Empowering IT expatriates: Unleashing the synergy of psychological capital, cultural intelligence, cross-cultural adjustment, and organizational citizenship behavior in a globalized tech frontier
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Grounded in Conservation of Resources theory, this study examines how psychological capital influences organizational citizenship behavior among Vietnamese IT expatriates in Taiwan, focusing on the mediating role of cross-cultural adjustment and the moderating influence of cultural intelligence. Survey data from 500 participants were analyzed using PROCESS Macro and AMOS. The results show that hope, self-efficacy, and optimism significantly predict cross-cultural adjustment, whereas resilience does not. All psychological capital dimensions positively predict organizational citizenship behavior, and cross-cultural adjustment partially mediates these relationships, indicating that psychological resources promote discretionary behaviors more effectively when expatriates achieve cultural ease. Cultural intelligence significantly strengthens the psychological capital, cross-cultural adjustment link, with the strongest effects observed for self-efficacy and optimism, highlighting the importance of cultural capability in resource deployment. This study advances expatriate research by integrating psychological capital, cross-cultural adjustment, cultural intelligence, and organizational citizenship behavior into a unified model within an East Asian technology context. Practical implications include developing psychological capital-cultural intelligence training, enhancing intercultural onboarding practices, and supporting migrant professional networks to improve expatriate retention and performance.