The mediating role of self-efficacy in the relationship between cultural intelligence and social adjustment of students

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the mediating role of self-efficacy in the cultural intelligence and social adjustment of students. The research method was descriptive-correlation of structural modeling type. The statistical population included the students of the Gorgan unit of Azad University in the academic year 2022-2023, and 384 people were selected as the sample size by random cluster sampling. The research tools included the Social Adjustment Questionnaire (SAQ) by Sohrabi and Samani (2013), the Cultural Intelligence Questionnaire (CIQ) by Ang et al (2004), and the General Self-Efficacy Scale (GSE-10) by Schwatzer and Jerusalem (1991). Structural equation analysis was used to analyze the data. The results showed the optimal fit of the research model. The results showed a significant direct effect of cultural intelligence on self-efficacy (P=0.002) and a direct effect of self-efficacy on social adjustment (P=0.008). However, the direct effect of cultural intelligence on social engagement was not significant (P>.0.05). Also, the results indicated the indirect effect of cultural intelligence on social adjustment with the mediation of self-efficacy (P=0.004). These results show that self-efficacy can explain the social adjustment of students according to the role of cultural intelligence.