Research
Social Planning
My research investigates a completely new facet of the negotiation process: social planning. Unlike previous research which has focused primarily on the negotiation as it occurs “inside the boardroom”, social planning encompasses those activities falling outside a negotiation (e.g. “wining and dining”, scheduling, etc.), and how those activities influence negotiators’ perspectives of each other and the negotiation itself. Much of the work that is currently underway deals with individual differences in social planning ability, particularly with regard to cross-cultural negotiations. For example, we hypothesize that individuals who culturally intelligent are more adept at social planning in cross-cultural contexts than are those who are less culturally intelligent.
Cultural Intelligence
Despite its inception a mere five years ago, cultural intelligence has already proven itself to be a controversial issue among cross-cultural psychologists. Traditional models have construed cultural intelligence as a multidimensional construct comprised of four distinct facets, each of which is thought to capture a different ability that helps individuals deal with cross-cultural situations in different ways (Earley & Ang, 2003). Newer models enrich this perspective by incorporating the psychological antecedents of cultural intelligence. For example, Klafehn, Banerjee, and Chiu (in press) suggest that cultural intelligence develops in part from the combined effects of various experiential and individual difference factors. Specifically, they posit that cultural intelligence arises from high levels of cognitive flexibility. Cognitive flexibility, in turn, is a product of high levels of multicultural exposure moderated by high levels of Openness to Experience. This moderated relationship is key to the development of cultural intelligence because it takes into account not only the cultural knowledge necessary to think and behave intelligently in cross-cultural situations, but also the willingness of the individual to do so.
Cultural Profiles
Instead of assigning cultures to fixed locations along pan-cultural dimensions, researchers need to identify profiles of key cognitive-;motivational variables that are meaningful within cultures. Some of these profiles are found in very few societies, whereas others are present in most societies. Differences in the availability of certain profiles constitute one meaningful way of understanding cross-cultural differences. Of the profiles that are found in most societies, their prevalence may differ across cultures. That is, cultures may also differ in the relative accessibility of these profiles (Chiu & Hong, 2007). Further, the relative accessibility of different cognitive-motivational profiles across cultures may reflect the varying adaptive values of these profiles in relation to the cultures’ social and physical ecology. For example, a profile emphasizing assertiveness (conformity) may be more adaptive and hence more prevalent in societies with higher (lower) levels of occupational mobility.