title: Innovative work behaviour: The influence of multicultural identity, openness to experience and cultural intelligence

authors: Lim, Sean (Xue Han)

subjects: Innovative work behaviour

abstract: This research aims to conceptualise a response to global trends. The workforce is becoming more diverse and multicultural.  If an employee is not culturally competent, conflicts will happen. Cross-cultural misunderstandings will cost valuable time to resolve, which will result in lowered productivity. A fast-paced digital and technological workforce require constant innovation to survive. If an employee favours the status quo and does not implement new ideas, the organisation will fail to remain responsive to the demands of global consumers. 

This research study asserts that future successful employees will benefit from a multicultural identity because they possess a range of cognitive schemas, which allows them to think and express themselves from different perspectives. Multicultural individuals possess cultural intelligence, which allows them to collaborate sensitively and effectively with people from other ethnic backgrounds. Multicultural individuals are creative and proactive in implementing their ideas. Future successful employees will benefit from an openness to experience personality trait, which allows them to welcome new ways of conceptualising and doing things. Open-minded employees are likely to gain and share new knowledge from cross-cultural experiences.
The five constructs that are asserted to be crucial for the future of work are:

1) Social desirability testing

2) Multicultural identity

3) Openness to experience personality trait

4) Cultural intelligence

5) Innovative work behaviour

Drawing from anxiety and uncertainty management theory (AUM) and creative cognition approach, this study investigates the three constructs (multicultural identity, openness to experience, and cultural intelligence) on their contribution to innovative work behaviour. Students from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, participated in the research. This study selects participants on the basis that today’s students will be starting work in the next few years. These students will be the demographics of the future workforce. The decision to use students as population sample contrasts with previous research that favours participants who are presently working in organisations.
The participants filled up an online questionnaire, which consists of four validated measurement scales. Distinct from other research of this nature is the inclusion of the Marlowe-Crowne 13 question social desirability scale. The aim is to reduce social desirability responding, increase the validity and robustness of the data set.

Findings showed that respondents who self-report as multicultural and bicultural have significantly higher cultural intelligence and innovative work behaviour scores, as compared to respondents who self-report as monocultural. However, differences for openness to experience personality trait scores are not significant amongst these three groups. Findings showed that socially desirable responding affects scores on openness to experience personality trait, cultural intelligence, and innovative work behaviour. Openness to experience personality trait, cultural intelligence and innovative work behaviour positively correlate with one another.

Cultural intelligence mediates between openness to experience and innovative work behaviour.  Also, cultural intelligence mediates between multicultural identity and innovative work behaviour. This study also investigates the sub-facets that make up the overall openness to experience and cultural intelligence constructs and examine their relationship with innovative work behaviour. The ingenuity and curiosity sub-facets of openness to experience are essential predictors to innovative work behaviour. Also, the motivational and metacognitive sub-facets of cultural intelligence are significant predictors to innovative work behaviour.

The three practical implications of this research study are as follows:

1)      Human resource managers may benefit from hiring employees who are bicultural and multicultural because they can think using different cognitive schemas and see different perspectives. They are more likely to work well with people from other cultures and are more likely to be creative. Multicultural individuals are likely to minimise the occurrences of cross-cultural conflicts. These individuals are likely to facilitate knowledge sharing and boost innovation in the workplace.

2)      Human resource managers may benefit from selecting staff based on their openness to experience, cultural intelligence, and innovative work behaviour scores. This study hypothesises that employees who score higher on openness to experience may be able to welcome and immerse themselves in multicultural experiences, which may allow them to become more culturally intelligent. Openness to experience is a stable personality trait and are less likely to change over time. Monocultural employees, who score higher on the openness to experience personality trait are more likely to benefit from exposure to different cultures and cultural intelligence training. Employees who are higher on cultural intelligence scores are more likely to work effectively with colleagues from other cultural backgrounds. They may be more adept at learning, sharing knowledge, adopting good work practices that are tried-and-tested in other countries. Employees who have higher innovative work behaviour scores may be more likely to exhibit behaviours in the workplace such as brainstorming and creating new products and process, which is likely to result in the innovative output of an organisation and give it a competitive advantage.

3)      Human resource managers will benefit from using the Marlowe-Crowne Scale when screening prospective employees. Personality tests are used frequently in hiring processes, but they are susceptible to social desirability responding. The Marlowe-Crowne should not be used solely as a hiring tool, but prompt further questions during interviews or reference checks. The minimisation of social desirability responding is likely to improve the integrity of hiring processes, especially in organisations which have strong diversity and inclusion policies for staff to champion and be on board.

The limitation of this research study is its subjective self-report nature and cross-sectional design. This study has made efforts to reduce social desirability bias through the Marlowe Crowne scale. Also, it attempts to reduce common method bias by using different Likert-scale ranges for responses. Existing criticism of the cultural intelligence construct is its lack of an objective measure. There is new research that investigates biological and physiological correlates of the openness to experience personality trait, such as scans of functional connectivity in the brain, and heart rate. For future research, this study proposes the exploration of objective biological and physiological measures and its relationship to cultural intelligence and innovation.

This research study will contribute to cross-cultural, personality, diversity-inclusion, and innovation literature. There is existing literature that looks at the relationship between two constructs in-depth, but none as broad a scope as this current study, as it attempts to generalise a response to global trends.  This study will provide the foundation for future exciting research.

text: Innovative work behaviour: The influence of multicultural identity, openness to experience and cultural intelligence This research aims to conceptualise a response to global trends. The workforce is becoming more diverse and multicultural.  If an employee is not culturally competent, conflicts will happen. Cross-cultural misunderstandings will cost valuable time to resolve, which will result in lowered productivity. A fast-paced digital and technological workforce require constant innovation to survive. If an employee favours the status quo and does not implement new ideas, the organisation will fail to remain responsive to the demands of global consumers. 

This research study asserts that future successful employees will benefit from a multicultural identity because they possess a range of cognitive schemas, which allows them to think and express themselves from different perspectives. Multicultural individuals possess cultural intelligence, which allows them to collaborate sensitively and effectively with people from other ethnic backgrounds. Multicultural individuals are creative and proactive in implementing their ideas. Future successful employees will benefit from an openness to experience personality trait, which allows them to welcome new ways of conceptualising and doing things. Open-minded employees are likely to gain and share new knowledge from cross-cultural experiences.
The five constructs that are asserted to be crucial for the future of work are:

1) Social desirability testing

2) Multicultural identity

3) Openness to experience personality trait

4) Cultural intelligence

5) Innovative work behaviour

Drawing from anxiety and uncertainty management theory (AUM) and creative cognition approach, this study investigates the three constructs (multicultural identity, openness to experience, and cultural intelligence) on their contribution to innovative work behaviour. Students from the University of Waikato, New Zealand, participated in the research. This study selects participants on the basis that today’s students will be starting work in the next few years. These students will be the demographics of the future workforce. The decision to use students as population sample contrasts with previous research that favours participants who are presently working in organisations.
The participants filled up an online questionnaire, which consists of four validated measurement scales. Distinct from other research of this nature is the inclusion of the Marlowe-Crowne 13 question social desirability scale. The aim is to reduce social desirability responding, increase the validity and robustness of the data set.

Findings showed that respondents who self-report as multicultural and bicultural have significantly higher cultural intelligence and innovative work behaviour scores, as compared to respondents who self-report as monocultural. However, differences for openness to experience personality trait scores are not significant amongst these three groups. Findings showed that socially desirable responding affects scores on openness to experience personality trait, cultural intelligence, and innovative work behaviour. Openness to experience personality trait, cultural intelligence and innovative work behaviour positively correlate with one another.

Cultural intelligence mediates between openness to experience and innovative work behaviour.  Also, cultural intelligence mediates between multicultural identity and innovative work behaviour. This study also investigates the sub-facets that make up the overall openness to experience and cultural intelligence constructs and examine their relationship with innovative work behaviour. The ingenuity and curiosity sub-facets of openness to experience are essential predictors to innovative work behaviour. Also, the motivational and metacognitive sub-facets of cultural intelligence are significant predictors to innovative work behaviour.

The three practical implications of this research study are as follows:

1)      Human resource managers may benefit from hiring employees who are bicultural and multicultural because they can think using different cognitive schemas and see different perspectives. They are more likely to work well with people from other cultures and are more likely to be creative. Multicultural individuals are likely to minimise the occurrences of cross-cultural conflicts. These individuals are likely to facilitate knowledge sharing and boost innovation in the workplace.

2)      Human resource managers may benefit from selecting staff based on their openness to experience, cultural intelligence, and innovative work behaviour scores. This study hypothesises that employees who score higher on openness to experience may be able to welcome and immerse themselves in multicultural experiences, which may allow them to become more culturally intelligent. Openness to experience is a stable personality trait and are less likely to change over time. Monocultural employees, who score higher on the openness to experience personality trait are more likely to benefit from exposure to different cultures and cultural intelligence training. Employees who are higher on cultural intelligence scores are more likely to work effectively with colleagues from other cultural backgrounds. They may be more adept at learning, sharing knowledge, adopting good work practices that are tried-and-tested in other countries. Employees who have higher innovative work behaviour scores may be more likely to exhibit behaviours in the workplace such as brainstorming and creating new products and process, which is likely to result in the innovative output of an organisation and give it a competitive advantage.

3)      Human resource managers will benefit from using the Marlowe-Crowne Scale when screening prospective employees. Personality tests are used frequently in hiring processes, but they are susceptible to social desirability responding. The Marlowe-Crowne should not be used solely as a hiring tool, but prompt further questions during interviews or reference checks. The minimisation of social desirability responding is likely to improve the integrity of hiring processes, especially in organisations which have strong diversity and inclusion policies for staff to champion and be on board.

The limitation of this research study is its subjective self-report nature and cross-sectional design. This study has made efforts to reduce social desirability bias through the Marlowe Crowne scale. Also, it attempts to reduce common method bias by using different Likert-scale ranges for responses. Existing criticism of the cultural intelligence construct is its lack of an objective measure. There is new research that investigates biological and physiological correlates of the openness to experience personality trait, such as scans of functional connectivity in the brain, and heart rate. For future research, this study proposes the exploration of objective biological and physiological measures and its relationship to cultural intelligence and innovation.

This research study will contribute to cross-cultural, personality, diversity-inclusion, and innovation literature. There is existing literature that looks at the relationship between two constructs in-depth, but none as broad a scope as this current study, as it attempts to generalise a response to global trends.  This study will provide the foundation for future exciting research.

year: 2019

title: Fish biomass and gonad development in the Rotopiko (Serpentine) lakes

authors: Wu, Nicholas

abstract: The Rotopiko (Serpentine) lake complex is one of the Waikato region’s few peat lake systems that contains primarily native aquatic plants. Retaining the natural state of the lakes has been considered a high priority by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and extensive efforts have taken place to prevent nutrient leaching and to control invasive organisms in the lakes. The University of Waikato was contracted to investigate the biomass of introduced and native fish in the Rotopiko lakes in order to determine if the fish removal with rotenone, a chemical piscicide, was required as proposed by DOC. Fish were collected using a variety of traps and nets prior to marking and release. Following a dispersal period, each lake was then fished a second time and fish biomass was estimated using a capture-mark-release-recapture study design; population estimates were derived using the Lincoln-Petersen method (Nichols 1992) Overall, there was low observed invasive fish biomass (1.37 kg ha-1) and comparatively high native fish (31.9 kg ha-1) biomass in the Rotopiko lakes. The introduced brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) had the highest biomass and the native shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) was the species with the highest biomass. Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) are considered the main threat to the aquatic macrophyte community in the Rotopiko lakes, but no rudd were captured during this study. In comparison, rudd were successfully captured using pod traps in Lake Kaituna (mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) 18 fish net-1 night-1) at similar water temperatures to those in the Rotopiko lakes. It was therefore concluded that rudd are at very low biomass in the Rotopiko lakes based on the results of this and previous netting surveys. Based on the low estimated invasive fish biomass (< 2.5 kg ha-1) from mark-recapture data, factors other than invasive fish seem to be responsible for influencing the loss of water quality in the Rotopiko lakes. Treating the lakes with rotenone is not likely to dramatically improve water quality or macrophyte regeneration and would eliminate the native fish community, requiring restocking of native species into the lakes. The current invasive fish reduction programme appears to be sufficient to keep the invasive fish population in check. In addition, implementing both human and physical barriers to prevent future invasions of additional invasive species would be highly recommended. These barriers should include limiting human access and blocking the lake outlet with a fish barrier to restrict movement of invasive species into the lake while allowing passage of native species. Monitoring of sediment and nutrients inputs from inflows to the Rotopiko lakes is currently being conducted by the University of Waikato as part of a contracted research for the Waikato Regional Council; this research may provide insights into the causes of the declining lake water quality.

text: Fish biomass and gonad development in the Rotopiko (Serpentine) lakes The Rotopiko (Serpentine) lake complex is one of the Waikato region’s few peat lake systems that contains primarily native aquatic plants. Retaining the natural state of the lakes has been considered a high priority by the Department of Conservation (DOC) and extensive efforts have taken place to prevent nutrient leaching and to control invasive organisms in the lakes. The University of Waikato was contracted to investigate the biomass of introduced and native fish in the Rotopiko lakes in order to determine if the fish removal with rotenone, a chemical piscicide, was required as proposed by DOC. Fish were collected using a variety of traps and nets prior to marking and release. Following a dispersal period, each lake was then fished a second time and fish biomass was estimated using a capture-mark-release-recapture study design; population estimates were derived using the Lincoln-Petersen method (Nichols 1992) Overall, there was low observed invasive fish biomass (1.37 kg ha-1) and comparatively high native fish (31.9 kg ha-1) biomass in the Rotopiko lakes. The introduced brown bullhead catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) had the highest biomass and the native shortfin eel (Anguilla australis) was the species with the highest biomass. Rudd (Scardinius erythrophthalmus) are considered the main threat to the aquatic macrophyte community in the Rotopiko lakes, but no rudd were captured during this study. In comparison, rudd were successfully captured using pod traps in Lake Kaituna (mean catch per unit effort (CPUE) 18 fish net-1 night-1) at similar water temperatures to those in the Rotopiko lakes. It was therefore concluded that rudd are at very low biomass in the Rotopiko lakes based on the results of this and previous netting surveys. Based on the low estimated invasive fish biomass (< 2.5 kg ha-1) from mark-recapture data, factors other than invasive fish seem to be responsible for influencing the loss of water quality in the Rotopiko lakes. Treating the lakes with rotenone is not likely to dramatically improve water quality or macrophyte regeneration and would eliminate the native fish community, requiring restocking of native species into the lakes. The current invasive fish reduction programme appears to be sufficient to keep the invasive fish population in check. In addition, implementing both human and physical barriers to prevent future invasions of additional invasive species would be highly recommended. These barriers should include limiting human access and blocking the lake outlet with a fish barrier to restrict movement of invasive species into the lake while allowing passage of native species. Monitoring of sediment and nutrients inputs from inflows to the Rotopiko lakes is currently being conducted by the University of Waikato as part of a contracted research for the Waikato Regional Council; this research may provide insights into the causes of the declining lake water quality.

year: 2013

title: Characteristics and outcomes of patients with small cell lung cancer - findings from a New Zealand SACT database

authors: Lawrenson, Ross

abstract: Background Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) SCLC generally presents late and is treated with systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT). Māori are over represented in Lung Cancer statistics but disparities between Māori and non-Māori in patterns of care and survival from SCLC have not been previously reported. 
Methods We used the custom-built SACT database collected by the Oncology Department at Waikato Hospital NZ, which recorded comprehensive lung cancer patient factors and SACT regimens from 2000 to 2021. We reported summary statistics to review the treatment by ethnicity, explored Kaplan Meier all-cause survival of patients, and estimated the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of surviving 12 months. 
Results 742 patients with SCLC were included in this study, with 43% identified as Māori. Approximately 75% of patients received SACT, and there was no difference in the uptake of SACT between Māori and non-Māori. The median survival for SCLC was 8.5 months. After adjustment, patients treated with carboplatin plus etoposide (with/without durvalumab) or cisplatin plus etoposide were 1.5 times or 4.9 times respectively more likely to survive 12 months than those without a SACT regimen.
Conclusion There was no significant evidence of disparities in patterns of care and outcomes between Māori and non-Māori with SCLC. Carboplatin/cisplatin in combination with etoposide remained the primary first line SACT regimen for patients with SCLC in this New Zealand cancer treatment centre.

text: Characteristics and outcomes of patients with small cell lung cancer - findings from a New Zealand SACT database Background Small Cell Lung Cancer (SCLC) SCLC generally presents late and is treated with systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT). Māori are over represented in Lung Cancer statistics but disparities between Māori and non-Māori in patterns of care and survival from SCLC have not been previously reported. 
Methods We used the custom-built SACT database collected by the Oncology Department at Waikato Hospital NZ, which recorded comprehensive lung cancer patient factors and SACT regimens from 2000 to 2021. We reported summary statistics to review the treatment by ethnicity, explored Kaplan Meier all-cause survival of patients, and estimated the unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of surviving 12 months. 
Results 742 patients with SCLC were included in this study, with 43% identified as Māori. Approximately 75% of patients received SACT, and there was no difference in the uptake of SACT between Māori and non-Māori. The median survival for SCLC was 8.5 months. After adjustment, patients treated with carboplatin plus etoposide (with/without durvalumab) or cisplatin plus etoposide were 1.5 times or 4.9 times respectively more likely to survive 12 months than those without a SACT regimen.
Conclusion There was no significant evidence of disparities in patterns of care and outcomes between Māori and non-Māori with SCLC. Carboplatin/cisplatin in combination with etoposide remained the primary first line SACT regimen for patients with SCLC in this New Zealand cancer treatment centre.

year: 2023-02-10