Mediating role of cultural intelligence between perceived social support and social competence among international university students in Pakistan

Abstract

The present study was conducted to examme the mediating ro le of cultural intelligence between perceived social support and social competence among international university students. The study also aimed at exploring this relationship with reference to varying demographic variables. Cultural intelligence scale; (Ang et aI, 2007), Multi-dimensional perceived social support; (Zimet et aI, 1988), social competence in higher education scale; SCHES (Santiago et aI, 2014) and a demographic sheet were used for data collection from 100 international university students through convenient sampling from different universities of Islamabad. Results in the present study showed that cultural intelligence and perceived social support positively predicted social competence among international university students. Male international university students were more culturally intelligent as compared to female international university students. Cultural intelligence mediated the relationship between perceived social support and social competence among international university students. Findings were discussed in the light of past literature and cultural context. Limitations and suggestions along with implications of the study were also discussed.