The relationship between personality, self-esteem, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence. A military context

Abstract

Background: An increasing number of migrants in almost all culturally homogeneous countries poses a significant societal challenge. The current research aims to explore the relationship of personality traits, self-esteem, and emotional intelligence with cultural intelli-gence. Participants and procedure: Five studies were carried out using the Cultural Intelligence Scale (CSQ) together with additional measures. In Study 1 (N = 145), participants from Slovakia (n = 74) and Poland (n = 71) completed the CSQ and the Mini International Personality Item Pool Scales. In Study 2 (N = 138) and 3 (N = 129), the participants completed the CSQ and selected subscales from the Interna-tional Personality Item Pool – 16 Personality Factor Questionnaire. The CSQ and the Emotional Intelligence Questionnaire were used in Study 4 (N = 74); and the CSQ and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used in Study 5 (N = 91). Results: Cultural intelligence was most strongly related to extraversion in the Slovak sample and with intellect in the Polish sample. A relationship of gregariousness, friendliness, and sensitivity, but not warmth, distrust, and reserve with the individual factors of cultural intelligence was also observed in the Polish sample. Emotional intelligence was related to the metacognitive, motivation-al, and behavioral factors of cultural intelligence, while self-esteem was related only to the motivational factor. Conclusions: Personality traits are invariably related to individual factors of cultural intelligence. These relations assume varying patterns in Polish and Slovak individuals. Some factors of cultural intelligence are related to emotional intelligence and self-esteem. No differences were found in terms of cultural intelligence between cadets and civil students.