Cultural Intelligence

Cultural intelligence, or CQ, is the capability to function and relate effectively in culturally diverse situations. It is not about how much you know of any one culture, but about a general adaptability: noticing when cultural assumptions are in play, drawing on relevant knowledge, staying motivated across the friction of difference, and adjusting how you act. As workplaces, teams, and communities become more international, CQ has become one of the more practically useful individual-difference measures.

This 20-item test follows the four-factor cultural intelligence model and takes about 6 minutes. You rate how well a set of statements describes your real capabilities, and your results are placed against population norms across the four CQ facets. The instructions ask you to answer honestly rather than aspirationally - to describe what you actually do across cultures, not what you think sounds best - because that is what makes the profile informative.

The four-factor model treats cultural intelligence as a set of related but distinct capabilities rather than a single trait. Strong overall CQ usually rests on a balance across the four; a profile high in motivation and knowledge but lower in behavior, for example, points to someone who is interested and informed but still working on flexibly adjusting their conduct. The report reads your shape across the facets, not just an overall total.

Because this is a self-report measure, it captures how you see your own cross-cultural capabilities. That self-perception is meaningful and predicts real outcomes, but it is not the same as an observer rating or a performance test. Someone who is confident across cultures and someone who is genuinely effective will both tend to score high here, and the report is explicit about that distinction.

The cultural intelligence construct was introduced by Christopher Earley and Soon Ang, who proposed that effectiveness across cultures rests on four complementary capabilities. The four-factor self-report scale developed by Ang, Van Dyne, and colleagues has been validated across multiple countries and samples, shows the expected internal structure, and predicts outcomes such as cultural judgment, decision making, task performance, and adjustment in cross-cultural settings - with incremental validity beyond general cognitive ability and the Big Five.

Two honest limits apply. First, this is a self-report of perceived capability, so it reflects how you appraise your own cross-cultural skills; observer-rated and performance-based approaches measure related but not identical things, and self-report can be colored by a flattering self-view. Second, this is an educational self-assessment for reflection and development, not a selection or clinical instrument; it does not diagnose anything and should not be the sole basis for high-stakes decisions about people. Read your profile as a structured map of cross-cultural strengths and growth areas, all of which are developable.