CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AS A PREDICTOR OF WORK ENGAGEMENT: THE MEDIATING ROLE OF SERVANT LEADERSHIP IN HOTELS

Hotels face persistent challenges related to employee disengagement as many workers frequently leave their organisations. Stresses of communicating with guests from diverse cultural backgrounds coupled with overburdened workloads and poor working conditions have immensely reduced employee morale and heightened perceptions that top management prioritise personal gain over employee well-being. The main purpose of the current study was, therefore, to explore the predictive effect of cultural intelligence on work engagement, mediated by servant leadership. The specific objectives of the study were therefore: (1) to determine the effect of cultural intelligence on work engagement; (2) to examine the effect of cultural intelligence on servant leadership; (3) to establish the effect of servant leadership on work engagement; and (4) to ascertain the mediating role of servant leadership in the relationship between cultural intelligence and work engagement. Based on the social exchange theory, the study conducted a quantitative survey with 229 respondents from different hotels, using a clustered sampling technique, supported by simple random sampling. SPSS Statistics v30 was used to analyse data, with some correlation and regression analysis tools being employed. The Macro Process by Hayes version 4 was used to measure the mediating effect of servant leadership. The study’s results confirmed a positive relationship between cultural intelligence and work engagement. Servant leadership was also found to fully mediate this relationship. This reveals the need for human resource managers to implement recruitment strategies that assess candidates for cultural intelligence and servant leadership potential. Servant leadership is confirmed through this study to enhance employee engagement in the hotel sector. Individuals who exhibit these qualities are more likely to thrive in diverse teams and contribute to a positive organisational culture in the hotel sector.