Cultural intelligence and offshore outsourcing success: A framework of firm-level intercultural capability

This article discusses the importance of firm-level cultural intelligence in the context of international business ventures such as offshoring. We identify the recent movement toward global delivery models in offshoring ventures as the strategic imperative for offshoring partners to acquire and develop firm-level cultural intelligence. Drawing on Earley and Ang's (2003) conceptualization of cultural intelligence and the resource based view of the firm, we develop a conceptual framework of firm-level cultural intelligence. The framework comprises three dimensions of intercultural capabilities of the firm: managerial, competitive, and structural. We propose items to measure these three dimensions and discuss theoretical and managerial implications.