The impact of the cultural intelligence of service staff on the service delivery experiences of customers at casual dining restaurants in Bloemfontein

Abstract

In the ever-changing world of work, especially in the tourism and hospitality industry, it is important for service staff to generate innovative ideas to enhance organisational effectiveness. One way of achieving this is to focus on the cultural intelligence of service staff. Cultural intelligence refers to an individual's deliberate cognitive recognition and capacity for processing cultural information in the context of intercultural interactions. The study investigated the impact of the cultural intelligence of service staff on the service delivery experiences of customers at casual dining restaurants in Bloemfontein. Cultural intelligence was measured using four components conceptualised by Ang, Van Dyne and Koh (2006), namely cognitive, metacognitive behavioural, and motivational cultural intelligence. The SERVQUAL model of Parasuraman, Zeithalml and Berry (1988) was used to measure perceptions of service delivery. This model consists of the following components: tangibles, responsiveness, empathy, reliability, and assurance. The study adopted quantitative, post positivist research approach using a cross sectional, Ex-post Factor research design. A structured questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 403 customers of casual dining restaurants, using QuestionPro. The application of Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to examine the relationship between the variables. Statistically significant negative relationships were recorded: between metacognitive cultural intelligence and service delivery; and between cognitive cultural intelligence and service delivery related to assurance, reliability, and responsiveness. However, no relationships were found between cognitive cultural intelligence and empathy and tangibles. Statistically significant negative relationships were also recorded between behavioural cultural intelligence and service delivery related to assurance, empathy, and responsiveness, while no relationships were found between behavioural cognitive intelligence and reliability and tangibles. In contrast, statistically significant positive relationships were recorded between motivational cultural intelligence and all the levels of service delivery.