Innate Psychological Resources, Cultural Intelligence, and Cross-Cultural Adaptation: A Pre-Hire Selection Framework for Employee Performance in Maldivian SMEs

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to explore the past literature to show the relationship between innate psychological resource and cultural intelligence as well as cross-cultural adaptation. Similarly, this conceptual paper reviews the past literature to show the direct relationship between cultural intelligence and performance as well as the relationship between cross-cultural adaptations and performance. Several studies conducted in the past were reviewed and theoretical propositions are made based on the past literature. Four theoretical propositions are formulated based on the recent available literature. These are (1) innate psychological resource has a positive effect on cultural intelligence, (2) innate psychological resource has a positive effect on cross-cultural adjustment, (3) cultural intelligence has positive effect on employee performance, (4) cross-cultural adjustment has a positive effect on employee performance. The overall conclusion is that improving innate psychological resource could improve cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment leading to high performance among the employees. The practical and theoretical implications are discussed.