Reexamining social intelligence, emotional intelligence, and cultural intelligence, for congruence and divergence: does social intelligence still exist?

In this chapter, we reexamine the relationships among social intelligence (SI), emotional intelligence (EQ), and cultural intelligence (CQ) from a new perspective. Questions remain about their uniqueness, despite substantial research on each in recent decades. Specifically, a lack of clarity in how they relate to each other is still prevalent in the literature. Additionally, international business researchers recently noted within-country cultural heterogeneity as important to consider in scholarly research. Thus, prompting us to reconsider our conceptualization of culture and necessitating a reevaluation of the conceptualization of these intelligences. After a thorough examination of each type of intelligence individually, we explore the literature on each in conjunction with one another and from this new perspective on culture. Ultimately, we conclude that it is time to retire the original conceptualization of social intelligence, as both emotional intelligence and cultural intelligence are more precise and current in our globalized world.