Volume 34, Issue 1, 2025
DOI: 10.53555/03276716.2025.05
"Cultural Intelligence and Task Performance: A Psychological Perspective from India's Tea Plantation Workforce"
Abstract
The impact of globalization and the increasing diversity of workgroups have underscored the importance of cultural intelligence as a psychological construct critical for effective organizational management and long-term performance improvement. The rise in migration across national and regional borders highlights the need for a deeper psychological understanding of cultural intelligence, which comprises four dimensions: metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral. This study investigates the psychological relationship between these dimensions of cultural intelligence and the task performance of internal migrant employees in India’s tea plantation sector. The research included a sample of 1,160 internal migrant workers employed in one of the country’s largest and most culturally significant industries. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS 25, while the research model was developed using WarpPLS 8.0. The study utilized the Cultural Intelligence Scale by Ang et al. (2007) and the Task Performance Scale by Koopmans et al. (2013). The findings revealed a significant psychological link between behavioral cultural intelligence and task performance, with an R² value of 0.32, indicating a positive and meaningful relationship. These results demonstrate that cultural intelligence, which is rooted in psychological adaptability and awareness, significantly influences task performance. Consequently, this study emphasizes the importance of incorporating cultural intelligence training as part of psychological development programs for internal migrant employees to enhance their workplace effectiveness. The research further underscores the vital role of cultural intelligence in driving task performance through its psychological dimensions.
Keywords
Cultural Intelligence, Task Performance, Internal migrant employees, Indigenous, Industries, India.