The effect of cultural intelligence on intercultural sensitivity in multicultural environment: A Portugal example

Individuals can illustrate different forms of behavior when they are in foreign societies or when they interact with individuals from different societies. In this context, it is necessary to create awareness about recognizing different cultures and respecting the norms of that culture in order to prevent communication problems. This awareness is known as intercultural sensitivity. Intercultural sensitivity, which is effective in the development of cultural interaction, depends on certain competencies of individuals. We believe that cultural intelligence is one of the most important competencies related to intercultural sensitivity. In this context, the purpose of the thesis study was determined as the research of the effect of cultural intelligence on intercultural sensitivity. Within the scope of the research, the questionnaire, consisting cultural intelligence and intercultural sensitivity scales, was applied to a total of 399 graduate and undergraduate students in Portugal during Spring 2019. 182 of this sample have an Erasmus experience while 217 of them don't have. The data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics 22 Program. As a result of the analysis, we found that cultural intelligence had a statistically significant effect on intercultural sensitivity. The effect of sub-dimensions of cultural intelligence on intercultural sensitivity was also analyzed and we found that only the cognitive sub-dimension of cultural intelligence had a significant effect on intercultural sensitivity. In addition, we found that the sub-dimensions of acceptance and adaptation of the intercultural sensitivity scale as well as the cognition and motivation sub-dimensions of cultural intelligence scale differs according to having an Erasmus experience. We believe that the results of the research will provide useful information for students, university administrations and families regarding the applications for increasing the levels of intercultural sensitivity of students. Keywords: Cultural Intelligence, Intercultural Sensitivity, Erasmus