Relationship Between the Intercultural Global Mindset and Cross-Cultural Leadership Behavior

Abstract

In Chaps. 3 and 4, we concluded that an individual mindset can be explained by using the attitude concept. In this chapter, we examine the relationship between mindsets and leadership behavior as described in Chap. 5, based on a behavioral intention model. The relationship between attitudes and behavior has been studied for a very long time. The premise is that individual behavior can be predicted by attitudes. People who evaluate an attitude object favorably tend to engage in behaviors that support it, and people who evaluate an attitude object unfavorably tend to engage in behaviors that oppose it. Today, the discourse is not so much on the question of whether or not attitudes can explain behavior, but addresses the circumstances in which there is a relationship between attitudes and behavior and when and how this relationship becomes manifest. The research question is: which conditions predict those kinds of attitudes that result in what specific behavior and by whom? In mindset research, a lot of emphasis is placed on the variables that might influence the formation of beliefs and attitudes. As described in Chap. 4, the attitudes that build the culture dimension of global mindset are based on cognitive and affective elements and explain how managers evaluate beliefs regarding their intercultural work environment and how they feel about it. In other words, managers form a general disposition about aspects of their intercultural work environment but the relationship with observable behavior remains unclear. Attitude–behavior models focus on factors that contribute to the explanation of observable behavior next to or in combination with attitudes. As described, an attitude towards and object is a multidimensional concept, consisting of cognitive elements (opinions, beliefs), affective elements (feelings), and conative elements (the preparedness for action or behavioral intention towards the object). Authors in favor of this multidimensional attitude concept believe that a simultaneous consideration of these three elements will lead to a better prediction of behavior than studying only one attitudinal dimension alone. Authors such as Katz (1960) and Zajonc and Markus (1982) pose that cognitive and affective attitude factors influence behavioral intentions and eventually, observable behavior. This “knowing-feeling-acting”-approach (McGuire 1969) implies that the explanation of behavior through the combination of cognitive and affective attitude elements and the individual’s judgment of the future situation can be used to predict overt behavior. In this respect, attitudes are a means to simplify social reality by structuring knowledge and experience, to evaluate an entity with some degree of favor or disfavor, and to guide behavior by anticipating the usefulness of the attitude object in realizing future targets.