Conflict and socio-cultural adaptation: the mediating and moderating role of conflict communication behaviors and cultural intelligence

Interpersonal interactions of global employees are critical for Socio-Cultural Adaptation (SCA) and effective human resources management in the international environment. To date, research examining the impact of interpersonal process of conflict in effective socio-cultural adaptation in the global environment is limited. In this study, we argue that conflict is pervasive in interpersonal interactions and is likely to impact the success of global employees’ SCA. We propose that employees’ communication and cultural intelligence play important mediating and moderating roles in the link between conflict and SCA. Findings from 241 global organizational employees from over 30 countries suggest that conflict and communication are directly related to SCA. Additionally, aspects of employees’ communication behaviors mediated the link between conflict and SCA, while aspects of cultural intelligence moderated the link between conflict communication behaviors and SCA. These findings extend the literature on SCA and contribute to the further development of the concept of cultural intelligence in relation to human resource management. The implications of our findings for international human resource management are discussed.