Effect of Cultural Intelligence on Employees Creativity with the Complementing Role of Curiosity: Evidence from Pakistan’s IT sector

There are many identified antecedents of creativity. However, employing creative cognition theory as followed by (Yunlu, Clapp-Smith, & Shaffer, 2017), we hypothesized a positive effect of Cultural Intelligence in determining creativity. We classified Cultural Intelligence into four distinct factors (cognitive, meta-cognitive, behavioral, and motivational). Higher Cultural Intelligence fosters more Creativity among employees, moreover, this relationship is augmented by a higher level of Curiosity. We applied this framework in the Pakistani context by conducting a survey based on a close-ended questionnaire from 387 employees working in Karachi. Pakistan is a multi-cultured country, making this study meaningful. Data were analyzed using confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling. The results suggested that, apart from the meta-cognitive dimension, all Cultural Intelligence factors as well as curiosity have a strong positive and significant effect on creativity. Similarly, the effect of each of the three dimensions namely, cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational on creativity is significantly augmented by curiosity. The finding implies that cross-border interactions are necessary and effective to learn. Also, one can recognize the importance of his own culture when others adapt to it. Social insight is something other than social mindfulness and affectability, which are additionally essential inside a partnership; it is the capacity to identify with socially different circumstances, just as work successfully in them.