Assessing the cultural intelligence and task performance equation : Mediating role of cultural adjustment

Purpose – Organizations in India are multicultural in nature. In this context, cultural intelligence is a tool, which can increase an individual’s ability to interact with people outside his/her culture. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the impact of cultural intelligence on task performance as well as to investigate the mediating role of cultural adjustment between the two. Design/methodology/approach – Extensive review of literature was done to acknowledge the cultural intelligence and task performance concept. Data for the study has been collected from the 225 managers working in nationalized banks in Jammu province (J&K, India). Data collected has been validated using confirmatory factor analysis and hypotheses have been tested through structural equation modeling. Findings – The study reveals that cultural intelligence significantly contributes toward task performance. The findings further reveal full mediation of cultural adjustment between cultural intelligence and task performance. Research limitations/implications – The study has been conducted in Indian cultural context, which can be extended to other Asian countries. Further, more outcomes of cultural intelligence can be taken into consideration in future for better understanding of the concept. Practical implications – The study contributes toward cultural intelligence theory. Organization should provide cultural training to the managers before sending them to out of home state assignment, which helps to understand the culture of that state and effectively interact with people belonging to that place. Originality/value – The paper empirically identifies the relationship between cultural intelligence and task performance in Indian context. Further, this relationship has been explored by using cultural adjustment as a mediator between the two. The model developed can be used for future research keeping it as a base.