Cultural intelligence, personality, and well-being in Hong Kong university students

Abstract

Background: Increased internationalization in higher education demands university students to be culturally intelligent in the global economy. Cultural intelligence, an individual’s capability to manage and perform effectively in an intercultural environment (Ang, 2003), is conceptually associated with wellbeing, partly because of stress coping in cross-cultural transition and adaptation (Berry & Sam, 1997). Empirically, however, relations among cultural intelligence, personality, and wellbeing, three conceptually related constructs, are less known. Hypotheses/Research Questions: The present study aims to examine the correlates among cultural intelligence, personality, and wellbeing in a sample of Hong Kong university students. The hypotheses are (a) cultural intelligence positively associates with personality (e.g., extraversion) and wellbeing, and (b) the extent to which wellbeing relates to personality varies over how wellbeing is measured, either using a global score or individual components. Sample Characteristics and Sample Size: Participants included 397 college students (43% women; 78% local) who were randomly selected from the campus at a university in Hong Kong. Design: Literature reviews, interviews, and pilot studies were conducted to develop a new scale that assesses university students’ intercultural intelligence. Also assessed were Big Five Personality Inventory (BFI-10; Rammstedt & John, 2007) and a measure of global mental health (GMH-4; Hays et al., 2017). Results: The newly developed intercultural intelligence scale demonstrated adequate psychometric quality. The intercultural intelligence measures positively correlated with the amount of self-reported extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience, and global mental health. Further, the degree to which personality associated with different wellbeing components (e.g., mental wellbeing, life satisfaction, emotional problems) varied over how wellbeing was scored. Scientific Contribution: The present study adds to the wellbeing literature on the measurement of wellbeing and its associations with cultural intelligence and personality. Findings also offer evidence-informed implications for understanding and nurturing students’ wellbeing in a culturally diverse learning environment.