Cultural Intelligence in Action: Strengthening Psychological Capital in Culturally Diverse Hospitality Environments
Published in Research Data and Sustainability
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.”
— Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Multicultural interactions are now an everyday reality in the global hospitality industry, where frontline employees engage with guests from diverse cultural backgrounds, each bringing different expectations, communication styles, and service norms that shape the service encounter (Earley & Ang, 2003; Jiony et al., 2021). Our recent study examines how cultural intelligence (CQ) contributes to psychological capital (PsyCap) among hotel frontline employees in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. The findings suggest modest yet meaningful effects, highlighting the importance of motivational and behavioral cultural intelligence in strengthening psychological capital—confidence, hope, resilience, and optimism—in multicultural hospitality interactions.
This study builds on the broader journey of my PhD research examining the interplay between cultural intelligence, psychological capital and service quality in multicultural service environments. Data collection took place while hotels were still recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic, and managers were understandably cautious about allowing external research activities. In many ways, the pandemic context made the research even more relevant, as frontline staff increasingly need to engage with guests while remaining cautious and adaptable, drawing on psychological resources such as confidence, resilience, optimism, and hope. Much of my research, including work developed during my PhD, sits at the intersection of intercultural communication, management, organizational culture and behavior, and positive organizational psychology. It examines how individuals draw on their personal capacities to navigate interactions and shape work practices in multicultural environments—often unfolding in fleeting moments of intercultural interaction. In this context, working alongside fellow researchers who share similar interests and values, we continue to explore how capabilities such as cultural intelligence and psychological capital shape the ways frontline employees interpret and manage diverse service encounters.
Why Cultural Intelligence Matters in Hospitality Service
Cultural intelligence has emerged as a key capability in multicultural workplaces (Ang & Van Dyne, 2015). Within hospitality environments, it allows employees to interact effectively with guests from different cultural backgrounds while maintaining service quality and professionalism.
Cultural intelligence is typically understood as comprising four dimensions (Ang et al., 2007):
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Metacognitive CQ – awareness and reflection during cultural interactions
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Cognitive CQ – knowledge about cultural norms and practices
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Motivational CQ – the willingness to engage with cultural diversity
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Behavioral CQ – the ability to adapt communication and actions during interactions
Together, these dimensions shape how individuals interpret and respond to cultural differences. However, frontline hospitality environments are dynamic and time-pressured, where employees must often respond to culturally diverse guests quickly and intuitively.
This raises an important question:
Which aspects of cultural intelligence actually strengthen the psychological resources that employees rely on in multicultural service encounters?
Observations from the Frontline
The motivation for this research emerged from observations in hospitality environments where employees regularly interact with culturally diverse guests. Based on interviews and interactions with frontline employees, we found that despite receiving training in service standards and cross-cultural communication, employees sometimes experience uncertainty or stress when navigating culturally sensitive interactions. Conventional explanations often attribute these challenges to insufficient training or limited cultural knowledge; however, our observations suggested that the issue extends beyond knowledge alone. Even when employees understand cultural norms, they may still face uncertainty in real-time service encounters. This led to an important insight: what matters most may not simply be what employees know about cultures, but how they engage with and respond to cultural differences in real time.
How Does the Action-Oriented Cultural Intelligence Perspective Explain These Challenges
Our study therefore advances what we describe as an Action-Oriented Cultural Intelligence perspective, which emphasizes the role of motivational and behavioral cultural intelligence in strengthening psychological capital.
Drawing on survey data from frontline hotel employees, this study provides a context-specific examination of multicultural hospitality service encounters. The results reveal a clear pattern: while metacognitive and cognitive cultural intelligence contribute to intercultural awareness and knowledge, motivational and behavioral cultural intelligence play a more practical role in frontline service interactions. In practice, employees who actively engage with culturally diverse guests and adapt their communication and behavior during service encounters tend to demonstrate stronger psychological resources.
Through What Mechanism Does Cultural Intelligence Strengthen Psychological Capital
From our analysis, a simple but meaningful mechanism emerged. When frontline employees actively engage with culturally unfamiliar situations and adapt their responses during service interactions, they strengthen their psychological capital resources (Luthans, Youssef-Morgan, & Avolio, 2015). In turn, these psychological resources support more effective service encounters, better guest experiences, and stronger organizational outcomes. In this sense, cultural intelligence is not merely a cognitive capability but a practical behavioral resource that unfolds in the everyday, often fleeting moments of service interactions.
What This Means for Hospitality Organizations
The Action-Oriented Cultural Intelligence perspective emerging from this study offers several practical implications for hospitality organizations. The findings suggest that
- cross-cultural training programs should move beyond an emphasis on knowledge acquisition toward stronger behavioral engagement. While understanding cultural norms remains important, it is equally critical to develop employees’ motivation to interact across cultures and their ability to adapt their behavior during real service encounters—often unfolding in fleeting yet consequential moments of interaction with guests.
- experiential learning approaches—such as role-playing exercises, service simulations, and coaching—can help employees develop culturally adaptive behaviors in realistic service scenarios.
- recognizing and reinforcing frontline staff who demonstrate culturally responsive service behaviors, as such practices can further strengthen psychological capital within service teams is equally important.
- embedding cultural intelligence and psychological capital into broader human resource practices, including recruitment, onboarding, and employee development programs.
Integrating these practices across the employee lifecycle can help organizations cultivate a workforce that is better prepared to navigate culturally diverse service environments with confidence and adaptability.
Why Psychological Capital Matters in Culturally Diverse Hospitality Settings
As global travel continues to expand, hospitality organizations increasingly operate in culturally diverse service environments. Hospitality remains an inherently sensitive industry, where frontline employees must navigate interactions carefully, as even brief—often fleeting—service encounters can significantly influence guest perceptions, satisfaction, and overall service experiences. From both our observations in the industry and our research findings, it is clear that managing these environments requires more than operational efficiency; it requires employees who are psychologically equipped to handle complex interpersonal interactions. Strengthening psychological capital through action-oriented cultural intelligence may therefore contribute to more resilient employees, more adaptive service interactions, and more sustainable hospitality operations.
In hospitality settings, the ability of frontline employees to engage confidently and adaptively in brief service encounters could be just as important as operational efficiency.
Where Should Research and Practice Go Next
There are no easy answers to the complexities of hospitality service. This research, however, invites us to ask and reflect on more meaningful questions. Instead of focusing solely on whether employees have received cross-cultural training, we might ask whether such training truly prepares frontline staff for the brief yet impactful encounters that define hospitality work.
In destinations such as Kota Kinabalu—a melting pot of local cultures and international visitors, important questions naturally arise:
- How can hospitality establishments better support frontline employees psychologically as they navigate multicultural service encounters?
- How can training help cultivate motivation, adaptability, and resilience among frontline staff?
- How might leadership practices and organizational culture reinforce these capabilities in everyday service interactions?
Future research could explore:
- How cultural intelligence and psychological capital develop over time within hospitality organizations.
- How leadership, workplace culture, and training design shape employees’ intercultural capabilities.
- How experiential learning, digital tools, or simulation-based training may strengthen intercultural adaptability and frontline service performance.
By asking these deeper questions, we move closer to understanding how cultural intelligence can become a practical strength in the many fleeting moments of intercultural interaction—moments in which frontline employees draw on their psychological capital—confidence, resilience, optimism, and hope—to create meaningful hospitality experiences for guests.
Selected references are provided below for readers interested in exploring the topic further.
References
Ang, S., & Van Dyne, L. (2015). Handbook of cultural intelligence. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315703855
Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K. Y., Templer, K., Tay, C., & Chandrasekar, N. (2007). Cultural intelligence: Its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and Organization Review, 3(3), 335–371. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1740-8784.2007.00082.x
Earley, P. C., & Ang, S. (2003). Cultural intelligence: Individual interactions across cultures. Stanford University Press.
Jiony, M. M., Lew, T. Y., Gom, D., Tanakinjal, G. H., & Sondoh, S., Jr. (2021). Influence of cultural intelligence and psychological capital on service quality: A study of the hotel industry in Sabah, Malaysia. Sustainability, 13(19), 10809. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910809
Luthans, F., Youssef-Morgan, C. M., & Avolio, B. J. (2015). Psychological capital and beyond. Oxford University Press.
Original Article
The full research article can be accessed at:
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-026-09081-x
Related Studies in This Research Stream
https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910809
https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910799
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High Sensitivity Through the Lens of Context - Challenges and Potential
Collection Title: “High Sensitivity Through the Lens of Context - Challenges and Potential”
Guest Editor: Dr. Alon Goldberg, Tel-Hai College, Department of Education, Upper Galilee 12210 Israel. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3267-1947
Contact: alongol@telhai.ac.il
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Dr. Mona Vintila, West University of Timişoara, mona.vintila@e-uvt.ro
Overview and Rationale
Highly sensitive personality (HSP) is a temperamental trait characterized by deep cognitive processing of sensory and emotional information, heightened emotional reactivity, and increased sensitivity to environmental subtleties. While high sensitivity has long been framed predominantly through a vulnerability lens, recent research suggests it may also confer adaptive advantages in certain contexts.
This collection would seek to broaden the scientific exploration of HSP by encouraging research that addresses both its challenges and adaptive potential across diverse contexts and by inviting empirical, theoretical, and conceptual contributions that reflect the full range of HSP-related outcomes. This includes studies that examine environmental mismatches resulting in distress or dysfunction, as well as investigations into creative adaptation, resilience, growth, and flourishing in supportive settings.
Aim of the Collections
The aim of the Collections would be to expand the focus on high sensitivity in psychology by exploring the dynamic interplay between the trait and environmental, social, cultural, and psychological contexts. We would particularly welcome contributions that adopt a contextualized lens, whether the outcomes are positive, negative, or complex. Our objective would be not to exclude studies that emphasize vulnerability but to broaden the scientific discourse to include variability in experiences and outcomes.
Scope and Topics
We would encourage a wide range of submissions from different psychological subfields, including but not limited to:
•Developmental psychology
•Individual differences and personality research
•Clinical and counseling psychology
•Educational psychology (e.g., how highly sensitive students respond to classroom demands, teacher-student dynamics or sensory stimulation in learning environments)
•Occupational and organizational psychology (e.g., how highly sensitive individuals experience workplace demands, leadership styles, sensory overstimulation, or derive meaning and satisfaction in various occupational contexts)
•Cognitive psychology - deep processing, attentional sensitivity, and adaptive decision-making in contextually supportive conditions
•Socioemotional psychology - emotion regulation, positive emotionality, and prosocial behavior of those with HSP
•Health psychology (e.g., association between HSP and health issues and onset of disease)
•Neuroscience and genetics
•Evolutionary psychology (e.g., theoretical frameworks examining HSP as an adaptive survival strategy)
•Cultural psychology - cultural perceptions and expressions of high sensitivity, sensitivity in diverse sociocultural contexts and settings
Key Themes May Include:
•The interaction of HSP with supportive vs. non-supportive environments
•Adaptive and maladaptive responses to context among highly sensitive individuals
•The role of creativity, imagination, or environmental shaping as coping mechanisms
•Longitudinal trajectories and developmental factors influencing HSP
•Context-sensitive interventions and clinical applications
•Sociocultural or policy implications for educational, occupational, or therapeutic environments
Clarification on Inclusion Criteria
This collection would welcome studies that report on both strengths and vulnerabilities associated with high sensitivity. Manuscripts that address adverse outcomes, particularly when contexts are not aligned with the needs of highly sensitive individuals, would be, not only welcome, but considered essential to the goal of understanding variability. We also would like to invite theoretical or empirical work on mechanisms, including stress reactivity, differential susceptibility, biological sensitivity to context, and gene-environment interactions.
Article Types and Methodologies
We would be open to a variety of article types, including empirical research (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods), meta-analyses, systematic reviews, theoretical papers, and innovative methodological approaches. We also would encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations and perspectives that integrate multiple levels of analysis (e.g., biological, psychological, contextual). Submission deadline for full manuscripts Sep. 1, 2026
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Psychobiography and Autoethnography: Developing new discourses and theories
Call for Papers
Psychobiography and Autoethnography:
Developing new discourses and theories
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Current Psychology
Guest Editors
Claude-Hélène Mayer, Industrial Psychology and People Management, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, South Africa, cmayer@uj.ac.za; Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9445-7591
Jerome Carson, School of Psychology, University of Greater Manchester, Deane Road, Bolton, Greater Manchester, UK. J.Carson@greatermanchester.ac.uk Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7596-116X
Psychobiography is the study of lives of extraordinary individuals through the lens of psychological theory (Elms, 2007; Schultz, 2005). Over the past decades, it has become an important field in psychology (e.g., Mayer & Kovary, 2019; Mayer et. al, 2023). Psychobiographies are viewed as offering explorative descriptions and interpretations to life history data (McRunyan, 1997), while understanding individual lives in their socio-cultural and historical contexts (McAdams, 1994).
During the past, extraordinary individuals have been studied from various perspectives. There are a range of theoretical and methodological approaches that have been applied in psychobiographies to provide insight into life span developments on the one hand and/or specific life events on the other (Anderson, 2025; Ponterotto, 2025; Schultz & Lawrence, 2017).
Psychobiographers usually reflect upon their personal motivation why they explore the life of a specific individual and researchers have discussed the psychobiographer`s relationship with their psychobiographical subjects (Ponterotto & Moncayo, 2018; Ponterotto, 2025). Autobiographical findings or descriptions are frequently used in psychobiographies to aid researchers in understanding how a psychobiographer may have interpreted events or a particular period of their life (Ponterotto, 2013). This, in turn, may shed further light on their personality, motivations and ways of responding to the world.
Recently, autoethnographic researchers have started to bring psychobiography and autoethnography (AE) together from a viewpoint of AE. Hopkinson and Niklasson (2024), for example, have developed the International Digital Collaborative Autoethnographical Psychobiography (IDCAP) to feature a novel qualitative research method and Hopkinson et al. (2025) have argued for autoethnographical psychobiography. Autoethnography, over the past decades, has developed in many different forms (Adams & Hermann, 2020; Adams et al., 2022; Ellis et al., 2011; Gonzalez Suero, 2025; Gonot-Schoupinsky & Mayer, 2025), as has psychobiography (McRunyan, 1987; Elms, 2007; Mayer & Kovery, 2019; Mayer et al., 2021, 2023).
Rationale of this Special Issue
This Special Issue in Current Psychology is dedicated to present original articles which develop new discourses and theories on psychobiography and autoethnography. At the moment, there is a specific drive in autoethnography to explore this methodology in the context of the lives of extraordinary individuals, specifically in psychobiography.
It aims at filling the void on in-depth discourses and theory-building on psychobiography and autoethnography. In particular, it focuses on meaning-making of psychobiography and autoethnography, thereby focusing on the relationship of psychobiographical and autoethnographical aspects in writing psychobiography and/or autoethnography.
This SI elaborates on the new models developed and also aims at publishing research that tests these new models and/or reflects upon them critically. Further, there are new publications on how to use autoethnography and psychobiography in intercultural as well as in therapeutic contexts (for healing, self-development etc.). Therefore the editors of this SI would like to invite researchers with AE background on the one hand and others with PB background on the other hand to explore their theoretical, but also their empirical standing in both fields and especially integrating these fields. One further aspect addresses the question how we create identities through AE and PB and in the eyes of the “extraordinary other”. Additionally, the editors are focusing on developing the discourses around psychobiographers and their subjects (like Freud or Jung did already many decades ago). Thereby, questions regarding how psychobiographers find their subjects they research are posed. It is also of interest why PB research exactly these chosen subjects - this is quite a well established question in the field of psychobiography. However, this question has hardly been described and presented from an AE perspective and many questions are still open. Finally, the editors are aiming at seeing discourses around „lessons learned”: what can AE and PB contribute to our world today?
While the editors invite researchers from both sides (AE and PB), they would like to move theory forward and expand the views of both fields, show overlaps and boundaries and provide new foci of research within both fields. There is an interest in articles which explain why a certain individual choses to explore the life of a specific extraordinary individual: what are the commonalities, how do they relate? The editors further call upon articles which explore how individuals interlink their own identity aspects with the ones of extraordinary individuals, thereby bringing connection across time, space, historic contexts and present times. Also, the editors are interested in articles in which, for example, psychologists or therapists describe how they work with PB and AE in their psychological work (theoretically, empriically, practically). This special issue will tackle new grounds in psychological theory and practice.
The Special Issue editors are both experienced tenured professors. Claude-Hélène is currently number one in the world on ‘Scopus Researcher Discovery’ for Psychobiography, while Jerome is number two for Autoethnography. Both have published many books and hundreds of journal papers.
For further information on Current Psychology, please see here: https://beta.springernature.com/pre-submission?journalId=12144
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Before you submit your article through the journal`s website, please send your abstract to the guest editors: cmayer@uj.ac.za and J.Carson@greatermanchester.ac.uk.
Abstract deadline is the 1. May 2026.
Full paper submission deadline, after acceptance of the abstract, is the 1 August 2026.
References
Adams, T. E., & Herrmann, A. F. (2023). Good autoethnography. Journal of Autoethnography, 4(1), 1–9.
Adams, T. E., Jones, S. H., & Ellis, C. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of autoethnography (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Anderson, J.W. (2025). Psychobiography. In Search of the Inner Life. Oxford University Press.Ellis, C., Adams, T. E., & Bochner, A. P. (2011). Autoethnography: An overview. Historical Social Research/Historische Sozialforschung, 273–290.
Elms, A. C. (2007). Psychobiography and case study methods. In R. W. Robins, R. C. Fraley, & R. F. Krüger (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (p. 97-113). Guildford Press.
Gonzalez Suero, A. (2025). The Recent History and Current State of Autoethnography in Germany: A Literature Review. Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 26(2). https://doi.org/10.17169/fqs-26.2.4310
Gonot-Schoupinsky, F. & Mayer, C.-H. (2025). Positive Autoethnography: An Introduction to Theory and Practice. Emerald Publishers.
Hopkinson, P., & Niklasson, M. (2024). A life through the looking glass: the development of a qualitative method International Digital Collaborative Autoethnographic Psychobiography. Mental Health and Social Inclusion, 28(6), pp.1309-1324. https://doi.org/10.1108/mhsi-04-2024-0050
Hopkinson, P., Danielsson, A., Voyce, A., Niklasson, M., & Carson, J. (2025). Autoethnography for social workers: New approaches. Social Work and Social Sciences Review. https://doi.org/10.1921/swssr20252590
Mayer, C.-H., & Kovary, Z. (2019). New trends in psychobiography. Springer.
Mayer, C.-H.; van Niekerk, R., Fouché, P.J. & Ponterotto, J. (2023). Beyond WEIRD: Psychobiography in Times of Transcultural and Transdisciplinary Perspectives. Cham, Switzerland: Springer.
McAdams, D. P. (1994). The person: An introduction to personality psychology. Harcourt Brace College.
McRunyan, W. (1997). Studying lives. Psychobiography and the conceptual structure of personality psychology. In R. Hogan, J. Johnson, &
S. Briggs (Eds.), Handbook of personality psychology (p. 41-69). Academic Press.
Ponterotto, J. G. (2013). Qualitative research in multicultural psychology: Philosophical underpinnings, popular approaches, and ethical considerations. Qualitative Psychology, 1(S), 19–32. https://doi.org/10.1037/2326-3598.1.S.19
Ponterotto, J. G. (2025). The psychobiographer's handbook: A practical guide to research and ethics. American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/0000410-000
Ponterotto, J. G. & Moncayo, K. (2018). A cautious alliance: The psychobiographer’s relationship with his/her subject. Indo-Pacific Journal
of Phenomenology, 18(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/20797222.2018.1511311
Schultz, W. T. (Ed.). (2005). Handbook of psychobiography. Oxford University Press.
Schultz, W. T., & Lawrence, S. (2017). Psychobiography: Theory and method. American Psychologist, 72(5), 434-445. https://doi.org/10.1037/amp0000130
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