Effect of Cross-Cultural Competences on Adaptive Performance among United Nations Peacebuilding Practitioners

Given the complexity and challenging nature of environments in which peacebuilding practitioners operate, their Cross-Cultural Competences (CCCs) are very crucial for them to effectively adapt and function in foreign countries. The ability to effectively maintain positive interactions with local people is so vital that the overall success of a peacebuilding mission is every so often considerably affected by it. Therefore, in order to gain an understanding on how peacebuilding practitioners successfully navigate in local culture and achieve successful performance in competitive environments, adaptability is an essential measure of their performance to be analyzed. Despite heightened interest by both scholars and practitioners in studying and better understanding the importance of expatriate adjustment, limited research has so far been conducted on adaptive performance in United Nations peacebuilding context. A review of the literature in this regard revealed a research gap that culminated in the following research question: What is the influence of Cross-Cultural Competence (CCC) on Adaptive Performance (AP) in United Nations missions? Hence, an empirical study of 100 staff members of the Integrated Peacebuilding Mission in Guinea-Bissau was designed to answer this research question.