Purpose This study examines how the four dimensions of cultural intelligence (behavioral, cognitive, metacognitive, and motivational) are associated with export performance and clarifies the mechanism through which these effects materialize. Specifically, it investigates customer experience quality as an organizational capability that mediates the relationship between managerial cultural intelligence and firm-level export outcomes in culturally diverse markets. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were collected from 484 export managers operating in cross-border business contexts. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed to examine direct and indirect relationships between cultural intelligence, customer experience quality, and three dimensions of export performance: financial performance, strategic export performance, and satisfaction with export decisions. Findings The results reveal a differentiated pattern of effects across cultural intelligence dimensions. Motivational cultural intelligence shows consistent direct associations with export performance, whereas cognitive, metacognitive, and behavioral cultural intelligence contribute to performance primarily through customer experience quality. In particular, cognitive and metacognitive cultural intelligence are associated with experiential dimensions such as peace of mind and moments-of-truth, while behavioral cultural intelligence enhances performance only when embedded within experience-related organizational routines. Overall, customer experience quality emerges as a capability-based deployment mechanism through which individual-level cultural intelligence is translated into firm-level export outcomes. Research limitations/implications The study relies on cross-sectional, single-source data collected from Italian export managers, which constrains causal inference and raises potential concerns related to endogeneity and response bias. In addition, the country-specific context limits the generalizability of the findings. Nevertheless, the study offers actionable insights by showing how firms can strategically leverage cultural intelligence through customer experience design to enhance export performance in culturally diverse markets. Originality/value This study advances international marketing and export performance research by disaggregating cultural intelligence into its core dimensions and demonstrating that its performance effects are contingent on organizational capability deployment. By conceptualizing customer experience quality as a dynamic organizational capability rather than an outcome, the study offers a capability-based explanation of how cultural intelligence generates competitive advantage in export markets.
Nasta et al. (2026) studied this question.