The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:

https://www.emerald.com/insight/2040-8269.htm

Influence of
The influence of cultural cultural
intelligence on sales self-efficacy intelligence

and cross-cultural sales

presentations: does it matter for 1533

highly challenge-oriented Received 1 February 2020

Revised 22 May 2020

salespeople? Accepted 31 May 2020

Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol and Arti Pandey

International College, National Institute of Development Administration,
Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to examine the effect of the cultural intelligence (CQ) of salespeople, who engage
in cross-cultural selling, on the quality of cross-cultural sales presentations (CSSP) they demonstrate. Based
on the self-efficacy theory, this research proposes that the effect of CQ on the quality of CSSP is mediated by
sales self-efficacy (SSEF). Moreover, this research explores whether the effect of CQ on SSEF and the quality
of CSSP can be moderated by the level of challenge orientation (CHO) that salespeople exhibit.
Design/methodology/approach – Survey data were collected from 282 salespeople who work at
international tradeshows in Japan, India and Vietnam. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was
used for data analysis.
Findings – The results support the significant effect of sales-efficacy that partially mediates the association
between CQ and CSSP. Moreover, the analysis of the moderating effect of CHO significantly shows that the
positive association between CQ and CSSP is stronger for salespeople who possess low levels of CHO than
those who possess high levels of CHO.
Originality/value – From the theoretical perspective, this research contributes to CQ literature by using
the self-efficacy theory as a framework to provide a theoretical explanation as to why CQ could allow
salespeople to perform better in sales communication with foreign customers. Moreover, this research
broadens the knowledge of previous CQ research by showing that CQ might be particularly more important
for individuals who lack CHO attitude toward the tasks they perform.
Keywords Cultural intelligence, National cultures, Cross-cultural communication, Personal selling,
Self-efficacy, International business
Paper type Research paper

1. Introduction
Selling products to domestic customers is easier than selling to cross-cultural customers
because of the familiarity that salespeople have with the local selling environment, which
facilitates them in understanding and responding to domestic customers’ needs effectively
(Cicala et al., 2012). On the other hand, international sales is more challenging for salespeople
because they need to adapt their selling communication and selling style to be appropriate Management Research Review
according to the culture of foreign customers (Hansen et al., 2011). One of the highly Vol. 43 No. 12, 2020
pp. 1533-1556
significant skills in any cross-cultural selling task is sales presentations. The sales © Emerald Publishing Limited
2040-8269
presentation skill involves the effectiveness in conducting the personal selling process DOI 10.1108/MRR-02-2020-0060
MRR including all the steps that salespeople need to interact with customers to motivate them to
43,12 buy products. The sales presentation is regarded as the most important stage in the selling
process (Verbeke et al., 2016). It represents the main body of the sales call and is crucial for
sales success (Cicala et al., 2012). Several studies mentioned that good sales presentations
can influence sales performances and long-term buying-selling relationships (Cicala et al.,
2012; Katsikea and Sharmeas, 2003; Sparks and Charles, 2002; Wagner and Mai, 2015). To
1534 be effective in cross-cultural sales presentations (CSSP), salespeople need to have the
cultural competence to understand the uniqueness of each culture and cross-cultural
customers’ behaviors (Rodriguez and Boyer, 2018) to facilitate them to adapt their sales
presentations to match with the nature of the target foreign customers (Cicala et al., 2012;
Hansen et al., 2011).
Even though the topic of sales presentations has received a great deal of attention in past
research, until now, studies in this area have tended to focus on its role in domestic selling
(Cicala et al., 2012; Sparks and Charles, 2002; Wagner and Mai, 2015); there is no research
that examines sales presentations in cross-cultural selling situations. This is an important
topic to be investigated because consumers in different cultures are not the same in how
they evaluate the effectiveness of marketing communication (Butt et al., 2017). Furthermore,
prior research shows that the type of sales communication that is effective for local
customers may not be effective for foreign customers (Rodriguez and Boyer, 2018). In this
case, salespeople who engage in cross-cultural selling cannot act automatically when
dealing with foreign customers based on their past experience with domestic customers;
rather, they must be more attentive to cultural characteristics of foreign customers to learn
and understand their expectations before they can deliver the sales presentation that
matches with the cultural characteristics of foreign customers. Moreover, considering the
crucial role of sales presentations in helping salespeople achieve successful performance
(Cicala et al., 2012), it is important to explore the characteristics of salespeople that promote
the quality of CSSP. In particular, this study focuses on the contribution of cultural
intelligence (CQ), which is the cross-cultural competency that will facilitate individuals to be
effective in various cross-cultural contexts (Pandey and Charoensukmongkol, 2019).
Generally, people with higher levels of CQ can understand people from other cultures and
they will try to adapt their behaviors according to the nature of the cross-cultural environment
(Kanten, 2014). CQ is selected in this study because it is a cross-cultural competency, which has
been used by many cross-cultural studies and it has been found to enhance the cross-cultural
performance in various contexts (Akhal, 2019; Charoensukmongkol, 2015; Guang and
Charoensukmongkool, 2020; Hu et al., 2017; Huff et al., 2014; Presbitero, 2016b; Sahin et al.,
2014).
Therefore, the prime objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the CQ
of salespeople and the quality of their CSSP and, consequently, fill some major gaps in CQ
research. Although prior research has supported the role that CQ plays in facilitating cross-
cultural performances in many different fields, there is a very limited number of empirical
studies on the role of CQ in international sales (Rodriguez and Boyer, 2018). Recent studies
about the role of CQ in a cross-cultural selling context are the research of Pandey and
Charoensukmongkol (2019) and Charoensukmongkol (2019), which only examine the effect
of CQ on adaptive selling behaviors and customer-oriented selling behavior. Still, some gaps
remain unaddressed in these studies. First, these prior studies only investigated the effect of
CQ on adaptive selling behaviors in a broad perspective; they did not explore specifically the
benefit of CQ in the aspect of CSSP. Second, these prior studies only examined the direct
effect of CQ on adaptive selling strategies; it is still unclear about the mechanism by which
CQ facilitated salespeople to demonstrate effective sales presentation in the cross-cultural
context. Third, these prior studies did not consider some other characteristics of salespeople Influence of
as a moderating variable that might make CQ become more or less essential for them to cultural
demonstrate an effective sales presentation.
From the theoretical aspect, not only is the direct effect of CQ examined but also the self-
intelligence
efficacy theory (Bandura, 1986) is also applied to clarify that the effect of CQ on CSSP can be
mediated by the level of sales self-efficacy (SSEF) that salespeople develop from having CQ.
Self-efficacy in a selling context refers to an individual’s confidence in his own ability to
perform effectively in selling activities (Krishnan et al., 2002). Given the challenging and
1535
complex nature of communication in cross-cultural selling, it is necessary for salespeople to
have strong confidence in their selling skills to make successful sales presentations in this
context (Fu et al., 2010). CQ is proposed as competence of salespeople to promote the SSEF
required to demonstrate CSSP successfully. In particular, an important characteristic of
salespeople with high CQ levels is the ability to use their cultural knowledge and adjust
themselves effectively to unfamiliar cross-cultural environments, which can contribute to
the development of SSEF (Ang et al., 2007; Macnab and Worthley, 2012). Although the prior
research of Macnab and Worthley (2012) and Nguyen et al. (2018) initially found evidence
about the connection between CQ and general self-efficacy, there is no research that explores
the effect of CQ on job-specific efficacy, particularly in the area of cross-cultural selling. In
terms of the research contribution, the evidence that clarifies how CQ enhances cross-
cultural sales presentation through the mediating effect of SSEF will add more knowledge to
prior research to understand the mechanism by which CQ plays an important role in helping
salespeople to be more effective in cross-cultural selling. Specifically, it provides a
theoretical clarification of how CQ allows salespeople to be effective in this aspect.
The second research gap to be filled by this study involves the conditional factors that
make CQ become more or less relevant for salespeople to be effective in CSSP. While CQ is
crucial in cross-cultural situations, prior research shows that its effect may depend on some
conditional factors such as the levels of cultural diversity and cultural differences that
individuals experience in cross-cultural interactions. For example, Hu et al. (2017) found that
the effect of CQ on employees’ creative performance is moderated by team conflict. Jyoti
et al. (2019) found that the effect of CQ on cross-cultural adjustment is moderated by the
work experience of employees. In the context of cross-cultural selling, there are a very
limited number of studies that provide evidence about this issue. In particular, Pandey and
Charoensukmongkol (2019) show that the CQ of salespeople tends to have a stronger effect
on cross-cultural selling behaviors when they deal with foreign customers whose culture is
very different from their own. Charoensukmongkol (2019) also adds that the effect of CQ on
the adaptive behavior of salespeople is stronger for those who possessed the trait of
mindfulness. Given the limited knowledge about the scope of the moderating conditions, it is
important for research to explore further what might be other conditional factors in terms of
personal characteristics of salespeople that could influence the role of CQ in cross-cultural
selling. This research gap will herein be filled by targeting the moderating effect of the
challenge orientation (CHO) of salespeople, which is a characteristic that has not been
explored in previous research. CHO is the cognitive component of intrinsic motivation (Miao
and Evans, 2007). Individuals with higher levels of CHO are more willing to do challenging
tasks because they enjoy problem-solving whenever they are faced with many difficulties
from unexpected situations (Spiro and Weitz, 1990; Stoverisk et al., 2018). However, whether
or not CHO moderates the effect of CQ on the quality of sales presentations in cross-cultural
selling is still unknown in the current literature; hence, the utility of this research. In terms of
the research contribution, this aspect of evidence will broaden the knowledge of previous CQ
MRR research to understand more about some aspects of individual differences that might
43,12 influence the effectiveness of CQ in cross-cultural selling.
Overall, this study builds on prior research in the area of CQ and cross-cultural selling by
showing new empirical evidence regarding the roles of CQ in facilitating salespeople to
develop sales confidence to enhance the quality of their CSSP. This knowledge is crucial to
provide new insights about the role of CQ in the cross-cultural selling context. From a
1536 managerial perspective, the results from this study will provide suggestions to international
business organizations that aim to develop competencies for their salespeople to help them
perform cross-cultural selling effectively. The results from this research are particularly
relevant for firms in the Asian business environment to gain benefits from the recent
regional economic integration by understanding the characteristics of salespeople that allow
them to gain better performance in cross-cultural selling.

2. Literature review
2.1 Cultural intelligence
CQ is the concept of cross-cultural competencies as pioneered by Earley and Ang (2003),
who defined it as a set of capabilities for individuals to function effectively in various
cultural settings. CQ is conceptualized as a multi-dimensional construct made up of four
aspects, namely, cognitive CQ, metacognitive CQ, motivational CQ and behavioral CQ
(Earley and Ang, 2003). Cognitive CQ is the level of general knowledge about other cultures,
which an individual has. This can consist of aspects relating to lifestyle, preferences, social
interaction norms, language, religion, laws and political systems (Van Dyne et al., 2008).
Generally, people with high levels of cognitive CQ can understand the differences from one
culture to another (Brislin et al., 2006). Metacognitive CQ is a mental process, which a person
uses to understand cultural knowledge (Ang et al., 2007). People with high levels of
metacognitive CQ will use their cognition regarding other cultures in preparing themselves
appropriately before cross-cultural interactions and adjust their plans whenever the real
situations differ from their expectations (Ang and Van Dyne, 2008). By doing this they can
move beyond cultural stereotypes, learn effectively and gain new knowledge about other
cultures (Triandis, 2006). Motivational CQ is an individual’s ability to put their effort and
direct attention to learning about and adjusting themselves to different cultural
environments (Earley and Ang, 2003). People with high levels of motivational CQ have high
intrinsic motivation, which enables them to feel comfortable when they interact with people
from different cultures. In addition, they also possess a high level of self-efficacy that helps
them to be patient whenever they are faced with difficulties during their cross-cultural
interactions (Van Dyne et al., 2010). Finally, behavioral CQ refers to the individual’s
capability to adapt their behavior appropriately according to the nature of differing cross-
cultural situations (Earley and Ang, 2003). People with high levels of behavioral CQ can
adjust their verbal and nonverbal behaviors (such as words, tone of voice and gestures) to fit
with each cultural environment (Earley, 2002).
Prior studies have found various positive outcomes associated with CQ in different
contexts. For instance, studies show that CQ facilitates cross-cultural adjustment and
cultural adaptation (Seriwatana and Charoensukmongkol, 2020; Delpechitre and Baker,
2017; Nguyen et al., 2018; Presbitero and Quita, 2017; Shu et al., 2017). CQ facilitates the
communication effectiveness and cross-cultural negotiation of managers and employees
who work in cross-cultural environments (Bücker et al., 2014; Puyod and
Charoensukmongkol, 2019). CQ also enhances the performance outcomes of multi-cultural
team members (Henderson et al., 2018; Kim and Mazumdar, 2016; Presbitero, 2016a; Ratasuk
and Charoensukmongkol, 2020) and enhances the performance of entrepreneurs in
international business (Charoensukmongkol, 2016; Luu and Rowley, 2016; Tuan and Influence of
Rowley, 2016). In addition, CQ was found to facilitate employees’ service quality in cross- cultural
cultural settings (Alshaibani and Bakir, 2017). Even though several studies have found that
CQ enhances individuals’ cross-cultural performances, the body of research that has focused
intelligence
on the contribution of CQ to effective CSSP is still very limited (Delpechitre and Baker, 2017;
Rodriguez and Boyer, 2018). The contribution of CQ in this area will be clarified in the next
section.
1537
2.2 Cultural intelligence and cross-cultural sales presentations
Quality of sales presentations refers to the level of capability by which a salesperson
actually sends a verbal sales message (Sparks and Charles, 2002). Sales presentation skill
includes the effectiveness by which a salesperson conducts the personal selling process
including all the steps needed to interact with customers to motivate them to buy products
(Johlke, 2006). Nevertheless, sales presentations that salespeople give to foreign customers
may not be the same as sales presentations for local customers (Pandey and
Charoensukmongkol, 2019; Rodriguez and Boyer, 2018). The reason is because consumers in
different cultures tend to vary in attitudes, expectations, lifestyles and buying behaviors
(Cao et al., 2017). In this regard, there is no unified approach of sales communication that is
effective for customers in all countries. For example, research showed that consumers in
different cultures tend to prefer different approaches in sales communication. In some South
Asian cultures such as in India, consumers may prefer a hard-selling approach, which is
direct and information-based (Butt et al., 2017). In this case, salespeople can close their sales
faster with the Indian consumers when they know how to deliver straightforward sales
communication that emphasizes a product’s benefits, price and sales promotion. On the
other hand, in some East Asian countries such as Japan, customers expect salespeople to
apply a soft-selling approach, which is indirect and image-based (Butt et al., 2017). In this
case, salespeople need to know how to be patient when communicating with Japanese
consumers to gain trust from them before they can close the sales. Therefore, to be effective
in cross-cultural presentations, salespeople need to be attentive to what customers in
different countries prefer and then deliver the sales communication that matches their
expectations. They cannot recklessly depend on the style of communication that is normally
used with domestic consumers in cross-cultural contexts without gaining more
understanding about the cultural expectations of foreign consumers. They need to be more
attentive to the cultural characteristics of foreign consumers to be effective in CSSP.
This study also proposes that the level of CQ that salespeople possess can determine the
quality of the CSSP they demonstrate. In general, CQ (which reflects the quality of an
individual’s cultural knowledge, consciousness, motivation and capability to present
appropriate communication styles and behaviors in various cultural settings) seems to be
the skill that might facilitate the salespeople to understand the foreign customer’s
expectations, the knowledge of which is required to promote high-quality CSSP (Earley and
Ang, 2003; Hansen et al., 2011). From a customer’s perspective, good quality sales
presentations mean salespeople should have a holistic knowledge, not only about the
products they sell but also about the target customer’s background and their needs (Cicala
et al., 2012). CQ can be linked to these characteristics because it not only involves general
knowledge about different cultures but also comprises of the skills to adjust salespeople’s
existing cross-cultural knowledge to be appropriate for the various backgrounds of foreign
customers. In particular, the ability of salespeople with high CQ to identify the similarities
and differences of foreign customers and to react effectively according to their expectations
and cross-cultural situations can help them to make effective sales presentations that match
MRR with the expectations of foreign customers (Delpechitre and Baker, 2017). Finally, the ability
43,12 of salespeople with a high CQ to apply appropriate words, manners and gestures
complimentary to the cross-cultural sales presentation’s contents, as well as the nature of the
international sales situation, can increase the quality of CSSP (Sparks and Charles, 2002).
The role of CQ to increase the quality of CSSP is also supported by Delpechitre and Baker
(2017), who clarified that with higher levels of CQ the salespeople tend to adapt well in cross-
1538 cultural sales situations and are able to build rapport, identify cross-cultural customers’
needs, provide personalized solutions, overcome cross-cultural customers’ objections
effectively and attempt to close their sales presentation successfully. Given all these
contributions of CQ, the following hypothesis is presented:

H1. The level of CQ of salespeople has a positive relationship with the quality of their
CSSP.

2.3 The mediating effect of sales self-efficacy

This research proposes that the effect of CQ on the quality of CSSP is mediated by the level
of SSEF. Self-efficacy represents an individual’s belief that he/she has the ability to perform
effectively in a particular task (Bandura, 1986). This depends upon two main beliefs as
follows:
(1) That a task can be performed; and
(2) That it will lead to positive outcomes (Rapp et al., 2015).

To be consistent with prior research in a sales context, this study defines the self-efficacy of
a salesperson as their belief that they are capable of successfully performing sales-related
tasks (Krishnan et al., 2002). From a theoretical perspective, the role of self-efficacy mediates
the linkage between CQ and CSSP as supported by the self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1977).
This theory explained that the key determinants of change in human behavior are outcome
expectancies and efficacy expectancies. An outcome expectancy refers to an individual’s
belief that if he/she engages in a specific behavior, it will lead to a specific outcome. An
efficacy expectancy refers to the belief that one has the ability to perform the requisite
behavior (Jacobs et al., 1984). This theory is related not only to the capabilities that one
possesses but also with the confidence to apply those capabilities for achieving one’s goal
(Martín et al., 2020). Thus, self-efficacy is associated with persistence, ability and patience in
every aspect of life (Alimohammadi et al., 2018). Self-efficacy functions as a strong predictor
of a person’s motivation, emotion and behavior in all domains of functioning, which can
encourage the quality of an individual’s self-control, self-regulation and performances (Ahn
et al., 2016). People with high self-efficacy have strong intrinsic motivation and always
believe that their ability and diligence can help them to overcome obstacles (Fallah et al.,
2018). Given that salespeople with high SSEF are more optimistic and more persistent in
performing the task they are doing, these characteristics can help them to be more energetic
and enthusiastic even in complex sales situations (Fu et al., 2010).
In CSSP, it is even more crucial for salespeople to have SSEF to encourage them to
perform CSSP successfully (Fu et al., 2010). SSEF also helps the salespeople to feel more
confident in facing complicated cross-cultural sales situations or foreign customers’
unexpected needs. It facilitates them to put extra effort in adapting their behaviors and
communication styles to satisfy foreign customers’ expectations (Bandura, 1986; Cetin and
Askun, 2018; Sknglund et al., 2018). In this regard, SSEF facilitates salespeople to achieve a
good quality of CSSP because it reflects the strong beliefs and confidence of salespeople that
they can be successful in this task. Several studies have found that self-efficacy enhances Influence of
performance outcomes (Cetin and Askun, 2018; Fallah et al., 2018; Fu et al., 2010; Haddad cultural
and Taleb, 2016; Lisbona et al., 2018; Miao et al., 2017; Safaria, 2013; Su et al., 2016). Thus,
the following hypothesis can be expected:
intelligence

H2. SSEF of salespeople will be positively associated with the quality of their CSSP.
It is also proposed that the CQ of salespeople is related to their capability to develop SSEF. 1539
According to Bandura (1977), one of the important characteristics of people with high self-
efficacy is confidence in their own capabilities and a determination to achieve their expected
performance outcomes. In doing this, CQ can be the competency, which facilitates
salespeople to enhance their SSEF. First, having the confidence to perform international
tasks requires that salespeople have enough basic cross-cultural information regarding
foreign customers and their cultures. CQ can be significant in this case, as it reflects the level
of cultural knowledge that salespeople possess and this knowledge can facilitate them to
understand people from a particular culture, thereby enhancing their confidence level to deal
with cross-cultural customers and reinforcing the level of their SSEF (Rehg et al., 2012; Van
Dynn et al., 2012). Moreover, salespeople with high CQ can modify their cultural knowledge
and adjust effectively to unfamiliar cross-cultural environments which, in turn, contributes
to the development of their SSEF (Ang et al., 2007; Macnab and Worthley, 2012). Moreover,
the motivational characteristic of high CQ salespeople is important in SSEF because it
encourages them to have more drive and willingness to put their energy and attention into
unfamiliar cross-cultural tasks and see them through to completion (Bandura, 1977;
Suthatorn and Charoennsukmongkol, 2018). The effect of CQ on SSEF is also supported in
previous studies, which found that CQ can, directly and indirectly, enhance individuals’ self-
efficacy (Chang et al., 2018; Dheer and Lenartowicz, 2017; Hu and Gu, 2018; Rehg et al., 2012).
Therefore, the following hypothesis is presented:

H3. The level of CQ of salespeople will be positively related to their SSEF.

It is further proposed that the effect of CQ of salespeople on the quality of CSSP can be
mediated by SSEF. The rationale for this mediating effect is supported in prior research,
which shows that CQ may not directly affect cross-cultural performance, but its effect could
be mediated by some specific competence associated with CQ (Charoensukmongkol, 2016).
Moreover, from the theoretical perspective, the mediating role of SSEF is in line with the
self-efficacy theory (Bandura, 1986). When applying the self-efficacy theory to a cross-
cultural selling task, the emphasis is on the confidence and optimistic point of view of
salespeople regarding their capabilities to perform successfully (Knight et al., 2014). CQ fits
with the self-efficacy theory because CQ is the cross-cultural competency, which allows
salespeople to have more confidence in cross-cultural selling tasks, which, in turn, enhances
the quality of their CSSP. On the basis of the self-efficacy theory, salespeople with high CQ
tend to have the ability to adapt their cross-cultural sales presentation effectively because
they have knowledge about foreign customers’ preferences, cultures, norms and also their
verbal and nonverbal communications styles (Macnab and Worthley, 2012; Peterson, 2019).
Because high-quality CSSP requires salespeople to have confidence in dealing with foreign
customers, salespeople who possess high confidence in their selling tasks are more likely to
overcome these difficulties successfully (Johlke, 2006). In this regard, the level of SSEF that
high CQ salespeople possess tends to enable them to give extra effort in cross-cultural
situations (Delpechitre and Baker, 2017; Hansen et al., 2011; Suthatorn and
Charoennsukmongkol, 2018). The SSEF that salespeople develop from CQ also plays an
MRR important role in helping them to overcome obstacles when dealing with foreign customers
43,12 during their cross-cultural sales interactions, thereby contributing to their potential to
perform effectively in CSSP (Bücker et al., 2014). Considering the mediating role of SSEF in
explaining the effect of CQ on the quality of sales presentations, the following hypothesis is
presented:

H4. The effect of the CQ of salespeople on the quality of their CSSP is mediated by
1540 SSEF.

2.4 The moderating effect of challenge orientation

It is herein argued that the degree to which CQ affects the quality of SSEF and the quality of
CSSP depends on the level of CHO that salespeople possess. Particularly, it is proposed that
salespeople with low levels of CHO will receive more benefits from CQ than those who
already have high levels of CHO. CHO is the cognitive component of intrinsic motivation
(Miao and Evans, 2007). The aspects of CHO consist of an individual’s willingness to take
risks, their achievement orientation, psychological ownership and task orientation
(MacKenzie et al., 2011). Individuals with high levels of CHO tend to set high goals, work
smarter and enjoy performing challenging tasks (Sujan et al., 1994). Conversely, people with
low levels of CHO are more resistant to adapt themselves, have a low willingness to take
risks and give up easily when facing ambiguous situations (Spiro and Weitz, 1990; Stoverisk
et al., 2018). This characteristic of CHO tends to support salespeople to increase the quality
of their CSSP. In particular, salespeople with high CHO tend to be able to go along with
highly demanding sales situations by trying to adapt their selling strategies to be more
effective and appropriate for the nature of each selling environment; they also like to make
continuous improvement in their sales presentation (Deci and Richard, 1985; Van Dyne and
LePine, 1998). They also have a high willingness and motivation to adjust the sales
presentations appropriately to the nature of foreign customers. CHO is also a characteristic
of salespeople that is related to the level of SSEF. Given that salespeople with high CHO
prefer to set high goals and engage actively in complex tasks, they tend to develop a strong
belief and confidence that they can succeed in various sales situations. Previous research
also found that the CHO of salespeople has a positive relationship with outcome
performance and behavioral performance (Miao and Evans, 2007). Given these roles of CHO,
the following hypotheses are set:

H5. The level of CHO of salespeople will be positively related to their SSEF.
H6. The level of CHO of salespeople will be positively associated with the quality of
their CSSP.
Given that salespeople with high CHO should be better able to cope with conflicting or
ambiguous cross-cultural sales situations, CQ may not be essential for them to enhance their
SSEF and the quality of their cross-cultural sales situations. Even though salespeople with
high CHO do not have solid cultural knowledge and skills, they tend to have high motivation
to adapt their sales presentations appropriately to the nature of cross-selling environments
(Deci and Richard, 1985; Grant et al., 2001). Thus, they tend to be less likely to rely on CQ to
boost SSEF and the quality of CSSP. Conversely, for salespeople with low CHO who have a
low intrinsic motivation to face stressful situations in international selling environments,
they must rely more on CQ to help them boost SSEF to achieve successful CSSP. In this
regard, the cultural knowledge and skills that they obtain from CQ tend to facilitate them to
gain the confidence to deal with cross-cultural sales situations. In this case, CQ facilitates
salespeople with low CHO to have more confidence to engage effectively in cross-cultural Influence of
selling environments (Rehg et al., 2012). Given that the cross-cultural knowledge of cultural
salespeople with high CQ helps them to handle unexpected cross-cultural sales situations
effectively (Chang et al., 2018), CQ is more likely to enhance SSEF and the quality of CSSP of
intelligence
salespeople with low CHO more than those who already have high CHO. Thus, the following
hypotheses can be expected:

H7. CHO negatively moderates the relationship between CQ and SSEF (the effect of CQ 1541
on SSEF is weaker for salespeople who possess high CHO).
H8. CHO negatively moderates the relationship between CQ and quality of CSSP (the
effect of CQ on quality of CSSP is weaker for salespeople who possess high CHO).

3. Methodology
3.1 Sample and data collection procedure
Because the main theme of this research is cross-cultural selling, it is necessary for the data
to be collected from participants who engage actively in cross-cultural selling. In particular,
salespeople who frequently work at international tradeshows in foreign countries have been
targeted. International tradeshows are ideal contexts in which to study CQ in cross-cultural
selling because salespeople who engage in this task have to deal extensively with foreign
customers outside their home country on a regular basis. The participants of this study were
Thai sales representatives who were assigned to perform sales tasks at international trade
shows in foreign countries. The researcher received the list of Thai businesses from
the Department of International Trade Promotion of Thailand. This department is
responsible for arranging international trade shows for Thai businesses to market their
products in foreign countries. To be eligible to attend the tradeshow, all businesses need to
be members of the Department of International Trade Promotion.
Data collection took place from September to December 2019. During this period, there
were three international tradeshows held in three countries, namely, Japan, India and
Vietnam, and there were 50 organizations that sent their sales representative to these
international tradeshows. In each country’s tradeshow, there were two salespeople per
business who performed the sales tasks. All Thai sales representatives were invited to
participate in the survey data collection. A total of 300 questionnaires were prepared and
distributed to the salespeople at the tradeshows. The questionnaire distribution was
administered at each tradeshow with the help of the tradeshow organizer and local research
assistants in each country. The questionnaire distribution in each country started on the
first day of the tradeshow. All respondents were informed regarding the objectives of the
research. They were assured that the data they provided would be treated with high
confidentiality; only the researcher would have access to their data. All respondents had to
return their questionnaires to the research assistant before the last day of each tradeshow.
Data collection took about 20 days per tradeshow. Ultimately, 282 sets of usable
questionnaires were returned to the researcher, which accounted for a 94% response rate.
Demographic data and work-related characteristics of all respondents are reported in
Table 1.

3.2 Measurements
CQ is measured by using 20 items of the Cultural Intelligence Scale developed by Ang et al.
(2007). The scale includes four dimensions of CQ, namely, cognitive CQ consists of six items;
metacognitive CQ consists of four items; motivational CQ consists of five items; and
MRR behavioral CQ consists of five items. These items are measured by using a five-point Likert-
43,12 scale, ranking from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
CSSP is measured by using five items on a sales presentation scale developed by
Behrman and William (1982). These items are measured by using a five-point Likert-scale,
ranking from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree).
SSEF is measured by using the four items of the modifying self-efficacy scale developed
1542 by Krishnan et al. (2002). These items are measured by using a five-point Likert-scale,
ranking from 1 (least likely) to 5 (most likely). Sample items include “I know the right thing
to do in selling situations when dealing with foreign customers” and “I am good at selling to
foreign customers”.
CHO is measured by using the four items of the cognitive and effective dimensions scale
developed by Amabile et al. (1994). These items are measured by using a five-point Likert-
scale, ranking from 1 (least likely) to 5 (most likely). Sample items include “I enjoy trying to
solve complex sales problems” and “I enjoy tackling sales problems that are completely new
to me”.

3.3 Control variables

Four control variables that might affect the quality of sales performance are considered in
the data analysis. These variables are age, gender, educational level and international
working experience of salespeople. First, age is considered because it reflects the wealth of
experience that salespeople have obtained from working in their careers (Lee and Sukoco,
2010). Moreover, prior research showed that elder salespeople tended to experience fewer
difficulties in sales situations than the junior salespeople did (Lee and Sukoco, 2010). Gender
is considered as a control variable because research showed that female salespeople tended
to be more effective in cultivating relationships with clients when compared to their male
counterparts (Guenzi et al., 2016); this could make female salespeople perform better in
cross-cultural selling. Third, education is considered as a control variable because it reflects
the level of knowledge and creativity that enables salespeople to perform their tasks more
efficiently (Lee and Sukoco, 2010). Fourth, international working experience is considered as
a control variable because past studies showed that experience and adaptiveness are
positively correlated, which can contribute to the ability of salespeople to gain better sales
performance (Kara et al., 2013).
Age is measured by the actual age (in years) of salespeople. Gender was measured by
using a nominal variable where female is coded as 0 and male is coded as 1. Educational
level is measured on an ordinal scale (1 = diploma degree; 2 = bachelor’s degree; 3 =
master’s degree; 4 = doctoral degree). Finally, international working experience is measured
by the number of times that the salespeople had worked at foreign trade shows.

Characteristics Descriptive statistics

Age (in years) Mean: 38.1

Standard deviation: 7.8
Gender Male: 178 (63.12%)
Female: 104 (36.88%)
Education level Below Bachelor’s degree: 19 (6.74%)
Bachelor’s degree: 188 (66.67%)
Table 1. Master’s degree or higher: 75 (26.6%)
Descriptive statistics International selling experience Mean: 3.34
of respondents Standard deviation: 2.12
3.4 Statistical analysis Influence of
Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used as a method for data cultural
analysis. PLS-SEM is used in this study because it does not require the data to be normally
distributed (Chin, 1998). In particular, the results from the normality test indicate that many
intelligence
key variables in the data are not normally distributed. The non-normal distribution of the
data could happen because the data were collected from salespeople who worked in three
different countries; therefore, it is possible that multiple distributions may be combined in
the data. Moreover, the non-normal distribution of the data may be because of the small
1543
sample size that was obtained in the data collection. Considering these characteristics of the
data, PLS-SEM is appropriate for this research. Moreover, Hair et al. (2017) recommend PLS-
SEM for complex models that contain latent variables measured by many indicators and
multiple moderators. Given that CQ is measured by 20 indicators and the model involves the
moderating effect of CHO, the use of PLS-SEM seems to be a suitable analysis for this type
of model. The PLS-SEM estimation is conducted in WarpPLS 6.0.

4. Results
The assessment of the validity and reliability of all latent variables in the model estimation
is initially performed before testing the hypotheses. Convergence validity is assessed using
factor loadings. Factor loadings must be more than 0.5 to confirm that convergence validity
is adequate. The results in Table 2 indicate that all factor loadings meet the requirement.
Discriminant validity is assessed by comparing the square-root of average variance
extracted (AVE) with the correlation coefficient to make sure that the square-root of the
AVE is greater than the correlations between the constructs. The results are shown in
Table 3 satisfy this requirement. For construct validity, it is confirmed by Cronbach’s alpha
coefficient and composite reliability coefficient. The minimum requirement for these two
indicators is 0.7. Results shown in Table 3 confirm that the reliability indicators of all latent
variables pass the requirement.
The test of multicollinearity among the indicators is performed using the full variance
inflation factor (VIF) statistics, which should be lower than 3.3 to ease the concern about the
multicollinearity issue. The analysis indicates that the highest full VIF in the model is 1.944,
which satisfies the requirement. In addition, the possibility of common method bias (CMB) is
assessed by using the Harman one-factor test (Podsakoff et al., 2003). The results confirm
that the model fit indices are poorer than those in the original model ( x 2 = 6,936.03, df = 801,
p < 0.001), which means that CMB is not a serious issue in the analysis. CMB issue is also
confirmed by performing exploratory factor analysis. The analysis that is conducted by
using all of the observed measures with varimax rotation indicates that there is no single
factor that has a factor loading larger than 50%; this result provides additional evidence to
ease the concern of CBM in the data.
Finally, the model fit indices of the PLS-SEM model are assessed. The results show that
key indicators including average path coefficient = 0.145; p < 0.001, average R2 = 0.459; p <
0.001, average full collinearity (AFVIF = 1.216), Sympson’s paradox ratio = 0.933), R2
contribution ratio = 0.999 and statistical suppression ratio = 0.8 are satisfactory as
suggested by Kock (2019).
Results from the hypothesis testing using PLS-SEM analysis are presented in Figure 1.
H1 states that the level of CQ of salespeople has a positive relationship with the quality
of their CSSP. The results from the data analysis support the positive association between
the variables ( b = 0.316; p < 0.001); the result is also statistically significant. Therefore, H1
is supported.
MRR Factor
43,12 Indicators loadings

Cultural intelligence
I know the legal and economic systems of other cultures 0.739
I know the rules (e.g. vocabulary and grammar) of other languages 0.713
I know the cultural values and religious beliefs of other cultures 0.861
1544 I know the marriage systems of other cultures 0.779
I know the arts and crafts of other cultures 0.706
I know the rules for expressing nonverbal behaviors in other cultures 0.519
I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I use when interacting with people with different cultural 0.775
backgrounds
I adjust my cultural knowledge as I interact with clients from a culture that is unfamiliar to me 0.853
I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I apply to cross-cultural interaction. 0.873
I check the accuracy of my cultural knowledge as I interact with people from different cultures 0.838
I enjoy interacting with people from different cultures 0.805
I am confident that I can socialize with locals in a culture that is new to me 0.869
I am sure that I can deal with the stress of adjusting to a culture that is new to me 0.857
I enjoy living in cultures that are unfamiliar to me 0.82
I am confident that I can get accustomed to dealing with clients in a different culture 0.775
I change my verbal behavior (e.g. accent and tone) when a cross-cultural interaction requires it 0.757
I use pauses and silence differently to suit different cross-cultural situations 0.728
I vary the rate of my speaking when a cross-cultural situation requires it 0.843
I change my nonverbal behavior when a cross-cultural situation requires it 0.854
I alter my facial expressions when a cross-cultural interaction requires it 0.818
CSSP
Listening attentively to identify and understand the real concerns of foreign customers 0.842
Convincing foreign customers that they understand their unique problems and concerns 0.848
Using established contacts in a foreign country to develop new customers 0.85
Communicating sales presentation clearly and concisely to the foreign customers 0.766
Working out solutions to foreign customers’ questions and objections 0.812
SSEF
I know the right thing to do in selling situations 0.884
Overall, I am confident of my ability to perform my job well 0.925
I feel I am very capable at the task of selling 0.919
I feel I have the capabilities to successfully perform this job 0.863
CHO
I enjoy tackling sales problems that are completely new to me 0.887
Table 2. I enjoy trying to solve complex sales problems 0.916
Factor loading of all The more difficult the sales problem, the more I enjoy trying to solve it 0.882
latent variables I want my work to provide me with opportunities for increasing my knowledge and skills 0.84

H2 states that the SSEF of salespeople is positively associated with the quality of their CSSP.
The results from the data analysis support the positive association between the variables (b =
0.293; p < 0.001); the result is also statistically significant. Therefore, H2 is supported.
H3 states that the level of CQ of salespeople is positively related to their SSEF. The
results from the data analysis support the positive association between the variables ( b =
0.271; p < 0.001); the result is also statistically significant. Therefore, H3 is supported.
H4 states that the effect of the CQ of salespeople on the quality of their CSSP is mediated
by SSEF. To test the significance of the mediating effect, this research uses the method
 Cronbach’s Composite
Influence of
alpha reliability cultural
Variables coefficient coefficient CQ CHO CSSP SSEF AGE GEN EDU ISE intelligence
CQ 0.771 0.856 (0.777) 0.498 0.578 0.486
0.087
** ** **
0.005 0.163
0.045 **

CHO 0.904 0.933 (0.882) 0.533** 0.576** 0.015 0.092 0.132* 0.047
CSSP 0.882 0.914 (0.824) 0.57**
0.049 0.021 0.116* 0.023
SSEF 0.92 0.943 (0.898) 0.154**
0.093 0.133*
0.045 1545
AGE N/A N/A (1)
0.006 0.03 0.231**
GEN N/A N/A (1)
0.023 0.043
EDU N/A N/A (1)
0.023
ISE N/A N/A (1)
Table 3.
Note: **p < 0.01; *p < 0.05; square roots of AVE of latent variables are shown in the parentheses; CQ =
cultural intelligence, CHO = challenge orientation, CSSP = cross-cultural sales presentations, SSEF = sales Correlation among
self-efficacy, AGE = age of salespeople, GEN = gender of salespeople, EDU = education of salespeople, ISE variables and the
= international selling experience of salespeople square root of AVE

2
R = 0.433
H3
0.271*** Sales
Self-efficacy

H5
H7 0.429***
–0.124**
Control variables
Cultural Intelligence Challenge x Age
H2
Orientation x Gender,
0.293***
x Education,
x International
selling experience
H8
– 0.111**
H6
0.208***

Cross-cultural Sales
Presentations
H1
0.316***
2
R = 0.486 Figure 1.
Results from PLS-
SEM analysis
Notes: ** p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. Standardized coefficients are reported

suggested by Preacher and Hayes (2004). According to Kock (2019), this approach is a
concise version of Baron and Kenny’s (1986) classic approach, which does not rely on
standard errors. The results from the data analysis support the positive mediating effect of
SSEF on the link between CQ and CSSP ( b = 0.079; p = 0.007); the result is also statistically
significant. Therefore, H4 is supported. Given that the direct association between CQ and
CSSP is positive and significant, the mediating effect of SSEF is regarded as partially
mediated.
MRR H5 states that the level of CHO of salespeople has a positive relationship with SSEF. The
43,12 results from the data analysis support the positive association between the variables ( b =
0.429; p < 0.001); the result is also statistically significant. Therefore, H5 is supported.
H6 states that the CHO of salespeople is positively associated with the quality of their
CSSP. The results from the data analysis support the positive association between the
variables ( b = 0.208; p < 0.001); the result is also statistically significant. Therefore, H6 is
1546 supported.
H7 states that CHO moderates the relationship between CQ and SSEF. To test the
moderating effect, the interaction of CQ and CHO is put in the model estimation. The b
coefficient of the interaction determines a moderating link’s strength and the p-value
determines its statistical significance. The sign of the interaction also determines whether
the effect of CQ on sale self-efficacy is suppressed or intensified by CHO. The data analysis
shows that the b coefficient of the interaction of CQ and CHO is negative ( b =
0.124; p =
0.003); the result is also statistically significant. The negative sign of the interaction means
the positive effect of CQ on SSEF is weaker for salespeople who possess high CHO. Thus,
H7 is supported.
H8 states that CHO moderates the relationship between CQ and the quality of CSSP.
Similarly to the previous hypothesis, this hypothesis is confirmed by the sign of the
interaction between CQ and CHO. The data analysis shows that the b coefficient of the
interaction of CQ and CHO is negative ( b =
0.111; p = 0.007); the result is also statistically
significant. The negative sign of the interaction means the positive effect of CQ on CSSP is
weaker for salespeople who possess high CHO. Thus, H8 is supported.
The moderating effect of CHO is illustrated in Figure 2. The graphs are plotted by using
the simple slope analysis method suggested by Aiken and West (1991). The regression lines
were plotted using standardized values. For example, the regression line that represents the
association between CQ and SSEF moderated by CHO was created by plotting CQ scores
one standard deviation above the mean and one standard deviation below the mean across
high CHO (þ1.00 SD) and low CHO (
1.00 SD). The graphs clearly show that CQ is
positively associated with SSEF and CSSP for salespeople with high and low CHO.
However, for salespeople with low CHO, the increase in the CQ score tends to covary with
the increase in the SSEF score and CSSP score at a higher rate than for salespeople with high
CHO. Without CQ, salespeople with low CHO tended to score lower than those with high
CHO in these two aspects of selling. However, salespeople with low CHO tended to score
almost the same as those with high CHO when they possess high CQ. This implies that CQ
may be particularly important to help salespeople with low CHO to boost SSEF and CSSP to
match with salespeople with high CHO. Overall, the results from the moderating effect and
simple slope analysis are consistent with the argument that was proposed in the hypotheses.
For the effect of the control variables, the analysis only shows that the age of salespeople
is negatively and significantly related with CSSP ( b =
0.084; p = 0.032), but it is positively
and significantly related with SSEF ( b = 0.165; p < 0.001). The analysis does not
significantly support the effect of other control variables. The rationale for the positive effect
of age and SSEF may be explained by the perception of the older salespeople regarding the
selling experience that they had accumulated through their lives. Older salespeople may
realize that they have worked in sales for a long time and that could make them develop
strong confidence that they can handle challenging sales situations better than younger
salespeople. However, one possible explanation as to why older salespeople demonstrated a
lower degree of CSSP than younger salespeople did is the characteristic of older people that
makes them less flexible than their younger counterparts to make a cross-cultural
adjustment. This rationale is supported by the research of Burke and Witt (2002), which
 Influence of
cultural
intelligence

1547

Figure 2.
Moderating effect of
challenge orientation

found that openness to new experiences negatively and significantly correlated with age.
Thus, older salespeople may be less effective than younger salespeople in adaptive sales
communication when they deal with foreign customers. Even though older salespeople
possess more sales efficacy than the younger ones, this limitation may not make them as
effective as the younger ones in CSSP.
Finally, the model estimation shows that the R2 associated with SSEF is 0.433,
suggesting that analysis can explain the variance of SSEF by 43.3%; the R2 associated with
cross-cultural sales presentation is 0.486, suggesting that the analysis can explain the
variance of this variable by 48.6%. These are considered acceptable levels of R2 in the PLS-
SEM estimation, according to Henseler et al. (2009).
MRR 5. Discussion
43,12 5.1 Discussion of the results
The effect of CQ on the quality of CSSP using the sample of Thai salespeople who engage in
international tradeshows in foreign countries has been examined. The results from the PLS-
SEM analysis confirm that salespeople with a high CQ demonstrate a higher quality of CSSP
than those with a low CQ. Moreover, the analysis shows that the positive effect of CQ is
1548 partially mediated by the level of SSEF that the high CQ salespeople exhibit. This result
implies that CQ might serve as a cultural competence of salespeople that helps them to gain
more confidence when engaging in cross-cultural selling; the sales confidence that
salespeople with high CQ exhibit allow them to demonstrate CSSP more effectively.
The results about the significant linkage between CQ and the quality of CSSP are
consistent with prior CQ research, which suggests that CQ is a cross-cultural competence of
individuals that promotes their effectiveness in cross-cultural communication. This
supports the previous research of Puyod and Charoensukmongkol (2019), which shows that
CQ enhances the communication quality of call center representatives who handle calls from
foreign customers. It is also consistent with the study of Bücker et al. (2014), which found the
linkage between CQ and cross-cultural communication effectiveness of people working for
foreign multinationals. In the area of cross-cultural selling, the result is consistent with the
recent study of Pandey and Charoensukmongkol (2019) and which also supports the role of
CQ in facilitating salespeople to adapt their selling methods to deal with foreign customers.
The result also supports Delpechitre and Baker (2017), who clarified that salespeople with
higher levels of CQ tend to adapt well in cross-cultural sales situations. Moreover, the result
regarding the effect of SSEF that significantly mediates the positive linkage between CQ
and the quality of CSSP is consistent with CQ literature, which suggests that high CQ
individuals tend to be more confident when dealing with cross-cultural situations (Chang
et al., 2018; Dheer and Lenartowicz, 2017; Hu and Gu, 2018; Rehg et al., 2012). This result
adds more to the research of Macnab and Worthley (2012) and Nguyen et al. (2018), which
initially found the connection between CQ and the general self-efficacy of individuals.
Nonetheless, the results from the present study further show that CQ is not only associated
with general self-efficacy but also it explains the domain-specific efficacy of individuals in
the area of cross-cultural selling. From the theoretical perspective, the overall results are
consistent with the self-efficacy theory, which emphasizes the role of self-confidence that
facilitates individuals to perform effectively in the tasks that they do (Fallah et al., 2018;
Martín et al., 2020). This theory is related not only to the capabilities that one possesses but
also with the confidence to apply those capabilities to achieving one’s goals (Martín et al.,
2020). In the area of cross-cultural selling, the high level of cross-cultural knowledge and
skills that high CQ individuals possess makes them more confident in their ability to
perform well in cross-cultural sales communication with foreign customers. Because
salespeople with high CQ are well-equipped with solid cultural knowledge and skills, they
seem to develop a strong belief that they can perform well in cross-cultural sales situations.
This efficacy belief plays a crucial role in helping them engage more actively in cross-
cultural selling, thereby resulting in successful sales presentations.
In addition to the main effect of CQ on SSEF and CSSP of salespeople, the results show
that the degree to which CQ affects these two variables is moderated by the level of CHO
that salesperson’s exhibit. In particular, the positive effect of CQ on SSEF and CSSP is
stronger for salespeople with low CHO than the salespeople with high CHO. This result
suggests that the role of CQ in helping salespeople to gain more confidence in sales and to
demonstrate better CSSP seems to be less essential for salespeople who are basically high in
CHO, but it is more essential for salespeople who are basically low in CHO. This finding is
consistent with some prior CQ research, which found that the effectiveness of CQ may Influence of
depend on some moderating conditions (Groves and Feyerherm, 2011; Pandey and cultural
Charoensukmongkol, 2019). Particularly in relation to cross-cultural selling, this result intelligence
provides more support to the study of Charoensukmongkol (2019), which found that the
effect of CQ on adaptive selling is moderated by salespeople’s mindfulness. Given that
previous research mostly considered contextual factors that moderate the effectiveness of
CQ (Hu et al., 2017; Jyoti et al., 2019; Puyod and Charoensukmongkol, 2019), but ignored the 1549
role of personal characteristics of individuals as a moderating factor, the results from
the present research broaden the knowledge from previous studies by clarifying that the
personal characteristic of individuals, in terms of CHO, also matters to determine the extent
to which CQ contributes to the communication effectiveness of individuals in the area of
cross-cultural selling.

5.2 Research contributions

This research provides additional contributions to prior research in the area of CQ and
cross-cultural selling in several ways. First, from the theoretical perspective, this research
contributes to CQ literature by using the self-efficacy theory as a framework to provide a
theoretical explanation as to why CQ could allow salespeople to perform better in sales
communication with foreign customers. This contribution adds more to prior CQ research,
which still lacks theoretical support to explain why CQ helps people to be more effective in
cross-cultural sales communication. Based on the theoretical framework of the self-efficacy
theory, this research clarifies that CQ might serve as the cross-cultural competence that
helps salespeople to develop more confidence in cross-cultural selling and boosts their
motivation to engage more actively in cross-cultural communication with foreign customers.
This theoretical explanation adds more understanding about the mechanism by which CQ
makes salespeople more effective when encountering cross-cultural selling situations.
Second, the result regarding the moderating effect of CHO that influences the effect of CQ on
SSEF and CSSP adds an important insight regarding the conditional factor in terms of the
personal characteristic of individuals that could make CQ become more or less important for
salespeople to be effective in cross-cultural selling. This aspect of the findings fills a gap in
the CQ literature, which is still limited in scope regarding under which conditions CQ may or
may not contribute to helping individuals perform better in cross-cultural interactions. This
research broadens the knowledge of previous CQ research by showing that CQ might be
particularly less important for individuals who fundamentally possess the CHO attitude
toward the task they perform. On the other hand, CQ seems to be more important for
individuals who lack the CHO attitude toward tasks; in the latter case, the knowledge and
skills of CQ help low challenge-oriented salespeople gain more confidence to perform cross-
cultural selling effectively. In summary, this research has broadened the scope in CQ
research by suggesting that CQ may not be the competence required for everyone to gain
higher performance in cross-cultural tasks; its effectiveness could be contingent on some
attitudinal characteristics of individuals that might compensate for the benefits that CQ
provides to individuals. Finally, given that CQ research is still limited in the area of cross-
cultural selling, this research provides additional evidence to confirm the benefits of CQ as
the competence that is crucial for salespeople to be effective in CSSP. Given the lack of
empirical evidence about the benefits of CQ in this occupational context, this gap has now
been filled by strengthening the role of CQ in this underexplored area and broadening the
scope of CQ application.
MRR 5.3 Recommendations for future research
43,12 This research provides some recommendations for future studies to broaden the sphere of
knowledge about the role of CQ in an under-researched area. Given that CQ literature still
has a limited understanding about conditional factors in terms of personal and job-related
characteristics of individuals that might influence the effectiveness of CQ in a cross-cultural
context, it is important for future research to expand the present study further by exploring
1550 what could be other characteristics that could influence the effectiveness of CQ on the cross-
cultural performance of individuals. Moreover, given that the present research only focuses
on the sample of salespeople who engage in cross-cultural selling, future research will need
to confirm whether the mediating effect of self-efficacy and the moderating effect of CHO
associated with CQ could be relevant in other occupational contexts.

5.4 Recommendations for management

The evidence from this research is highly relevant for companies that operate in the global
business environment at the present time. The increase in global and regional economic
integration has provided opportunities for companies to expand their markets
internationally. For example, the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community over the
past five years has made international trade among member countries able to be conducted
more freely. As then, the role of salespeople is not merely to handle domestic sales but also to
support their companies to expand their business in international markets. Because
salespeople act as representatives of the companies who directly deal with customers, their
ability to create a good impression on foreign customers can increase the chance of their
company to succeed in international expansion. However, dealing with foreign customers is
not as simple as dealing with domestic customers and there is no guarantee that salespeople
who are successful in the domestic market can perform effectively in the international
market. Despite the opportunities from economic integration, only companies that have well-
qualified sales forces with cultural competence will tend to have more opportunities to
outperform other competitors. Thus, salespeople who can perform well in the cross-cultural
context will need to be trained to develop cultural competence that allows them to handle
cross-cultural interactions effectively. This research provides recommendations for sales
organizations to enhance the effectiveness of their salespeople in the cross-cultural selling
context. Although many sales organizations provide basic training programs for their
salespeople to enhance selling skills, these training tend to emphasize more on dealing with
local customers rather than cross-cultural selling. In international selling tasks, it is crucial
for salespeople to have knowledge of other cultures to make effective cross-cultural sales
communication. Therefore, this study recommends that international business
organizations should include CQ education as a key facet of their in-house development to
increase cross-cultural interaction skills for their salespeople. The training program should
include both knowledge and skill practices to make appropriate sales presentations that
match with the cultural characteristics of foreign customers. Cultural training will help
salespeople develop more confidence to make impressive sales presentations and gain a
higher performance level in cross-cultural selling. This will eventually contribute to the
competitiveness of sales organizations in the global market as a result.
Considering the results from this research regarding the mediating effect of SSEF in
relation to the link between CQ and cross-cultural sales presentation, it is suggested that CQ
training could be particularly essential for salespeople who lack confidence in their ability to
perform well in cross-cultural selling. In fact, the difficulties in dealing with foreign
customers whose culture is totally different from domestic customers could be a crucial
reason that discourages salespeople from engaging actively in cross-cultural selling. A lack
of knowledge about foreign culture could inhibit the willingness of salespeople to try to Influence of
learn how to make adaptive sales communication to meet the cultural expectations of cultural
foreign customers. The role of CQ training in this regard is to help salespeople to overcome
intelligence
this limitation. In this regard, CQ training will enable salespeople to develop sufficient
cultural knowledge and skills, which can boost their confidence and enthusiasm to interact
with foreign customers. When salespeople are equipped with sufficient cultural knowledge
and skills, they can be more confident in their potential to do well in cross-cultural selling, 1551
thereby motivating them to engage more actively in this field.
Moreover, considering the results from this research regarding the moderating effect of
CHO, it seems that CQ training should also be offered to salespeople who lack the personal
motivation to engage in challenging tasks. This type of salesperson may have a low
willingness to engage actively in cross-cultural selling, which is more complex and more
challenging than domestic selling. Without CQ, salespeople with low CHO may not perform
well in cross-cultural selling when compared to those with high CHO. Their low confidence
tends to make them feel uncomfortable when encountering novel and challenging
experiences in cross-cultural selling, thereby discouraging them from trying to make
adaptive communication when dealing with foreign customers. However, when this group
of salespeople is trained to develop adequate levels of CQ, they could use the cultural
knowledge and skills that they have acquired from CQ training to help them get a clear
understanding about how to interact effectively with foreign customers. The cultural
competence that they develop from CQ training could also lessen the uncertainties that they
have about foreign cultures, thereby helping them to overcome the discomfort they feel in
cross-cultural interactions. Therefore, the higher the level the CQ that salespeople with low
CHO can develop, the more likely they can boost the level of their sales confidence and
engage in CSSP at the same level that salespeople with high CHO can.

5.5 Limitations
There are some research limitations that need to be clarified. First, the data used for this
research were collected from a small sample of Thai salespeople who may not be
representative of the entire population of salespeople. In addition, given that non-probability
sampling is used for sample selection, it is important to note that the results could be
affected by a sample selection bias. Second, the data were collected from the respondents
using self-report surveys; this method of survey data collection may affect the validity of the
measure. Third, the results from this research are based on the analysis of cross-sectional
data; the nature of cross-sectional data collection makes the results unable to be interpreted
as those of a cause-and-effect relationship. Therefore, it is important to note that the findings
from this research may be considered as the associations between the variables rather than a
cause-and-effect relationship.

References
Ahn, H.S., Usher, E.L., Butz, A. and Bong, M. (2016), “Cultural differences in the understanding of
modelling and feedback as sources of self-efficacy information”, British Journal of Educational
Psychology, Vol. 86 No. 1, pp. 112-136.
Aiken, L. and West, S. (1991), Multiple Regression: Testing and Interpreting Interactions, SAGE,
Thousand Oaks, CA.
Akhal, K. (2019), “Cultural intelligence effects on expatriates’ adjustment and turnover intentions in
Mainland China”, Management Research Review, Vol. 42 No. 7, pp. 818-836.
MRR Alimohammadi, L., Mirghafourvand, M., Zarei, F. and Pirzeh, R. (2018), “The effectiveness of group counseling
based on bandura’s self-efficacy theory on sexual function and sexual satisfaction in Iranian newlywed
43,12 women: a randomized controlled trial”, Applied Nursing Research, Vol. 42, pp. 62-69.
Alshaibani, E. and Bakir, A. (2017), “A reading in cross-cultural service encounter: exploring the
relationship between cultural intelligence, employee performance and service quality”, Tourism
and Hospitality Research, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 249-263.
Amabile, T.M., Karl, G.H., Beth, A.H. and Elizabeth, M.T. (1994), “The work preference inventory:
1552 assessing intrinsic and extrinsic motivational orientations ”, Journal of Personality and Social
Psychology, Vol. 66 No. 5, pp. 950-967.
Ang, S. and Van Dyne, L. (2008), Handbook of Cultural Intelligence: Theory, Measurement and
Applications, ME Sharpe, N.Y.
Ang, S., Van Dyne, L., Koh, C., Ng, K.Y., Templer, J.K., Tay, C. and Chandrasekar, N.A. (2007), “Cultural
intelligence: its measurement and effects on cultural judgement and decision making cultural
adaptation and task performance”, Management and Organization Review, Vol. 3 No. 3, pp. 335-371.
Bandura, A. (1977), “Self-efficacy: toward a unifying theory of behavioral change”, Psychological
Review, Vol. 84 No. 2, p. 191.
Bandura, A. (1986), “The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory”, Journal of Social and
Clinical Psychology, Vol. 4 No. 3, pp. 359-373.
Baron, R.M. and Kenny, D.A. (1986), “The moderator-mediator variable distinction in social
psychological research: conceptual, strategic, and statistical considerations”, Journal of
Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 51 No. 6, pp. 1173-1182.
Behrman, D.N. and William, D.P.J. (1982), “Measuring the performance of industrial salespersons”,
Journal of Business Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 335-370.
Brislin, A., Worthley, R. and Macnab, B. (2006), “Cultural intelligence understanding behaviors that
serve people’s goals”, Group and Organization Management, Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 40-55.
Bücker, J.J.L.E., Furrer, O., Poutsma, E. and Buyens, D. (2014), “The impact of cultural intelligence on
communication effectiveness, job satisfaction and anxiety for Chinese host country managers
working for foreign multinationals”, The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 25 No. 14, pp. 2068-2087.
Burke, L.A. and Witt, L.A. (2002), “Moderators of the openness to the experience-performance
relationship”, Journal of Managerial Psychology, Vol. 17 No. 8, pp. 712-721.
Butt, I., Mukerji, B. and Shareef, M.A. (2017), “Relevance of soft-sell and hard-sell advertising appeals for
global consumer cultural positioning”, Journal of Customer Behaviour, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 263-279.
Cao, W. Zhang, Y. and Bush, A. (2017), “Effects of cultural intelligence and cultural distance on
expatriates’ cross-cultural adjustment”.
Cetin, F. and Askun, D. (2018), “The effect of occupational self-efficacy on work performance through
intrinsic work motivation”, Management Research Review, Vol. 4 No. 12, pp. 186-201.
Chang, W.C., Tseng, Y.Y. and Weng, L.C. (2018), “The influence of cultural intelligence on cross-
cultural adjustment for international students in the university: the mediating effect of self-
efficacy”, paper presented at Hagenberg| Linz| Steyr| Wels.
Charoensukmongkol, P. (2015), “Cultural intelligence of entrepreneurs and international network ties”
the case of small and medium manufacturing firms in Thailand”, Management Research Review,
Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 421-436.
Charoensukmongkol, P. (2016), “Cultural intelligence and export performance of the small and medium
enterprise in Thailand: mediating roles of organizational capabilities”, International Small
Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 105-122.
Charoensukmongkol, P. (2019), “The efficacy of cultural intelligence for adaptive selling behaviors in
Cross-Cultural selling: the moderating effect of trait mindfulness”, Journal of Global Marketing,
doi: 10.1080/08911762.2019.1654586
Chin, W.W. (1998), “The partial least squares approach to structural equation modeling”, Modern Influence of
Methods for Business Research, Vol. 295 No. 2, pp. 295-336.
cultural
Cicala, J.E., Smith, R.K. and Bush, A.J. (2012), “What makes sales presentations effective – a buyer-seller
perspective”, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 27 No. 2, pp. 78-88.
intelligence
Deci, E.L. and Richard, M.R. (1985), Intrinsic Motivation and Self Determination in Human Behavior,
Plenum Press, New York, NY.
Delpechitre, D. and Baker, D.S. (2017), “Cross-Cultural selling: examining the importance of cultural 1553
intelligence in sales education”, Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 39 No. 2, pp. 94-108.
Dheer, R. and Lenartowicz, T. (2017), “Cultural intelligence: impact on entrepreneurial self-efficacy”,
Academy of Management, Vol. 2017 No. 1, p. 11516.
Earley, P.C. (2002), “Redefining interactions across cultures and organizations: moving forward with
cultural intelligence”, Research in Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24, pp. 271-299.
Earley, P.C. and Ang, S. (2003), Cultural Intelligence; Individual Interactions across Cultures, Stanford
University Press Stanford.
Fallah, H., Jafariyan, H. and Savabieh, S. (2018), “Investigation of market orientation and self-efficacy
effects on sale force performance: mediator role of sales force creativity and innovation
implementation”, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Vol. 17 No. 3, pp. 1-16.
Fu, F.Q., Richards, K.A., Hughes, D.E. and Jones, E. (2010), “Motivating salespeople to sell new
products: the relative influence of attitudes, subjective norms, and self-efficacy”, Journal of
Marketing, Vol. 74 No. 6, pp. 61-76.
Grant, K., W., D., Cravens, G.S. and Low, M., W.C. (2001), “The role of satisfaction with territory design
on the motivation, attitudes, and work outcomes of salespeople”, Journal of the Academy of
Marketing Science, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 165-178.
Groves, K.S. and Feyerherm, A.E. (2011), “Leader cultural intelligence in context”, Group and
Organization Management, Vol. 36 No. 5, pp. 535-566.
Guang, X. and Charoensukmongkool, P. (2020), “The effects of cultural intelligence on leadership
performance among Chinese expatriates working in Thailand”, Asian Business and
Management, Vol. 1, doi: 10.1057/s41291-020-00112-4
Guenzi, P., De Luca, L.M. and Spiro, R. (2016), “The combined effect of customer perceptions about a
salesperson’s adaptive selling and selling orientation on customer trust in the salesperson: a contingency
perspective”, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 31 No. 4, pp. 553-564.
Haddad, S.I. and Taleb, R.A. (2016), “The impact of self-efficacy on performance (an empirical study on business
faculty members in Jordanian universities)”, Computers in Human Behavior, Vol. 55, pp. 877-887.
Hair, J.F., Matthews, L.M., Matthews, R.L. and Sarstedt, M. (2017), “PLS-SEM or CB-SEM: updated
guidelines on which method to use”, International Journal of Multivariate Data Analysis, Vol. 1
No. 2, pp. 107-123.
Hansen, J.D., Singh, T., Weibaker, C.D. and Guesalaga, R. (2011), “Cultural intelligence in cross-cultural
selling: propositions and directions for future research”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 243-254.
Henderson, L.S., Stackman, R.W. and Lindekilde, R. (2018), “Why cultural intelligence matters on global
project teams”, International Journal of Project Management, Vol. 36 No. 7, pp. 954-967.
Henseler, J., Ringle, C.M. and Sinkovics, R.R. (2009), “The use of partial least squares path modeling in
international marketing”, Advances in International Marketing, Vol. 20 No. 1, pp. 277-320.
Hu, S.L. and Gu, J. (2018), “What role does self-efficacy play in developing cultural intelligence from
social media usage?”, Electronic Commerce Research and Applications, Vol. 28, pp. 172-180.
Hu, N., Wu, J. and Gu, J. (2017), “Cultural intelligence and employees’ creative performance: the
moderating role of team conflict in inter-organizational teams”, Journal of Management and
Organization, Vol. 25 No. 1, pp. 96-116.
MRR Huff, C.K., Song, P. and Gresh, B.E. (2014), “Cultural intelligence personality and cross-cultural
adjustment: a study of expatriates in Japan”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations,
43,12 Vol. 38, pp. 151-157.
Jacobs, B., Dunn, P.S. and Rogers, W.R. (1984), “Understanding persistence: an interface of control
theory and Self-Efficacy theory”, Basic and Applied Social Psychology, Vol. 5 No. 4, pp. 333-337.
Johlke, M.C. (2006), “Sales presentation skills and salesperson job performance”, Journal of Business
1554 and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 21 No. 5, pp. 311-319.
Jyoti, J., Pereira, V. and Kour, S. (2019), “Examining the impact of cultural intelligence on knowledge
sharing: Role of moderating and mediating variables”, in Chahal, H., Jyoti, J. and Wirtz, J. (Eds),
Understanding the Role of Business Analytics: Some Applications, Springer Singapore,
pp. 169-188.
Kanten, P. (2014), “The effect of cultural intelligence on career competencies and customer-oriented
service behaviors”, Instanbul University Journal of the School of Business, Vol. 43 No. 1, p. 100.
Kara, A., Andalleb, S.S., Tura, M. and Cabuk, S. (2013), “An examination of the effects of adaptive
selling behavior and customer orientation on performance of pharmaceutical salespeople in an
emerging market”, Journal of Medical Marketing: Device, Diagnostic and Pharmaceutical
Marketing, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 102-114.
Katsikea, E.S. and Sharmeas, D.A. (2003), “Organisational and managerial drivers of effective
export sales organisations: an empirical investigation”, European Journal of Marketing,
Vol. 37 Nos 11/12, pp. 1723-1745.
Kim, T. and Mazumdar, T. (2016), “Influences of product concept demonstrations in trade shows”.
Knight, P., Mich, C.C. and Manion, M.T. (2014), “The role of self-efficacy in sales education”, Journal of
Marketing Education, Vol. 36 No. 2, pp. 156-168.
Kock, N. (2019), WarpPLS User Manual: Version 6.0, ScriptWarp Systems, Laredo, TX.
Krishnan, B.C., Netemeyer, R.G. and Boles, J.S. (2002), “Self-Efficacy, competitiveness, and effort as
antecedents of salesperson performance”, The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 285-295.
Lee, L.Y. and Sukoco, B.M. (2010), “The effects of cultural intelligence on expatriate performance: the
moderating effects of international experience”, The International Journal of Human Resource
Management, Vol. 21 No. 7, pp. 963-981.
Lisbona, A., Francisco, P., Marisa, S. and Michael, F. (2018), “The effects of work engagement and self-
efficacy on personal initiative and performance”, Psicothema, Vol. 30 No. 1, pp. 89-96.
Luu, T. and Rowley, C. (2016), “The relationship between cultural intelligence and i-deals: trust as a
mediator and HR localization as a moderator”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis,
Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 908-931.
MacKenzie, S.B., Podsakoff, P.M. and Podsakoff, N.P. (2011), “Challenge-oriented organizational
citizenship behaviors and organizational effectiveness: do challenge-oriented behaviors really
have an impact on the organization’s bottom line”, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 64 No. 3,
pp. 559-592.
Macnab, B.R. and Worthley, R. (2012), “Individual characteristics as predictors of cultural intelligence
development: the relevance of self-efficacy”, International Journal of Intercultural Relations,
Vol. 36 No. 1, pp. 62-71.
Martín, S.S., Jimenez, N., Camarero, C. and Jose, S.R. (2020), “The path between personality, self-
efficacy, and shopping regarding games apps”, Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic
Commerce Research, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 1-9.
Miao, C.F. and Evans, K.R. (2007), “The impact of salesperson motivation on role perceptions and job
performance – a cognitive and effective perspective”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales
Management, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 89-101.
Miao, C.F., Qian, S. and Ma, D. (2017), “The relationship between entrepreneurial self-efficacy and firm Influence of
performance: a meta-analysis of main and moderator effects”, Journal of Small Business
Management, Vol. 55 No. 1, pp. 87-107.
cultural
Nguyen, A.D., Jefferies, J. and Rojas, B. (2018), “Short term, big impact? Changes in self-efficacy and
intelligence
cultural intelligence, and the adjustment of multicultural and monocultural students abroad”,
International Journal of Intercultural Relations, Vol. 66, pp. 119-129.
Pandey, A. and Charoensukmongkol, P. (2019), “Contribution of cultural intelligence to adaptive selling
and customer-oriented selling of salespeople at international trade shows: does cultural 1555
similarity matter?”, Journal of Asia Business Studies, Vol. 13 No. 1, pp. 79-96.
Peterson, R.A. (2019), “Self-efficacy and personal selling: review and examination with an emphasis on
sales performance”, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 40 No. 1, pp. 1-15.
Podsakoff, P.M., MacKenzie, S.B., Lee, J.Y. and Podsakoff, N.P. (2003), “Common method biases in
behavior research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies”, Journal of
Applied Psychology, Vol. 88 No. 5, pp. 879-903.
Preacher, K.J. and Hayes, A.F. (2004), “SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple
mediation models”, Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, and Computers, Vol. 36 No. 4, pp. 717-731.
Presbitero, A. (2016a), “Cultural intelligence (CQ) in virtual, cross-cultural interactions: generalizability
of measure and links to personality dimensions and task performance”, International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, Vol. 50, pp. 29-38.
Presbitero, A. (2016b), “Culture shock and reverse culture shock; the moderating role of cultural
intelligence in international students’ adaptation”, International Journal of Intercultural
Relations, Vol. 53, pp. 28-38.
Presbitero, A. and Quita, C. (2017), “Expatriate career intentions: links to career adaptability and
cultural intelligence”, Journal of Vocational Behavior, Vol. 98, pp. 118-126.
Puyod, J.V. and Charoensukmongkol, P. (2019), “The contribution of cultural intelligence to the
interaction involvement and performance of call center agents in cross-cultural communication”,
Management Research Review, Vol. 42 No. 12, pp. 1400-1422.
Rapp, A., Baker, T.L., Bachrach, D.G., Olgilvie, J. and Beitelspacher, L.S. (2015), “Perceived customer
showrooming behavior and the effect on retail salesperson self-efficacy and performance”,
Journal of Retailing, Vol. 91 No. 2, pp. 358-369.
Ratasuk, A. and Charoensukmongkol, P. (2020), “Does cultural intelligence promote cross-cultural
teams’ knowledge sharing and innovation in the restaurant business?”, Asia-Pacific Journal of
Business Administration, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 183-203.
Rehg, M.T., Gundlach, M.J. and Grigorian, R.A. (2012), “Examining the influence of cross-cultural
training on cultural intelligence and specific self-efficacy”, cross-cultural management”, Cross-
Cultural Management: An International Journal, Vol. 19 No. 2, pp. 215-232.
Rodriguez, M. and Boyer, S. (2018), “Developing tomorrow’s global sales leader: adapting to cultural differences
utilizing role-play”, Journal for Advancement of Marketing Education, Vol. 26, pp. 31-38.
Safaria, A.A.T. (2013), “Effects of self-efficacy on students’ academic performance”, Journal of
educational”, Health and Community Psychology, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 22-29.
Sahin, F., Gurbuz, S. and Koksal, O. (2014), “Cultural intelligence (CQ) in action: the effects of
personality and international assignment on the development of CQ”, International Journal of
Intercultural Relations, Vol. 39, pp. 152-163.
Seriwatana, P. and Charoensukmongkol, P. (2020), “The effect of cultural intelligence on burnout of thai
cabin crew in non-national airlines moderated by job tenure”, ABAC Journal, Vol. 40 No. 1,
pp. 1-19.
Shu, F., McAbee, S.T. and Ayman, R. (2017), “The HEXACO personality traits, cultural intelligence,
and international student adjustment”, Personality and Individual Differences, Vol. 106 No. 1,
pp. 21-25.
MRR Sknglund, K., Holmstrom, I.K., Sundler, A.J. and Hammar, L.M. (2018), “Previous work experience and
age do not affect final semester nursing student self-efficacy in communication skills”, Nurse
43,12 Education Today, Vol. 68, pp. 182-187.
Sparks, J.R. and Charles, S.A. (2002), “The effects of sales presentation quality and initial perceptions on
persuasion: a multiple role perspective”, Journal of Business Research, Vol. 55 No. 6, pp. 517-528.
Spiro, R.L. and Weitz, B.A. (1990), “Adaptive selling: conceptualization, measurement, and nomological
validity”, Journal of Marketing Research, Vol. 27 No. 1, pp. 61-69.
1556
Stoverisk, A.C., Chiaburu, D.S., Li, N. and Zheng, X. (2018), “Supporting team citizenship: the influence
of team social resources on team-level affiliation-oriented and challenge-oriented behaviour”,
Human Resource Management Journal, Vol. 28 No. 2, pp. 201-215.
Su, J.M., Lee, S.C., Tsai, S.B. and Lu, T.L. (2016), “A comprehensive survey of the relationship between
self-efficacy and performance for the governmental auditors”, SpringerPlus, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 508.
Sujan, H., Weitz, B.A. and Kumar, N. (1994), “Learning orientation, working smart, and effective
selling”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 3, pp. 39-52.
Suthatorn, P. and Charoennsukmongkol, P. (2018), “Cultural intelligence and airline cabin crews
members’ anxiety: the mediating roles of intercultural communication competence and service
attentiveness”, Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality and Tourism, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 1-22.
Triandis, H.C. (2006), “Cultural intelligence in organizations”, Group and Organization Management,
Vol. 31 No. 1, pp. 20-26.
Tuan, L.T. and Rowley, C. (2016), “The relationship between cultural intelligence and i-deals trust as a
mediator and HR localization as a moderator”, International Journal of Organizational Analysis,
Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 908-931.
Van Dyne, L. and LePine, J.A. (1998), “Helping and voice extra-role behaviors: evidence of construct and
predictive validity”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41, pp. 108-119.
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S. and Koh, C. (2008), “Development and validation of the CQS”, Handbook of
Cultural Intelligence, Advances in International Management, Emerald Publishing Limited,
Somerville, MA.
Van Dyne, L., Ang, S. and Livermore, D. (2010), “Cultural intelligence: a pathway for leading in a
rapidly globalizing world”, Leading across Differences, Vol. 4 No. 2, pp. 131-138.
Van Dynn, L., Ang, S., Ng, K.Y., Rockstuhl, T., Ling, T.M. and Koh, C. (2012), “Sub-dimensions of the
four-factor model of cultural intelligence: expanding the conceptualization and measurement of
cultural intelligence”, Social and Personality Psychology Compass, Vol. 6 No. 4, pp. 295-313.
Verbeke, W., Bagozzi, R.P., Van Den Berg, W., Worm, L. and Belschak, F.D. (2016), “Sales presentation
anxiety, cortisol levels, self-reports, and gene-gene interactions”, Journal of Marketing Behavior,
Vol. 2 No. 2-3, pp. 225-252.
Wagner, J.A. and Mai, E.S. (2015), “What are they thinking?” Establishing seller credibility through
sales presentation strategy”, International Journal of Sales, Retailing and Marketing, Vol. 4 No. 4,
pp. 7-68.

Corresponding author
Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol can be contacted at: peerayuth.c@nida.ac.th

For instructions on how to order reprints of this article, please visit our website:
www.emeraldgrouppublishing.com/licensing/reprints.htm
Or contact us for further details: permissions@emeraldinsight.com