Despite decades of research on personality and cultural intelligence that support expatriate success, knowledge of the interdependencies of personality and cultural intelligence for explaining expatriate job performance remains nascent. Based on the configurational perspective, we used the fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis on a sample of 62 expatriates to examine the impact of the Big Five personality traits and cultural intelligence dimensions on job performance. The findings showed that three different configurations, in which the Big Five personality traits and CQ dimensions complement each other, explain high levels of expatriate job performance. This study provides a better understanding of the Big Five personality traits and cultural intelligence as causal conditions for a high level of expatriate job performance and enriches the relevant literature. The findings are discussed in relation to theories and practices.
Şahin et al. (2026) studied this question.