Social Intelligence and Cultural Intelligence as Predictors of National Identity among Undergraduate Public University Students of Ethiopia
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Date
2025-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
This study aimed to examine whether national identity (NI) is influenced by social intelligence (SI) and cultural intelligence (CQ) in the university setting of Ethiopia, targeting senior undergraduate students. It was conducted in two phases: a pilot study and a main study. The pilot study primarily focused on validating the psychometric properties of the instruments used to measure the constructs. Senior students (n = 343) enrolled in full-time undergraduate programs at DDU and WU participated in this phase. By employing exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), the factor structure, relationships between observed and latent variables, model fit, reliability, and validity were examined. Measurement invariance (MI) between the Amharic and English versions of the NI measure was assessed to ensure that the translated version conveyed the same meaning as the original MEIM and to determine which version was more suitable for use in the main study. A total of 286 participants were assigned to the English version group. The assumptions of MI were met. The pilot study results demonstrated that the Amharic versions of the tools were both reliable and valid for measuring the constructs among public university students. In the main study, 441 students were randomly selected from four universities—ASTU, DDU, WkU, and WU—and participated in the research. The validated instruments were used to collect the data. Pearson correlation analysis was employed to explore the degree of association between the variables and to verify the existence of linear relationships prior to testing the predictive model. Social intelligence was found to be positively correlated with NI (r = .49, p < .01), and CQ was also positively correlated with NI (r = .58, p < .01), indicating that students with higher SI and CQ are likely to possess a stronger sense of NI. Additionally, SI was positively correlated with CQ (r = .72, p < .01), suggesting that students with greater SI may also exhibit higher CQ. The extent to which the key predictor variables contributed to NI, after controlling for demographic variables, was also examined. The overall model was statistically significant, F(7, 393) = 99.604, p < .05. However, the demographic variables did not significantly predict NI, F(5, 395) = 1.903, p > .05. Cultural intelligence demonstrated greater predictive power (β = .448, t = 7.620, p < .001) compared to SI (β = .164, t = 2.785, p < .01). This study introduced a new framework of inquiry, revealing that both SI and CQ significantly influence NI. The findings highlight the need for researchers and stakeholders to pay greater attention to this issue, both to advance social-cognitive studies and to foster unity and peaceful coexistence.
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examine whether national identity