 Coding .................................................................................................................... 39 Theoretical Framework ........................................................................................... 40 Social Exchange Theory .......................................................................................... 41 Search Strings ......................................................................................................... 46 Inclusion/Exclusion Criteria .................................................................................... 47 Quality Assessment ................................................................................................. 48 Weight of Evidence ................................................................................................. 49 Chapter Four: Analysis.................................................................................................. 51 Themes.................................................................................................................... 52 Descriptive Themes ........................................................................................... 53 Analytical Themes ............................................................................................. 64 Organizational Actor .................................................................................... 64 Behavior as a Means to Promote Business ............................................. 65 Attempt to Gain Approval from Host Actor............................................ 66 Not All Behavior is Equally Important ................................................... 66 Correcting Behavior has Value ............................................................... 66 Cultural Host Actor ...................................................................................... 67 Determines Correctness of Presented Behavior ...................................... 67 iv Results ......................................................................................................... 68 Results of Positive Encounter ................................................................. 68 Results of Negative Encounter ............................................................... 69 Rhythm ........................................................................................................ 69 Multiple Meetings .................................................................................. 69 Multiple CI Attempts per Meeting .......................................................... 70 Provisional ................................................................................................... 70 Both are Attempting CI .......................................................................... 71 More Than Just What is Said .................................................................. 71 Coding .................................................................................................................... 72 Organizational Actor ......................................................................................... 72 Cultural Host Actor ........................................................................................... 73 Results ............................................................................................................... 74 Rhythm.............................................................................................................. 74 Provisional ........................................................................................................ 75 Reciprocity .................................................................................................. 75 Apparent Intent ............................................................................................ 76 Coding Instances ..................................................................................................... 77 Findings .................................................................................................................. 78 Iterative and Cyclic ............................................................................................ 81 Offering ............................................................................................................. 83 Weighted ..................................................................................................... 88 Modifiable ................................................................................................... 89 Judgement ......................................................................................................... 89 Outcome ............................................................................................................ 92 Analysis Model ....................................................................................................... 97 Provisional Findings ................................................................................................ 98 Reciprocity ........................................................................................................ 98 Apparent Intent ................................................................................................ 100 Chapter Five: Conclusion ............................................................................................ 102 Limitations ............................................................................................................ 103 Implications for Practitioners ................................................................................. 105 Implications for Scholars ....................................................................................... 105 Opportunities for Future Research ......................................................................... 106 Offering ........................................................................................................... 106 Weighted ................................................................................................... 107 Modifiable ................................................................................................. 107 Judgement ............................................................................................................. 107 Apparent Intent ..................................................................................................... 108 Reciprocity ............................................................................................................ 108 Cultural Host Perspective ...................................................................................... 108 Supply and Demand .............................................................................................. 109 References .................................................................................................................. 110 Appendix A................................................................................................................. 125 Appendix B ................................................................................................................. 130 Appendix C ................................................................................................................. 131 v List of Figures Figure 1. Conceptual model........................................................................................... 24 Figure 2. Social exchange theory model ........................................................................ 45 Figure 3. Prisma diagram .............................................................................................. 47 Figure 4. Descriptive themes ......................................................................................... 53 Figure 5. Organizational actor analysis themes .............................................................. 65 Figure 6. Cultural host actor analysis themes ................................................................. 67 Figure 7. Results analysis themes .................................................................................. 68 Figure 8. Rhythm analysis themes ................................................................................. 69 Figure 9. Provisions section analysis themes ................................................................. 70 Figure 10. Organizational actor coding .......................................................................... 73 Figure 11. Cultural host actor coding ............................................................................. 73 Figure 12. Results section coding .................................................................................. 74 Figure 13. Rhythm coding ............................................................................................. 74 Figure 14. Provisional coding ........................................................................................ 75 Figure 15. Descriptive and analytical themes and coding ............................................... 76 Figure 16. Analysis model ............................................................................................. 97 1 Chapter One: Introduction The workplace has become a global environment. Whether it is finding the best partners to supply raw material, expanding operations overseas, or finding the best people to do the job, organizations are crossing borders more than ever before (Alon & Higgins, 2005). Whether it be a multinational customer base or a corporation with a multinational workforce, globalization means many cultures can be represented even in day-to-day activities. Organizations are aware that every culture has at least a slightly different method of conducting business, determining appropriate work behavior, and leadership styles. Understanding cultural influences can have a significant modifying effect on the outcome of cross-cultural endeavors. Thus, organizational leaders are making efforts to improve their understanding of the cultural norms of their partners, host nations, and culturally-diverse workforce. In other words, organizational leaders are developing cultural intelligence or cultural intelligence quotient (CI). Cultural intelligence is defined as the ability to operate successfully in a foreign environment (Ang et al., 2007) and can be subdivided into a four-factor model that includes metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral categories. Metacognition is the way one thinks about thinking. CI is an amalgamation of logic processes and assumptions an individual uses to understand and assimilate knowledge. The cognitive category is the actual process of thinking and reasoning. The third category is motivation. Research suggests one’s level of motivation to learn and utilize new cultural knowledge and processes will, at least in part, determine the level of success achieved in becoming culturally intelligent (Earley & Ang, 2003). The fourth and final category used to define cultural intelligence, and the focus of this research, is behavior. 2 It is not possible for an individual to self-identify as culturally intelligent. While this may seem to counter many of the established assessment tools that rely on the individual to report on cultural interactions with survey style assessment protocols (Earley & Ang, 2003; Van Dyne et al., 2012), it does not. Instead, it points out that the survey tools are more self-reporting instruments used so persons assessing levels of cultural intelligence can delineate behaviors and outcomes. These self-reporting assessments are used to communicate what happened, happens, or what would happen, depending on how the instrument is used, when the self-reporting individual is faced with a foreign cultural environment. This may seem a minor point, but it brings to the foreground that cultural intelligence assessments are based on verbal and non-verbal behaviors (Earley & Ang, 2003; Sawhney, 2008; Triandis, 2006), which are both sub-dimensions of the behavioral factor of cultural intelligence (Van Dyne et al., 2012). In their book, Earley and Ang (2003) related a story of an individual involved in a high stress foreign cultural environment where the individual was able to use cultural knowledge to behave in a way that brought success to the endeavor (p. 305). What was of interest in this particular scenario, was the authors wrote they were unable to unilaterally determine if the use of the cultural knowledge would constitute cultural intelligence because they could not tell if the person would be able to generalize the data for use in other situations. The assessment of the anecdote points out having knowledge of a thing is insufficient to determine cultural intelligence. Instead, it is the ability to demonstrate the use of knowledge in diverse settings, with demonstrate being the key word. What comprises the actual diverse setting is less materially important in this instance other than 3 it being a foreign environment, the germane point being that a person would need to demonstrate knowledge, that merely knowing something is insufficient. It is also important to note cultural intelligence cannot be determined in a vacuum. An organizational actor must be more than alone in a foreign environment; one must interact successfully with the people indigenous to that environment for one’s cultural acumen to be assessed (Rockstuhl, Seiler, Ang, Van Dyne, & Annen, 2011). Up to this point, this chapter has discussed the need for an organizational actor to interact with local nationals of a foreign environment for their cultural intelligence to be assessed, but who is doing the assessing? Earley and Ang (2003) wrote it is, in fact, the local nationals themselves who assess the cultural acumen of the organizational actor (p. 11). The authors additionally pointed out that if the behavior is deemed successful, cultural intelligence has been achieved; conversely, if the behavior is deemed to be unsuccessful, cultural intelligence is not achieved. Alon, Boulanger, Meyers, and Taras (2016) defined cultural i