Publication Type

PhD Dissertation

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

5-2026

Abstract

This dissertation examines how AI, as a culturally embedded agent, influences human perception and psychological response across different contexts. First, I establish the cultural foundation by examining how Western- and non-Western-developed AI models represent distinct cultural signals in the form of cultural intelligence (CQ) – the capability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings. AI’s internal representation of CQ (i.e., AI-generated output when prompted to reflect its own cultural competence) reveal a clear decoupling of CQ dimensions, with no consistent cultural pattern. In contrast, user perceptions reveal clear cultural differentiation, showing that evaluations across AI’s four CQ dimensions are systematically shaped by Human-AI cultural alignment. These findings indicate that rather than reflecting internal representation of cultural competence, AI CQ appears to emerge as a user-driven attribution which is systematically shaped by Human-AI cultural alignment. Then, I examine how AI’s psychological impact varies across task context (creative vs. non-creative), focusing on whether working with AI shifts users’ assessment of their own creative ability (i.e., creative mindset). Results show that AI accentuates a creativity-specific fixed mindset in creative tasks but produces the opposite effect in non-creative tasks. Finally, integrating the above insights, I examined the perceptions of AI CQ and their effects on creative mindset in intercultural Human-AI collaboration. Field evidence shows that higher perceived AI CQ is associated with stronger creativity‑specific fixed mindset. Moreover, higher-CQ users mitigate the positive effect of perceived AI CQ on creativity-specific fixed mindset, whereas lower-CQ users amplify the effect. This interactive pattern appears more pronounced under Human-AI cultural misalignment than alignment. However, the reduction in creativity-specific fixed mindset did not translate into higher creative performance in Human-AI collaboration, although the effect is in the expected direction. Together, these findings suggest that AI does not just augment human creativity but also reshape how users perceive their own creative ability, and that this psychological shift is contingent on the cultural signals embedded in the AI.

Keywords

Cultural Intelligence, Human-AI collaboration, Creativity, Culture

Degree Awarded

PhD in Business (OBHR)

Discipline

Industrial and Organizational Psychology | Organizational Behavior and Theory | Social Psychology

Supervisor(s)

CHUA, Yong Joo

First Page

1

Last Page

95

Publisher

Singapore Management University

City or Country

Singapore

Copyright Owner and License

Author

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