Proactive personality and job performance during cross-cultural service encounters: a moderated mediation model

Purpose Drawing on the person-environment fit theory, in this paper the authors aim to propose and test a moderated mediation model that examines the relationships among proactive personality and job performance, cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence. Design/methodology/approach The authors collected the multisource data from a total of 120 hotel service employees and the employees' immediate supervisors. The authors used the PROCESS, an SPSS macro, to conduct multiple regression analyses to test this moderated mediation model. Findings The results suggest that cultural intelligence mediates the relationship between proactive personality and job performance during cross-cultural service encounters. Furthermore, the indirect effect of proactive personality on job performance during cross-cultural service encounters via cultural intelligence is stronger for service employees who are high in emotional intelligence. Practical implications This study has several implications for hospitality management in terms of developing effective strategies to foster cultural and emotional intelligence of service employees and improve the employees' performance. Originality/value Considering the limited number of studies showing why, how and in which situations personality can enhance performance, this study contributes to the literature by revealing the effect of proactive personality on the performance of service employees through important constructs such as cultural intelligence and emotional intelligence.