Cultural intelligence: Extending the nomological network

This dissertation consists of three independent studies, which study the nomological network of cultural intelligence (CI)—a relatively new construct within the fields of cross-cultural psychology and organizational psychology. Since the introduction of this construct, CI now has a generally accepted model comprised of four codependent subfactors. In addition, the focus of preliminary research within the field is on understanding the new construct’s correlates and outcomes. Thus, the goals for this dissertation were (a) to provide an additional evaluation of the factor structure of CI and (b) to examine further the correlates and outcomes that should theoretically be included in its nomological network. Specifically the model tests involved a one-factor, three-factor, and four-factor structure. The examined correlates of CI included the Big Five personality traits, core self-evaluation, social self-efficacy, self-monitoring, emotional intelligence, and cross-cultural experience. The examined outcomes also included overall performance, contextual performance, and cultural adaption in relation to CI. Thus, this dissertation has a series of 20 proposed and statistically evaluated hypotheses. The first study in this dissertation contained the summary of the extant CI literature via meta-analytic techniques. The outcomes of focus were significantly relevant to CI, while the CI correlates had more inconclusive results. The second and third studies contained original data collected from a sample of students and adult workers, respectively. In general, the results between these two studies were parallel. The four-factor structure of CI emerged as the best fit to the data, and several correlates and outcomes indicated significant relation to CI. In addition, the tested incremental validity of CI showed significant results emerging in both studies. Lastly, several exploratory analyses indicated the role of CI as a mediator between relevant antecedent and the outcome of cultural adaption, while the data supported the mediator role of CI. The final chapter includes a thorough discussion of practical implications as well as limitation to the research design.^

Cultural Intelligence: Extending the Nomological Network

This dissertation consists of three independent studies, which study the nomological network of cultural intelligence (CI)—a relatively new construct within the fields of cross-cultural psychology and organizational psychology. Since the introduction of this construct, CI now has a generally accepted model comprised of four codependent subfactors. In addition, the focus of preliminary research within the field is on understanding the new construct’s correlates and outcomes. Thus, the goals for this dissertation were (a) to provide an additional evaluation of the factor structure of CI and (b) to examine further the correlates and outcomes that should theoretically be included in its nomological network. Specifically the model tests involved a one-factor, three-factor, and four-factor structure. The examined correlates of CI included the Big Five personality traits, core self-evaluation, social self-efficacy, self-monitoring, emotional intelligence, and cross-cultural experience. The examined outcomes also included overall performance, contextual performance, and cultural adaption in relation to CI. Thus, this dissertation has a series of 20 proposed and statistically evaluated hypotheses. The first study in this dissertation contained the summary of the extant CI literature via meta-analytic techniques. The outcomes of focus were significantly relevant to CI, while the CI correlates had more inconclusive results. The second and third studies contained original data collected from a sample of students and adult workers, respectively. In general, the results between these two studies were parallel. The four-factor structure of CI emerged as the best fit to the data, and several correlates and outcomes indicated significant relation to CI. In addition, the tested incremental validity of CI showed significant results emerging in both studies. Lastly, several exploratory analyses indicated the role of CI as a mediator between relevant antecedent and the outcome of cultural adaption, while the data supported the mediator role of CI. The final chapter includes a thorough discussion of practical implications as well as limitation to the research design.

The Next Generation of Scientists: Examining the Experiences of Graduate Students in Network-Level Social-Ecological Science

By integrating the research and resources of hundreds of scientists from dozens of institutions, network-level science is fast becoming one scientific model of choice to address complex problems. In the pursuit to confront pressing environmental issues such as climate change, many scientists, practitioners, policy makers, and institutions are promoting network-level research that integrates the social and ecological sciences. To understand how this scientific trend is unfolding among rising scientists, we examined how graduate students experienced one such emergent social-ecological research initiative, Integrated Science for Society and Environment, within the large-scale, geographically distributed Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) Network. Through workshops, surveys, and interviews, we found that graduate students faced challenges in how they conceptualized and practiced social-ecological research within the LTER Network. We have presented these conceptual challenges at three scales: the individual/project, the LTER site, and the LTER Network. The level of student engagement with and knowledge of the LTER Network was varied, and students faced different institutional, cultural, and logistic barriers to practicing social-ecological research. These types of challenges are unlikely to be unique to LTER graduate students; thus, our findings are relevant to other scientific networks implementing new social-ecological research initiatives.