Creativity and (global, ethnic, host) cultural identifications: An examination in migrant and host national samples

We live in an era of unprecedented interconnectivity and challenges (e.g., climate change, pandemics) that require global mindsets and creative approaches. While research on global identification has increased in recent years, the question of whether it can facilitate creativity remains largely unexplored. Moreover, despite the evidence linking multicultural experiences and global identities, migrant populations have been overly underrepresented in this area of research. We examine the association between global culture identification and creativity in the Alternate Uses Test, across two different samples residing in Spain: a host national and majorly student sample (N = 326) and a culturally diverse immigrant sample (N = 122). Additionally, we test the predictive value of ethnic identification (in both samples) and host culture identification (in the immigrant sample). Regression analyses reveal that global culture identification positively predicts creativity among host national participants, and host culture identification predicts creativity among immigrant participants. Our results suggest that developing a cultural identity that transcends the one acquired through enculturation (i.e., global culture identification for the host national sample, host culture identification for the immigrant sample) has the potential of facilitating creative behavior.

How Chinese expatriates’ cultural intelligence promotes supervisor-subordinate Guanxi with Thai Employees: The mediating effect of expatriates’ benevolence

This research examines the role of the cultural intelligence (CQ) of Chinese expatriates in supervisory positions at subsidiaries in Thailand, concerning the quality of the supervisor-subordinate guanxi they establish with their Thai employees. Based on the framework of supervisor trust-building, this research tests whether the effect of Chinese expatriates’ CQ on the guanxi established with Thai employees can be mediated by the Chinese expatriates’ benevolence characteristic. This study also examines whether supervisor-subordinate guanxi predicts the Chinese expatriates’ leadership effectiveness. Survey data were collected from 201 dyads of Chinese expatriates and Thai employees at the subsidiaries of Chinese multinational enterprises in Thailand and were analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling. The subsequent results do not significantly support a direct link between the Chinese expatriates’ CQ and supervisor-subordinate guanxi with their Thai employees. However, the effect of Chinese expatriates’ CQ on supervisor-subordinate guanxi is shown to be fully mediated by supervisor benevolence. The analysis also indicates that supervisor-subordinate guanxi significantly explains the leadership effectiveness of Chinese expatriates.

Measurement invariance and nomological validity of the Attributional Complexity Scale: Evidence from Estonia, France, India, United States, and Vietnam

International Business researchers have recently become interested in attributional complexity (AC) in the context of cross-cultural leadership effectiveness. Despite this recent surge in interest in this construct, we know very little about its measurement properties in cross-cultural situations. Given that attributions vary across cultures, verifying the validity (measurement invariance and nomological validity) of the Attributional Complexity Scale (ACS) is a research imperative. In study I, we examine the measurement invariance of ACS using a reduced version of the original scale (ACS-18) in five countries. The results suggest that the ACS shows metric invariance in that it has a similar factor structure across the five societies examined and in two other independent samples. In study II (France), we provide evidence of AC’s predictive validity based on its relationship to a key construct in its nomological network, namely, isomorphic attribution. In study III (United States), we provide additional evidence of nomological validity by showing the relationship between AC and biculturalism. Our results demonstrate the importance of AC and imply that researchers in cross-cultural contexts can safely use the ACS-18 without risking substantive misinterpretation. We discuss results, future research directions, implications, and limitations of the study.

The Diversifying Experience Model: Taking a Broader Conceptual View of the Multiculturalism–Creativity Link

We examine the multiculturalism–creativity link from the perspective of diversifying experiences research. Multicultural experiences can be construed as diversifying experiences—highly unusual and unexpected events or situations (e.g., unusual educational experiences, early life adversity) that push individuals outside the frameworks of their ordinary everyday lives, forcing them to embrace new and uncommon ideas. Our review identifies a range of diversifying experiences (e.g., multicultural exposure, unexpected adversity, violations of expectations) that have been found to influence creativity. We introduce the Diversifying Experience Model (DEM), where we argue for a curvilinear relationship between diversifying experiences and creativity, whereby creativity improves as a result of moderate (but not low or high) levels of diversifying experiences. We also propose adaptive personal resources as the key moderator, and threat and challenge appraisals as the key mediators of the diversifying experience–creativity relation. When adaptive resources are high, moderate diversifying experiences are appraised primarily as a challenge, facilitating creativity, whereas when adaptive resources are low, moderate diversifying experiences are appraised primarily as a threat, derailing creativity. This broad and parsimonious theoretical framework can help clarify and expand research on when and why various diversifying experiences (including multicultural experiences) facilitate creativity.

Psychological Availability between Self-Initiated Expatriates and Host Country Nationals during Their Adjustment: The Moderating Role of Supportive Supervisor Relations

This research examined the role of psychological availability as a means of psychological engagement between self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) and their host-country nationals (HCNs) colleagues during their work and interaction adjustment. To reveal this process, this study presented the concept of psychological availability, which refers to an individual’s belief that they are physically, cognitively, and emotionally ready or confident to engage the self with their colleagues, as a mediator between proactive personality and adjustment. Also, it investigated the relationship between proactive personality and psychological availability and how it was moderated by supportive supervisor relations. We hypothesized, this relationship would be weakened/strengthened when SIEs and HCNs received low/high level of support from their supervisor. This study was conducted as a quantitative study, data was used from 342 SIEs and 342 HCNs working in mainland China. Our finding supported the hypothesis that psychological availability mediated the relationship between proactive personality and their adjustment to an international work environment; in addition, the relationship between proactive personality and psychological availability would be stronger when the level of superiors relations support is high between SIEs and HCNs. This study demonstrated the value of proactive personality as an antecedent effect and supportive supervisor relations as a moderating effect, and investigated how these factors can lead to a sense of psychological availability and boost psychological engagement between SIEs and HCNs in order to improve the adjustment between them.

Building midwifery educator capacity using international partnerships: Findings from a qualitative study

Midwifery educators play a critical role in strengthening the midwifery workforce globally, including in low and lower-middle income countries (LMIC) to ensure that midwives are adequately prepared to deliver quality midwifery care. The most effective approach to building midwifery educator capacity is not always clear. The aim of this study was to determine how one capacity building approach in Papua New Guinea (PNG) used international partnerships to improve teaching and learning. A qualitative exploratory case study design was used to explore the perspectives of 26 midwifery educators working in midwifery education institutions in PNG. Seven themes were identified which provide insights into the factors that enable and constrain midwifery educator capacity building. The study provides insights into strategies which may aid institutions and individuals better plan and implement international midwifery partnerships to strengthen context-specific knowledge and skills in teaching. Further research is necessary to assess how these findings can be transferred to other contexts.

Work engagement and intercultural adjustment

While engagement seems to have promising prospects for predicting organizational behavior in domestic organizations, few scholars have included this in cross-cultural management research. We use survey results from 640 self-initiated expatriate academics in Greater China to study the relation between work engagement and intercultural adjustment. We focus on expatriates in Greater China because in terms of economy, this is a fast-growing area and because, with regard to language and culture, this region deviates substantially from the Western countries that most expatriates there come from. This is not least in relation to age perceptions. Contrary to the dominating theoretical position, we found that the different dimensions of work engagement, namely, vigor, dedication, and absorption, have different effects on intercultural adjustment. Moreover, we found that the effect of job dedication on reducing time to proficiency was stronger for older expatriates.

Measuring cultural intelligence (CQ)

Despite an increasing number of publications on cultural intelligence (CQ), the operationalization and conceptualization of this construct demand further attention. In this replication study among 308 experienced overseas Chinese respondents, a two-dimensional structure seems to better represent the data than the original four-dimensional CQ scale. The results of the analysis identify two new dimensions: internalized cultural knowledge and effective cultural flexibility, both of which exhibit satisfactory levels of reliability and validity. A series of regression analyses also provide assessments of the nomological validity of the new CQ dimensions in relation to their antecedents and consequences.