The culturally intelligent way of acculturating: Examining cultural intelligence and acculturation orientations among foreign workers in the Danish context of reception.
Simon OzerSeth J SchwartzPublished in: Scandinavian journal of psychology (2021)
In contemporary globalized societies, the number of foreign workers is increasing, resulting in greater intercultural contact and adaptation. Foreign workers apply their cultural intelligence when adapting to and working in multicultural environments, resulting in affiliations with both their cultural heritage and their destination cultural stream. We examined foreign workers' (N = 264) intercultural adaptation in the globalized context of Denmark. We found that cultural intelligence was directly and positively linked with adaptable work performance. Furthermore, cultural intelligence was indirectly and negatively associated with sociocultural adaptation difficulties through endorsement of Danish culture. Likewise, perceived negative context of reception was indirectly and positively associated with sociocultural adaptation difficulties through low endorsement of Danish culture. Additionally, perceived stress predicted adaptable work performance, whereas perceived context of reception and sociocultural adaptation difficulties did not. Overall, our results suggest involvement in the destination culture as a culturally intelligent way of applying one's cultural capabilities, suggesting that the perceived context of reception is of great importance for helping foreign workers adapt to their destination cultural environments.