Cultural intelligence as an emergent organizational level construct

Cultural Intelligence as an Emergent Organizational Level Construct The present research was designed to develop and test a quantitative measure of cultural intelligence (CQ) as an emergent organizational level construct using samples of military organizations. CQ has predominantly been discussed as an individual level construct, but has never been assessed empirically as an organizational level phenomenon. Similarly, intelligence as exhibited by organizations has received substantial discussion in the literature, however, no empirical assessments of organizational intelligence have been published to date. To develop a theoretical basis for organizational CQ and a quantitative measure of the construct, the CQ and organizational intelligence literatures were synthesized. Two strategies for assessing CQ at the organizational level of analysis were identified. The first of these strategies was based on the measurement of CQ as an individual level construct through the Cultural Intelligence Survey (CQS). The second strategy, developed from a review of the theoretical CQ and organizational intelligence literatures, used the referent shift approach to assessing organization level characteristics from individual level responses to create a new self-report measure. These strategies formed the basis of three interrelated studies. The first study was performed with the aim of examining the CQS at the organizational level of analysis. In particular, this study examined the possibility of determining similarities in the factor structure of the CQS at the individual as well as the organizational level of analysis. It was hypothesized that the individual level component structure would be replicated at the organizational level of analysis: metacognition, cognition, motivation, and behavior. Data were collected by attaching the CQS to the Defense Equal Opportunity Climate Survey (DEOCS), which is a widely distributed measurement instrument used to assess Equal Opportunity (EO) climate in military and civilian organizations. Support was found for the similarity in structure of the CQS at the individual and organizational level of analysis, with the cognition, motivation, and behavior components attaining the best evidence for use at the organizational level of analysis. The second study was performed to examine the component structure of a newly developed 25-item self-report measure of organizational level cultural intelligence (OCQ). The OCQ items were written to reflect 4 theoretical components of organizational CQ analogous to those of the individual-level CQS. The OCQ measure was distributed in conjunction with the DEOCS. It was hypothesized that the OCQ items would reveal an interpretable 4 component structure at the organizational level of analysis. The 4 component factor structure was not supported at either level of analysis. However, after truncating the measure, support was attained for an isomorphic 2 component structure reflecting an organization level cultural knowledge component as well as an organization level culturally related action component. The third study was performed as a validation study of the organizational level CQS and OQS measures. Equal Opportunity (EO) climate factors and Organizational Effectiveness (OE) outcomes, as measured by the DEOCS, as well as objective performance indicators were used as criteria for judging the predictive utility of the two measures of organizational CQ. It was hypothesized that organizational CQ should have a negative relationship with all EO climate constructs other than Positive EO Behaviors. It was hypothesized that organizational CQ should have a positive relationship with Positive EO behaviors, OE, and organizational performance. Support was attained for the use of both the CQS and the isomorphic OCQ at the organizational level of analysis with components of both measures significantly predicting the criterion measures in the hypothesized directions.