The Study of Dimensions of Cultural Intelligence in Volunteers for Sport

The aim of this study was to assess cultural intelligence of volunteers for sport events. The method applied in this research was descriptive – analytical. The statistical population consisted of all sport volunteers at the 10th cultural-sport Olympiad of Iranian male and female university students. Due to the low number of statistical population, the sample equaled the population (N=120). Cultural intelligence was measured by 20-item Ang et al. (2004) questionnaire. The face and content validity of the questionnaire was approved by 12 university professionals and in a pilot study, the reliability of the questionnaire was estimated as α=0.72 by Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data. The research hypotheses were analyzed by Friedman test and one–way ANOVA. The results showed that the mean of volunteer's cultural intelligence was 3.5±0.42 and also the observed difference in the priorities of cultural intelligence dimensions was significant (X2=57.1, P<0.01). Accordingly, motivational cultural intelligence was the first priority (3.86±0.61) and cognitive cultural intelligence was the last priority (3.31±0.57). Furthermore, there was a significant difference in the metacognitive cultural intelligence between those who had lower than one year of volunteer work experience and those who had one year of volunteer work experience (P˂0.05). The results of this study can create a good vision of the importance of developing cultural intelligence in volunteers for volunteer managers, can be used for appropriate strategies of human resources that are involved in cross–cultural interactions and can open a new course for university studies.