Expatriates managers’ cultural intelligence as promoter of knowledge transfer in multinational companies

• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2018.01.033
• Publication Date: 2018-02-01T19:55:56Z
• Authors: Davor Vlajčić; Andrea Caputo; Giacomo Marzi; Marina Dabić
• Keywords: Croatia; Cultural Intelligence; Knowledge Transfer; MNCs; PLS-SEM; PLS-SEM; 330; Cultural Intelligence, Knowledge Transfer, MNCs, Croatia, PLS-SEM; N200 - Management studies; Croatia; 9. Industry and infrastructure; 05 social sciences; MNCs; 650; Knowledge Transfer; 0502 economics and business; Cultural Intelligence; MNC; N200 Management studies

This study analyzes the role of the Cultural Intelligence (CQ) of expatriate managers in the processes of Conventional (CKT) and Reverse Knowledge Transfer (RKT) in in Multinational Companies (MNCs). The Partial Least Squares- Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was adopted to analyze the data from a survey of 103 senior expatriate managers working in Croatia. The study reveals how CQ, in all of its four dimensions (metacognitive, cognitive, behavioral, and motivational), acts as a knowledge de-codification and codification filter, assisting managers in the Knowledge Transfer process. The study also reveals how previous international experience does not moderate the positive effect of CQ on both CKT and RKT, offering important theoretical and practical insights to support MNCs in the KT process.