The effect of cultural intelligence on perceived social support and entrepreneurship tendency

The ability of individuals to work and function effectively in different situations and in different environments is expressed as cultural intelligence. The fact that the world has become global and the relationship between countries has become more and more indispensable day by day has increased the importance of cultural intelligence. This situation has led businesses to employ qualified personnel who can easily adapt to different cultures and establish good relations. For this reason, businesses have paid attention to working with individuals with high cultural intelligence. Individuals with a high level of cultural intelligence can adapt to the rules and social life of the country they visit more easily and quickly, which creates an important advantage for success. In this doctoral thesis, it is aimed to investigate the direct effect of the concept and dimensions of cultural intelligence (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral intelligence) on entrepreneurial tendency and perceived social support, as well as the mediating effect of perceived social support on the relationship between cultural intelligence and entrepreneurial tendency, on foreign and Turkish students. The study was designed as a quantitative research method. The questionnaire survey, which was prepared in line with the model of the research, was applied online to foreign national and Turkish citizens studying at Atatürk University, Fırat University and İnönü University in 2021. Survey data, including 408 foreign nationals and 877 Turkish citizens, were collected. The obtained data were analyzed in SPSS and SPSS-AMOS programs. Analyzes for mediating effects were performed in SPSS using the Process Macro plugin. According to the results obtained, the improvement in the cultural intelligence level of both foreign and Turkish students positively affects the entrepreneurial tendency and the perceived social support perception. On the other hand, as the perceived social support perception improves, entrepreneurship tendency also increases in the same direction for both student groups. For both student groups; Cultural intelligence contributes positively to predicting perceived social support and entrepreneurial tendency directly. In addition, it was concluded that perceived social support has a mediating effect on the effect of cultural intelligence on entrepreneurship tendency in both foreign and Turkish students. In addition to these results, the findings on the differences in perception among the student groups are given in detail in the study.