Purpose

Drawing on the upper echelons theory and resource-based view, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how SMEs' decision-makers can develop cultural intelligence to improve firms' adaptive capability and performance in foreign markets. The study addresses this need by using social cognitive theory as an appropriate tool to measure cultural intelligence development.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 244 Italian SMEs, data were collected through an online survey and analyzed with structural equation modeling techniques.

Findings

The results show that decision-makers of resource-constrained SMEs can rely on modeled behaviors to inform their decisions when dealing with diverse cultural contexts. The findings also reveal that the development of cultural intelligence can foster adaptive strategies and support SMEs in achieving superior performance outcomes in international markets.

Research limitations/implications

Other variables can be taken into account to expand the model and recognize new determinants able to affect the link between the constructs. Other learning theories could provide additional interpretations of cultural intelligence development.

Practical implications

Social cognitive processes nurture cultural intelligence in helping SMEs' owner-managers become more flexible and adaptive in responding to the requests of local settings. When facing the uncertainties of foreign markets, decision-makers can effectively make inferences from the observation of successful modeled behaviors. This helps owner-managers better coordinate, recombine and allocate resources to address the needs of diverse cultural markets.

Originality/value

This study demonstrates that social cognitive theory is a relevant tool to measure cultural intelligence development in small business settings.

中文翻译：

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模仿游戏：将文化情报作为一种社会学习能力，以提高中小企业的国际绩效

目的

本文基于高层理论和基于资源的观点，旨在研究中小企业的决策者如何开发文化智能，以提高企业在国外市场的适应能力和绩效。该研究通过使用社会认知理论作为衡量文化智力发展的适当工具来满足这一需求。

设计/方法/方法

使用244个意大利中小型企业的样本，通过在线调查收集了数据，并使用结构方程建模技术进行了分析。

发现

结果表明，资源受限的中小企业的决策者在处理各种文化背景时可以依靠建模的行为来告知他们的决策。研究结果还表明，文化智能的发展可以促进适应性战略并支持中小型企业在国际市场上取得优异的业绩。

研究局限/意义

可以考虑其他变量来扩展模型并识别能够影响构造之间链接的新决定因素。其他学习理论可以提供对文化智力发展的更多解释。

实际影响

社会认知过程可培养文化智能，以帮助中小企业的所有者-经理变得更加灵活和适应性强，以适应当地环境的要求。当面对国外市场的不确定性时，决策者可以通过观察成功的建模行为来有效地进行推断。这有助于所有者-经理更好地协调，重组和分配资源，以满足多样化文化市场的需求。

创意/价值

这项研究表明，社会认知理论是衡量小型企业环境中文化智能发展的一种相关工具。