Rethinking the Role of Cultural Intelligence: A Relational View on Intercultural Leadership Coaching

Intercultural leadership coaching is an increasingly important type of global leadership development. Nevertheless, the role that cultural intelligence (CQ) plays in facilitating intercultural leadership coaching remains largely unknown. Drawing on social exchange theory, we suggest a relational perspective that considers CQ levels on the part of the coach and the coachee. In addition, from this relational perspective, we hypothesize and test single CQ components rather than aggregate levels. Based on a sample of 107 intercultural leadership coaching dyads representing 74 nationalities, and analyses using fsQCA, we find that metacognitive CQ and motivational CQ on the part of both coach and coachee are consistently relevant to coachee learning. This points to the rather general relevance of these CQ components in the context of intercultural leadership coaching, whereas cognitive CQ and behavioral CQ appear more relevant in relation to dyad contexts. Therefore, we argue for the relational rather than static nature of CQ specifically, and intercultural competence in general. This implies consideration of the specific individuals involved in intercultural encounters and their interrelationships, rather than a focus on culture-general versus culture-specific deliberations as well as the domain nature of intercultural interaction.