Project Management Journal· 2026Q1
How Openness and Conscientiousness Shape Project Outcomes in International Remote Projects: The Mediating Role of Cultural Intelligence
- 0citations
- Q1SCImago
- 2026year
Short summary
Cultural intelligence (CQ) fully mediates the impact of project managers' openness and conscientiousness on team outcomes, and partially mediates conscientiousness's effect on client outcomes in international remote projects.
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Key points
- Cultural intelligence (CQ) fully mediates the relationship between manager openness/conscientiousness and team outcomes.
- CQ partially mediates the relationship between manager conscientiousness and client outcomes.
- Trait Activation Theory explains how personality traits enable cultural adaptation.
- Study analyzed 250 project managers using PLS-SEM.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
This study examines how project managers’ openness to experience and conscientiousness influence team and client outcomes in international remote projects through the mediating role of cultural intelligence (CQ). Drawing on Trait Activation Theory (TAT), we argue that these traits are selectively translated into culturally adaptive capabilities because they provide the cognitive flexibility and systematic discipline that support cultural adaptation. Using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with 250 project managers, we find that CQ fully mediates the effects of both traits on project team impact and partially mediates the effect of conscientiousness on project client impact. These findings support a selective mediation perspective, showing that only traits aligned with the demands of cultural learning are translated into culturally adaptive project outcomes, with implications for how organizations select and develop project managers for culturally diverse international projects.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Project Management Journal, 2026 · DOI ↗
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Field: Communication
CommunicationSocial Sciences