Beyond borders: can culturally intelligent leaders make better CSR calls

As the hospitality sector faces mounting pressure to demonstrate social and environmental accountability, leadership and cultural intelligence emerge as pivotal factors shaping CSR decision-making. This study aims to explore the impact of cultural intelligence on CSR decision-making and the mediating roles of transformational leadership and organizational culture. Additionally, we tested ethical relativism as a boundary condition in the direct relationships among cultural intelligence, transformational leadership, organizational culture, and CSR decision-making. We collected the data through a survey-based study (Study 1: N = 409) and a scenario-based experiment (Study 2: N = 223) involving employees in the Italian hospitality industry. We found that cultural intelligence, transformational leadership, and organizational culture directly impact CSR decision-making. Transformational leadership and organizational culture emerge as mediating factors in the relationship between cultural intelligence and CSR, highlighting their pivotal roles in CSR decision-making. Interestingly, the moderating role of ethical relativism is insignificant in the relationship between transformational leadership and CSR decision-making in Study 1, whereas it is significant in the relationship between cultural intelligence and CSR decision-making. This study contributes to academic discourse by offering a nuanced conceptual framework that integrates cultural intelligence, transformational leadership, organizational culture, and CSR decision-making.