Cultural Intelligence, Social Support, and Work Wellbeing among International Teachers in Thai Universities: The Mediating Effect of Psychological Adaptation

Abstract

Ensuring the wellbeing of international teachers is essential for the success of internationalization in higher education; however, research examining the role of various factors in Thailand remains limited. Grounded in the person – environment (P – E) interactionist theories, this research aimed to examine the mediating role of psychological adaptation (PA) on the relationship between cultural intelligence, social support, and work wellbeing among international teachers in Thai universities. A cross-sectional design was used to examine the hypothesized pathways. Furthermore, qualitative questions were designed to probe issues related to adaptation in Thailand. Snowball sampling was used to collect data from 109 international teachers from 28 countries who had worked for more than 6 months in various Thai universities. The results demonstrated significant positive relationships among the study variables, with the exception of personal support and PA. Furthermore, PA mediated the link between cultural intelligence, partially mediated the link with organizational support, but did not mediate the link with personal support and the outcome of work wellbeing. Additional qualitative analysis of respondents’ written answers identified six themes each for adaptation facilitators and challenges in Thailand, clustered according to P-E theory. The findings of this research underscore the critical mechanism of PA for wellbeing of expatriate teachers. Moreover, it is recommended that higher education administrators and policymakers develop targeted strategies and interventions aimed at enhancing cultural intelligence at the individual-level, and strengthening social support at the organizational-level. These could promote adaptation and wellbeing of foreign teachers, and thereby promote sustainable internationalization of higher education.