Human Capital, Opportunity Beliefs, and International Performance: the mediating role of Cultural Intelligence

This article examines the relationship between general and specific human capital and their impacts on international performance, with the mediating role of opportunity beliefs and cultural intelligence. This study assumes that opportunity beliefs are an important factor in promoting international new ventures, and evaluates the concepts related to the qualitative characteristics of employees as human capital in the form of general and specific human capital, as well as considering the level of cultural intelligence of employees in firms.

Using 144 samples from international firms and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), the research hypotheses were investigated.

It was found that the mediating relationship of cultural intelligence as well as opportunity beliefs between human capital and international performance were confirmed. Therefore, international firms should focus on their human capital and clarify and enhance the cultural intelligence of employees. This is because this study showed that human capital has a positive effect on cultural intelligence, and investigating other mechanisms that measure the role of cultural intelligence can be considered in future research.

For the first time, this study focuses on the relationship between general human capital, specific human capital, cultural intelligence, opportunity beliefs, and international performance. The results indicate that the skills, abilities, attitudes, and beliefs of employees are critical factors in their success in diverse cultural environments. The positive correlation between human capital and opportunity beliefs emphasizes the importance of investing in employee skills and training to increase their readiness to pursue global market opportunities. Additionally, the relationship between cultural intelligence and opportunity beliefs shows that cultural intelligence can play a significant interactive role in employees' preparedness to pursue global opportunities. Future research should further investigate these findings and examine the role of other intermediaries in behavioral domains.