The Effect of Cultural Differences with Customers on the Service Provider's Adaptability Regarding the Moderating Role of Metacognitive Cultural Intelligence; an Experimental Approach

Subject Areas : Journal of Cultural Management

Kambiz Heidarzadeh Hanzaee ¹

1 - Business Management Department,, Faculty of Management and Economics, Science and Research Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2023-07-09 Accepted : 2023-09-06 Published : 2023-10-23

Keywords: Metacognitive Cultural Intelligence, Organizational Citizenship Behavior, Service Provider Adaptability, Cultural Differences with Customers,

Abstract :

Purpose: The present research aims to investigate and assess the effect of cultural differences with customers on the service providers’ adaptability. This research also investigates the moderating role of metacognitive cultural intelligence.Method: The research was conducted with an experimental method and a 2×2 factorial design, which used a scenario-based questionnaire (N = 160) among Qazvin Islamic Azad University students to test the hypotheses.Findings: The results confirmed all three hypotheses, i.e. based on the findings, cultural differences and metacognitive cultural intelligence positively affects the willingness of service employees to adapt in service interactions, and also the metacognitive cultural intelligence of service employees moderates the relationship between cultural differences and adaptability of service provider.Conclusion: Cultural difference is one of the important dimensions in customer service, which should be considered by service managers in service environments that face customers from different ethnicities and cultural groups because it leads to many obvious misunderstandings among different cultures. When the service provider works with people from unfamiliar cultures, adapting and closing to the customer's culture can lead to positive feelings in the customer. Therefore, in the place of multicultural services, there is a need for employees from different cultures with high metacognitive cultural intelligence, and in-service training can be effective in this field.