Navigating Dissimilarity: How Motivational Cultural Intelligence Enhances Psychological Empowerment And Thriving At Work

Workplaces worldwide are changing rapidly, which poses challenges in achieving the desired outcomes. Thus, it is essential for employees to have a higher sense of thriving to cope with work responsibilities and stay positive. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory, we examine the effect of team member dissimilarity on the psychological resource of empowerment and the effect of psychological empowerment on thriving. We also investigate the personal resource of motivational cultural intelligence on the relationships between dissimilarity-psychological empowerment and psychological empowerment-thriving at work. Based on a sample of 139 student teams with 481 members that responded to surveys at three time points, our findings suggest that dissimilarity is related to low psychological empowerment when motivational cultural intelligence is low. On the other hand, when dissimilar members are culturally intelligent, they feel more psychologically empowered. Further, psychological empowerment positively affects thriving, and this effect is amplified when individuals possess high levels of motivational cultural intelligence. Limitations and future research avenues are suggested.