%A LI Qian, LI Chaofan, GONG Shiyang, ZHOU Qiwei, KE Yi %T The effect of multicultural experiences on the capabilities and development of leaders %0 Journal Article %D 2022 %J Advances in Psychological Science %R 10.3724/SP.J.1042.2022.01922 %P 1922-1943 %V 30 %N 9 %U {https://journal.psych.ac.cn/xlkxjz/CN/abstract/article_6357.shtml} %8 2022-09-15 %X

With a further deepening of globalization, an increasing number of business leaders now have multicultural experiences. Multicultural experiences refer to an individual's direct or indirect experiences of encountering or interacting with elements of foreign cultures and/or foreigners. In recent years, as the business practice is placing higher emphasis on the multicultural experiences of leaders, researchers are beginning to investigate the role of leaders' multicultural experiences in organizational management. Based on the current research findings and latest research progress, this study aims to explore the impact of multicultural experiences on leaders' capabilities and development from two levels—leader development and leadership development. First, we investigate the impact of multicultural experiences on leader development (including the individual-level, relational-level and collective-level capabilities) and the underlying mechanisms. In Research Module 1, based on the theory of integrative complexity, we explore the effects of leaders' multicultural experiences on their capabilities at the individual level (including innovation, problem-solving, and self-regulation capabilities) and relational level (interpersonal communication), the mediating role of integrative complexity, and the moderating role of leaders' engagement in multicultural experiences and intercultural distance. In Research Module 2, we investigate the effects of leaders' multicultural experiences on their collective-level capability (ethical decision-making) and the underlying mechanisms. We also discuss the differentiated effects of the breadth and depth of multicultural experiences on leaders' ethical decision-making. Second, we investigate the effects of multicultural experiences on leadership development (including leadership emergence, leadership selection, and leadership effectiveness) and the underlying mechanisms. To be more specific, in Research Module 3, we investigate the impact of different types of multicultural experiences on leadership emergence, leadership selection, and leadership effectiveness, the mediating role of perceived resource availability, in-group similarity and interpersonal effectiveness, as well as the moderating role of leader-team fit. The theoretical contributions of this paper are mainly threefold. First, our study explores the relationship between multicultural experiences and leadership against the backdrop of globalization and expands the research scope of multicultural experiences into organizational management settings. Second, our study introduces multicultural experiences into leadership research and explores the impact of global changes on leadership, providing new context and insights into leadership research. Third, the study takes the perspective of integrative complexity theory to reveal the mechanisms behind the effects of multicultural experiences on leaders' capabilities development through the lens of individual cognition and experiential learning. Moreover, the study provides implications for global management and international talent fostering practices.