The Mediating Effect of Teamwork Attitude Between Cultural Intelligence and Teamwork Cognition in Nursing Students

AIM: This study aims to examine the relationships among cultural intelligence, teamwork cognition and teamwork attitude, which are deep-seated factors influencing teamwork among nursing students. DESIGN: This was a cross-sectional survey study. METHODS: Convenient sampling was used to select 301 nursing students from a nursing college in Shanghai for this investigation. The data collection utilized a self-made general information questionnaire, cultural intelligence scale, teamwork attitude scale and teamwork cognition scale. Statistical methods such as t-tests, Pearson correlation analysis and structural equation modeling were employed for the analysis of the mediating effects. RESULTS: The scores for nursing students were (4.45 ± 0.79) for cultural intelligence, (3.84 ± 0.78) for teamwork attitude and (3.85 ± 0.63) for teamwork cognition. Cultural intelligence showed a positive correlation with both teamwork cognition and attitude (r = 0.639, 0.507, both p < 0.01). Teamwork attitude partially mediated the association between cultural intelligence and teamwork cognition (β = 0.42, p < 0.01), with direct and indirect effects of 0.32 and 0.42, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Cultural intelligence was positively associated with teamwork cognition among nursing students, and teamwork attitude may partially mediate this association. These findings suggest that strengthening cultural intelligence and teamwork attitude may support teamwork cognition in nursing education. However, because of the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as correlational rather than causal. No Patient or Public Contribution.