A Conceptual Model Presentation to strengthen cultural intelligence in international business interactions

Introduction: Today, export and effective presence in the global economy is a basic need for the economic growth of any country. Internationalization has been defined as a reflection of the interests and enthusiasm of entrepreneurs to operate based on the opportunities available in foreign markets. Taking advantage of the competitive advantage in the new market, increasing income, access to new technologies and shortening the communication channels between the customer and the market are among the advantages of internationalization, which, of course, require overcoming many existing obstacles, especially the existing cognitive distance between origin and destination countries. On the other hand, one of the important features of today's world is the cultural diversity in different nations and societies, which also affects different dimensions of business success. In such an environment, the presence of people who have the ability to deeply understand different cultures and communicate effectively is one of the most important requirements for the success of companies in the field of export. Among the necessary competencies of entrepreneurs to be present in the international arena is benefiting from the ability to understand the external environment, which is called “cultural intelligence”. The main goal of this research is to identify and conceptually explain the dimensions of cultural intelligence of international entrepreneurs and export managers, and as a result, to provide a solution to strengthen cultural intelligence in international business interactions. In fact, in this research, the process of strengthening the cultural intelligence of companies in the process of internationalization has been explored and conceptualized in order to determine how companies succeed in achieving more success in international business by exploiting the cultural intelligence of their employees.
Methodology: For this purpose, in-depth interviews were conducted with entrepreneurs and export experts with education and experience related to international interactions. Key points and points of view were obtained from each interview, and the content of each interview was a guide to improve the next interview. According to the analysis of the data obtained from the interviews with the method of grounded theory in this research, we managed to explain a concept suitable for the context of the country of the factors effective in cultural intelligence in international business.
Results and Discussion: The results show that the cultural intelligence of people depends on several factors. It depends that identifying and understanding them is necessary to reach a suitable solution to strengthen cultural intelligence in Iranian individuals and companies. Meanwhile, some factors directly and some indirectly affect the central category of the research, which is the cultural intelligence of people. By analyzing the data based on the theory development method through three stages of coding keywords and screening from general sentences to concepts and then clarifying the categories, key categories were calculated. The final categories were separated in the form of three causal, contextual and environmental categories in order to better determine the impact of each on the cultural intelligence of people. The paradigm model shows the flow of processes and activities that happened in the context of the study. The purpose of the model extracted in this research is to strengthen cultural intelligence in international business interactions. The research model obtained using final categories shows that personality traits and family background as causal and contextual categories directly affect the central phenomenon (cultural intelligence and international interactions), as well as economic stability and the level of relationships. Iran's commercial and political relations with foreign countries as an environmental category affect the central phenomenon and the adopted strategies.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that paying attention to the selection of suitable people with a high degree of cultural intelligence by companies and also providing necessary cultural training are two main strategies to strengthen cultural intelligence and strengthen the export power of each company. The structure of categories affecting cultural intelligence based on research findings is elaborated. Causal categories are conditions and individual characteristics that have a direct impact on the central phenomenon of the research. Creativity, extroversion, attention and follow-up, desire for adventure, are four elements that each lead a person to experience a new space and start a new job. Also, appropriate strategies to strengthen cultural intelligence in Iranian companies applying for export were explained. An important strategy to improve and enhance the level of cultural intelligence among Iranian entrepreneurs is to create an interactive and open environment for the presence of foreign companies in Iran. The second strategy is to hold training and counseling sessions for companies and entrepreneurs in the export phase to familiarize themselves with the categories and requirements needed in relations with other nations and cultures. The third strategy is specific to government managers and exporting companies who, in addition to improving their cultural intelligence, should pay special attention to their personality, knowledge and international experience in order to employ individuals in export and interactive fields.