Antecedents of Cultural Intelligence Among American Hospitality Students: Moderating Effect of Ethnocentrism

ABSTRACT

As interactions and markets become increasingly global, hospitality firms must retain culturally-intelligent managers and hospitality education must nurture its students so they are qualified to meet this demand. This study examines the relationship between the cultural intelligence (CQ) of American hospitality students and its possible antecedents: cross-cultural academic training, foreign language skills, daily intercultural social contact, and international travel. Using hierarchical regression analysis of data from 938 American college students enrolled in hospitality programs in the United States, our study demonstrated that these variables generally predict CQ with a few exceptions. Results of multi-group analysis further showed that student ethnocentrism moderates the relationships between the antecedents and CQ. Theoretical and managerial implications of the results and directions for future research are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Cross-cultural academic training
• cultural intelligence
• ethnocentrism
• intercultural social contact

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Office for Equity and Diversity at East Carolina University (2016-2017 Diversity and Inclusion Research Associates).