Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to analyze the role cultural intelligence skills play in Romanian Emigrants' inclusion into the Netherlands society. A qualitative research design involved interviewing 10 Romanian migrants between 25-35 years old who moved to the Netherlands for professional reasons. Content thematic analysis was carried out aiming to investigate the cultural intelligence (CQ) skills (Early and Ang, 2003) and their attitude towards diversity as a result of being a migrant. The participants in this study are individuals exposed to the process of adapting behaviorally and psychologically to a second culture. In this adaptation process, they must negotiate different sets of cognitive, affective and behavioral expectations stemming from membership in two different cultural groups (Romanian and Dutch). In this negotiation process, cultural intelligence (CQ) plays a mediating role in the adaptation process.

Multicultural experiences and identities have become a regular component of many individuals’ lives. Globally, more than 281 million people were international migrants in 2020 (73% of working age) (United Nations, 2020). Broadly speaking, every international migrant has an individual bicultural identity that represents a hybridized or blended identities in which individuals combine specific elements of two or more cultures (Benet-Martínez & Hong, 2014).

Therefore, the objectives of this paper are identifying:
a) the most important criteria Romanians used when evaluating to migrate to the Netherlands,
b) their expectations related to Dutch culture,
c) the satisfaction levels referring to their adaptation in the second culture and
d) to explore their cultural intelligence skills on the four components: motivational CQ, COgnitive CQ, Metacognitive CQ and Behavioral CQ (Early and Ang, 2003).

According to the preliminary findings, Romanians faced affordable challenges during the acculturation and adaptation processes trying to be accepted or to blend in, due to the fact that they integrated in larger groups of migrants coming from different countries. Positive reactions from other international migrants prevailed. Romanians consider the main criteria when evaluating to move to the Netherlands:
(1) the educational and professional opportunities they could have and
(2) the socio-cultural environment and work-life balance that define Dutch culture.

Presumably, with prior awareness and understanding of CQ and cultural diversity, Romanians could be more prepared in adjusting to the Dutch culture, thus adapting quicker to the new culture they became part of.

References:
[1] Early, P.C. and Ang, S. (2003). Cultural Intelligence. Harvard Business Review, 139-147.
[2] Benet-Martínez, V., & Hong, Y.-y. (Eds.). (2014). Oxford handbook of multicultural identity. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
[3] United Nations Statistics Division (2020). World Statistics Pocketbook 2020 edition, https://unstats.un.org/unsd/publications/pocketbook/files/world-stats-pocketbook-2020.pdf
[4] Huynh, Q., Benet-Martínez, V. and Nguyen, A. (2018). Measuring variations in bicultural identity across US ethnic and generational groups: development and validation of the bicultural identity integration scale-version 2 (BIIS-2). Psychological Assessment, 30 (12), 1581-1596.

Keywords:

Cultural Intelligence (CQ), cultural diversity, Individual bicultural identity, Attitudes towards diversity.