The Role of Social Media in Shaping Cultural Intelligence among Expatriates

With global assignments emerging as a common aspect of the multinational enterprise, the capacity of the employees to adjust successfully to culturally diverse working environments has become all the more important. Cultural intelligence (CQ), which is a multidimensional ability that is defined as having metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral dimensions, is commonly known as a prime predictor of expatriate adjustment and performance. Although the previous studies have focused on the conventional antecedents of CQ, which include international experience, proficiency in language, and formal training, the importance of social media as a digital channel of cross-cultural learning is not intensively studied; in addition, it is important to consider platform-related aspects of this learning. The present research is a study that examines the connection between cultural intelligence utilizing four dimensions and social media use among the Korean expatriates working in Beijing, using WeChat as the center of study. The survey data were gathered with the help of a quantitative cross-sectional survey design of 124 expatriates working in the Korean-owned companies. Measures of cultural intelligence were done using the Short Form Cultural Intelligence Scale and meeting social media was operationalized in terms of informational and socializing WeChat activities. Regression analyses indicate that the effects are differentiated. The belief in the use of social media demonstrates that it has a significant positive correlation with cognitive CQ (b = 0.45, p < 0.001) and motivational CQ (b = 0.414, p < 0.001): the use of the platform facilitates the acquisition of cultural knowledge and the motivation to engage in intercultural interaction. Conversely, the use of social media is neither positively related to metacognitive CQ (b = [?]0.012, p < 0.05) nor behavioral CQ (b = [?]0.053, p < 0.05) thus, the implication is that it has little impact on reflective cultural strategy and adaptive behavioral enactment. These results reveal that social media is more of an informational and a confidence-building tool and not a complete process of building deeper levels of intercultural competence. The present research contributes to the current knowledge regarding the role of digital tools in selectively facilitating the development of expatriate capability and emphasizes the significance of balancing the learning process based on social media with the use of structured interaction, feedback, and reflective practices by placing the inquiry into the platform-specific China-based context of CQ analysis.