Metacognition, cultural psychological capital and motivational cultural intelligence

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to discuss the concept of cultural psychological capital, its impact on motivational cultural intelligence (CQ), the influence of motivational cultural intelligence on metacognitive awareness, and the moderating role of perspective taking on the relationship between motivational cultural intelligence and metacognition.Design/methodology/approach– Collected data from international management program alumni to test the hypotheses.Findings– The results show that cultural psychological capital has a positive relationship with motivational cultural intelligence, which in turn relates to metacognitive awareness, and perspective taking does not moderate the relationship between motivational cultural intelligence and metacognition.Research limitations/implications– The data were collected from a single source. The study supports broaden-and-build theory (Fredrickson, 2001) by demonstrating that cultural psychological capital has an important association with motivational cultural intelligence.Practical implications– Cultural psychological capital can be improved. Therefore, organizations that desire to increase the motivation of employees may consider improving the cultural psychological capital of employees. Learning is an important outcome of motivational cultural intelligence, and it is an asset for today's organizations.Originality/value– The study takes a positive perspective for cross-cultural experiences and identifies cultural psychological capital as an important resource for expatriates. Metacognitive awareness, as an outcome, provides support that cross-cultural experience results in higher learning for individuals who are motivated.