Opinions of High School Principals on Their Cultural Intelligence

This study aims to determine the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence levels, to determine the activities of these principals to increase their cultural intelligence levels, the advantages of their having a high level of cultural intelligence, the factors that prevent them from increasing their cultural intelligence levels, and their suggestions to increase their cultural intelligence levels. The data obtained from the interview forms were analyzed by the content analysis method. The findings were organized and presented under themes and sub-themes. The study group of the research consisted of 40 school principals working in Mersin central districts in the 2020-2021 academic years. According to the study results; most of the participants stated that they had a high level of cultural intelligence while some participants stated that they had a low level of cultural intelligence. Regarding the activities to increase their level of cultural intelligence, principals stated that they did activities such as increasing their knowledge, going abroad, and developing social relations. The principals expressed three different opinions on the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence: organizational advantages, professional advantages, and individual advantages. It was determined that factors preventing principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels were factors unrelated to principal and factors related to principal. The principals expressed two different opinions on what could be done to increase their cultural intelligence levels: The things to be done by the superiors and the things to be done the principal.


Introduction
In the 21st century, in which the competition is rapidly increasing, cultural intelligence is an important element for organizations to reach their goals, increase their productivity and grow. Cultural intelligence is an important building block for principals to act effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity, adapt to new cultural environments, communicate with people from different cultures, and create cultural synergies (Ang et al., 2015). It is, therefore, of vital importance for organizations that managers have cultural intelligence. Having a high level of cultural intelligence enables managers to adapt easily to working conditions abroad, to carry out successful projects with foreign organizations and employees from different cultures, to ensure that customers from different cultures are more satisfied with the service provided, and employees from different cultures are satisfied with their jobs. Consequently, a culturally intelligent organization that can overcome cultural differences, turn them into opportunities, keep its employees in the organization, maintain its existence effectively, adapt quickly to changing situations, and carry out successful projects is formed (Ang & Inkpen, 2008;Chen, 2013).
In today's globalizing world, the similarities between societies have increased due to technology, popular culture, and mass media. However, cultural differences and cultural diversity present significant challenges and difficulties to people all over the world. That is because, at a deeper level, people around the world have significantly different cultural programming, like operating-level computers (Chen et al., 2012). When the differences between cultures are ignored, results such as costly bills, inefficiency, and poor performance can be seen in the business world. Therefore, managers in every professional field are driven towards culturally rich and diverse challenges. Today's managers can easily encounter 15 different cultural contexts in one day (Thomas & Inkson, 2009). A much higher degree of compatibility is needed to work in all cultures encountered. Without the ability to adapt to an increasing number of cultures, leaders and their organizations often become inefficient, their ability to react to situational events weakens, and they drift into entropy. Many modern jobs require the employees to have high levels of cultural awareness. This involves the ability to work and interact with people from different cultures. Such an interaction can be difficult for individuals and organizations because cultural barriers often cause misunderstandings and conflicts that reduce effective and productive interactions (Gelfand et al., 2001;Takeuchi et al., 2002). Cultural intelligence enables managers to overcome these cultural challenges they face.
Cultural intelligence, which helps managers successfully manage cultural differences, means the ability of an individual to communicate, act and be successful in culturally diverse environments (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008). According to another definition, cultural intelligence is the ability of an individual to act and behave effectively in situations characterized by cultural diversity (Livermore, 2011). Cultural intelligence consists of 4 dimensions: metacognitive cultural intelligence, cognitive cultural intelligence, motivational cultural intelligence, and behavioral cultural intelligence (Earley & Ang, 2003).
The first of these dimensions is metacognitive cultural intelligence. Metacognitive cultural intelligence refers to an individual's conscious cultural awareness through mutual cultural interactions. People with strong metacognitive cultural intelligence question their cultural assumptions, think through interactions, and adjust their cultural knowledge when interacting with people from other cultures. Metacognitive cultural intelligence focuses on upperlevel cognitive processes and enhances deeper-level information processing (Aksoy, 2015;Earley & Ang, 2003;Flavell, 1979;Nelson, 1996).
Cognitive cultural intelligence, on the other hand, is individual knowledge and knowledge structures. Cognitive cultural intelligence reflects knowledge of norms, practices, and customs in different cultures derived from education and personal experience. The cognitive factor of cultural intelligence, therefore, reflects the individual's level of cultural knowledge Ng et al., 2009).
Unlike metacognitive and cognitive cultural intelligence, motivational cultural intelligence reflects the ability to direct attention and energy to learn about and act on situations characterized by cultural differences (Crowne, 2009;Earley & Mosakowski, 2004). According to Kanfer and Heggestad (1997), such motivational capacities provide the control of emotion, cognition, and behavior that ensures goal achievement. Motivational cultural intelligence is a critical element of cultural intelligence, because it initiates the effort and energy directed towards acting in new cultural environments (Thomas & Inkson, 2017).
As a result of the interaction between metacognitive, cognitive, and motivational cultural intelligence, behavioral cultural intelligence emerges. Behavioral cultural intelligence reflects the ability to demonstrate appropriate verbal and nonverbal actions when interacting with people from different cultures (Earley et al., 2006). Behavioral cultural intelligence is a critical element of cultural intelligence because verbal and nonverbal behaviors are salient features of social interactions.
There are many advantages of cultural intelligence, the dimensions of which are given above, to managers in organizational management (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008;Peterson, 2004). Cultural intelligence minimizes the disadvantages of cultural differences while maximizing the benefits of these differences. Cultural intelligence enables today's managers to cope with the multitude of cultural situations they face because it includes the skill sets needed by managers in every field (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008;Oolders et al., 2008). Cultural intelligence proposes an effective and satisfying way in culture-related contexts. Rather than waiting to best learn all the norms of the various cultures faced, cultural intelligence offers a holistic repertoire and perspective that result in more effective leadership (Ang et al., 2007;Livermore, 2011). According to many studies in the field of cultural intelligence, organizations, and leaders who prioritize cultural intelligence tend to achieve their mission more. Studies also reveal that managers' cultural intelligence are related to or predict variables that are directly or indirectly related to organizational productivity. These studies have concluded that cultural intelligence has a positive relationship with job satisfaction while it has a negative relationship with the intention to leave the job (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008;Mumau, 2013;Nilsson & Truong, 2012;Noreke & Wirödal, 2012).
As in all organizations working in foreign countries, cultural intelligence is important for the administrators of educational organizations, especially for school principals who are the official leaders of schools because many educational organizations operate outside their own country. For example, the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in Turkey promotes, disseminates, and preserves Turkish culture abroad, protects and strengthens the cultural ties of Turkish citizens abroad, teaches the Turkish language, and provides training to citizens outside the country through General Directorate of European Union and Foreign Relations Department (Council of Ministers, 2003). The Ministry of National Education assigns school administrators, who have the status of civil servants, as both principals and teachers to these schools in many countries around the world. The qualifications of these principals determine the success and efficiency of the MoNE organization abroad. Like all managers and employees, these principals must have a high level of cultural intelligence to quickly overcome the culture shock and ensure acculturation in the countries where they are appointed. However, there is no criterion regarding the high level of cultural intelligence for appointments abroad (Council of Ministers, 2003). Additionally, many schools affiliated with MoNE participate in Erasmus Plus Programs run by the European National Agency. In these projects, the school principals represent the school and they need cultural intelligence when interacting with the project partners and officials from different countries abroad. In order for these projects to be successful and for our country to have a positive image, school principals must have a high level of cultural intelligence.
Cultural intelligence is of interest not only to school principals assigned and working abroad but also to school principals working in Turkey. That is because foreign-based migration, one of the most important problems of the 21st century, has caused refugees (asylum seekers) from different countries and different cultures to come to Turkey (Nurdogan et al., 2016). As in the rest of the world, the children of these refugee parents go to school. Ensuring the adaptation of these students to the school culture, ensuring their academic success, and communicating effectively with their parents also require school principals to have a high level of cultural intelligence (Yasar, 2021).
The necessity for school administrators to have high cultural intelligence within the country is also related to the relations between the school principal and the teachers in the school, as well as the population coming from abroad. School administrators and teachers, who are educators, are born into a culture like all people. Factors such as the education level, socio-economic level, worldview of their families, and their place of birth shape their culture. They are programmed according to the culture of the place where they were born and raised (Bourdieu, 1986;Hofstede & Hofstede, 2005). They adopt the customs and traditions of the relevant place. Over time, these customs and traditions shape their behaviors and determine their outlook on life, working orders, decision-making styles, productivity, perspectives on the organization they work for and their managers, briefly everything about them (Peterson, 2004). In other words, as employees, they carry this culture to all the institutions they work, including educational organizations. In order for teachers to be satisfied with their jobs and to show high commitment to their organizations, school principals who can eliminate the negative effects of these cultural differences, who benefit from these differences for organizational efficiency and employees' well-being, and who create a cultural synergy are needed (Thomas & Inkson, 2009).
In educational sciences literature in the world, the concept of cultural intelligence of school administrators is a very original concept. There are a limited number of studies on this concept in the literature in Turkey (Goksoy, 2016). No qualitative research has been found in Turkey that examines school principals' opinions on their cultural intelligence levels. School principals need to exhibit appropriate behaviors and attitudes in order to be successful in their interactions with individuals from different cultures, both at home and abroad. Therefore, the cultural intelligence levels of school principals are of capital importance. The findings of this research can be used to enable school principals to adapt to today's globalization phenomenon and rapidly changing conditions and to introduce new leadership practices for productivity. It is thought that this study will make important contributions to the organizational psychology literature, both theoretically and practically.
This research aims to determine the opinions of high school principals about their cultural intelligence levels. This research also aims to reveal the activities of school principals to increase their cultural intelligence levels, the factors that prevent school principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels, the suggestions of school principals to increase their cultural intelligence level, and the advantages of having high cultural intelligence level to the school principal. For these purposes, answers to the following questions will be sought: 1-What are the school principals' opinions on their level of cultural intelligence? 2-What are the activities that school principals do to increase their cultural intelligence levels?
3-What are the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence for school principals? 4-What are the factors that prevent school principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels? 5-What are the suggestions of school principals to increase their cultural intelligence levels?

Research Design
This study used the phenomenological method, one of the qualitative research methods. In the phenomenological method, the researcher determines the appropriateness of the method in line with the research problem and gives a detailed meaning to the phenomenon through a problem in which it is important to understand prevalent or common experiences about a phenomenon (Creswell, 2014;Lichtman, 2006). This method is an interview-preferred data collection method to obtain the basic structure or truth underlying the meaning of experience (Merriam, 2013).

Sample and Data Collection
The study group of the research consisted of 40 high school principals working in Mersin central districts in the spring semester of the 2020-2021 academic years. The study group of the research was determined by a systematic sampling technique, one of the probability-based sampling methods. Within the scope of the research, the schools where the high school principals worked were visited, and interviews were held with the principals on a voluntary basis. The data regarding the gender, education level, branches, and professional seniority of the principals forming the study group are given in Table 1. When the demographic characteristics of the participants in the research were examined; it was seen that 25 of the principals were male and 15 were female; 20 had undergraduate degrees and 20 had graduate degrees; 12 had professional seniority of 10-19 years, 13 had professional seniority of 20-29 years, 15 had professional seniority of 30 years or more; 12 were 30-39 years old, 13 were 40-49 years old, 15 were 50 years old and above; 10 had a branch in social sciences/humanities, 12 had a branch in natural sciences, 6 had a branch in special talents, 6 had a branch in guidance and 6 had a branch in religion.
Depending on the purposes of the research, interviews, which were one of the qualitative research techniques, were conducted with the school principals, and a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions was applied to the school principals. The data of the research were collected with the "Semi-Structured Interview Form" developed by the researcher. The semi-structured interview form questions used in the research were prepared and organized by reviewing the relevant literature on cultural intelligence and taking the opinions of experts who were two associate professors working at the department of educational administration, supervision, planning, and economy. An interview approach consisting of standardized open-ended questions was adopted in the preparation of the interview form. In this approach, the questions were carefully written in a certain order (Patton, 2002). In structured interviews, the interview is planned in advance, what kind of questions to be asked and what data to be collected are determined in advance in detail, and the determined interview plan is thus implemented (Lichtman, 2006;Yildirim & Simsek, 2011).
To increase the validity of the interview form, first of all, a pilot study was conducted with 3 school principals and the people who were pre-interviewed were not included in the study group. After the problems that emerged in the pilot study were identified and necessary corrections were made, the interview form was given its final form by taking expert opinions. Three experts in the field were consulted at the same time and feedback on the content validity of the interview form was obtained and the validity of the interview form was tried to be increased. Internal validity was ensured by looking at the consistency, meaningfulness of the findings and their coherence with the previously created conceptual framework and theories. Before conducting the interview, the principals were given a 15-minute briefing about the purpose, importance of the study and the components, importance and effects of cultural intelligence. The interviews were conducted on a voluntary basis, when the principals were available. The interviews were detailed with probe questions when necessary. The answers given during the interviews were recorded in the interview forms.

Analyzing of Data
In the research, direct quotations were made from the opinions of the school principals participating in the interviews for internal reliability. However, the names of the principals were not included as an ethical requirement when commenting on the findings; codes such as M-1, M-2, that represented the principals were used. The data in the interview form were analyzed individually, and the categories were determined and reported. The content analysis technique was used in the analysis. Categorical and frequency analysis techniques were used in the content analysis (Kus, 2012;Yildirim & Simsek, 2011). The reliability of content analysis techniques is related to the reliability of coders and coding categories (Lichtman, 2006). To increase the reliability of the study, the identified categories and common themes were examined separately by two domain experts at Mersin University, who were experienced in qualitative research in addition to the researcher, then the researcher and these experts came together and the disagreement related to the common themes and codes determined were resolved and a high degree of common agreement on the themes and codes created was thus reached (Kumbetoglu, 2021;Yildirim & Simsek, 2011). Again, using the reliability formula suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994), the percentage of the agreement between the coders was calculated.
The reliability formula is stated as "Reliability = Agreement / (Agreement + Disagreement)". Accordingly, the agreement between the coders was found to be 81%. Thus inter-coder reliability was ensured because Miles and Huberman (1994) stated that it is acceptable to have an agreement above 70 % percent and above.

Findings / Results
In this section, the findings obtained from the research are summarized by making direct quotations from the opinions of the high school principals participating in the research. The high school principals were asked "At what level do you think your cultural intelligence is as a school principal?". Majority of the participants (n=28) answered that their cultural intelligence was at a high level, only a few of the participants (n=4) answered that their cultural intelligence was at a medium level. Some of the participants (n=8) responded that their cultural intelligence was at a low level.
The participants were asked the question "What do you do to increase your cultural intelligence level?". The themes, sub-themes, and codes obtained according to the answers from the participants are given in the table below. According to the Table-2, the principals expressed 4 different views on the activities carried out to raise their level of cultural intelligence: increasing their knowledge, going abroad, developing social relations, and participating in projects. Most of the principals (n=32) stated that they did activities related to increasing their knowledge to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals expressed that they did activities such as reading books about different cultures, reading foreign literary books, watching foreign movies, studying abroad, learning the history of other nations, learning a foreign language, and playing musical instruments from different cultures to increase their knowledge. More than half of the principals (n=25) stated that they did activities related to going abroad such as having a vacation abroad, working abroad, participating in sports activities abroad to improve their cultural intelligence levels. Half of the principals (n=20) pointed out that they did activities that develop their social relationships such as making friends from different countries and participating in the activities of international aid organizations to improve their cultural intelligence levels. Some of the principals (n=10) reported that they participated in projects to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals remarked that they took part in projects supported by European Union and sister school projects and projects in continents other than Europe.
In relation to Table-2, examples of quotations from the school principals regarding the activities they do to increase their cultural intelligence levels are given below. The participants were asked the question "What kind of advantages do you think having a high level of cultural intelligence provides for school principals?". The themes, sub-themes, and codes obtained according to the answers from the participants are given in the table below. Principals expressed three different views on the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence for the school principal: organizational advantages, professional advantages, and individual advantages. The majority of the principals (n=30) stated that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided organizational advantages to the school principal. These principals indicated that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with organizational advantages such as increase in the well-being of the employees, cultural synergy, positive school climate, increase in productivity, increase in the parents' satisfaction, increase in the personnel's job satisfaction, decrease in the conflicts and increase in the student's satisfaction. More than half of the principals (n=23) remarked that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with professional advantages such as increased job performance, increased job success, job fit, better decision making and intercultural leadership. Some of the principals (n=18) stated that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with individual advantages such as increased individual well-being, ensuring personal development, improved communication skills, being more flexible, decreased burnout, and quick adaptation to different cultures.
In relation to Table-3, examples of the quotations from the principals regarding the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence for the school principal are given below. The question "What do you think are the factors that prevent school principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels?" was asked to the participants. The themes, sub-themes and codes obtained according to the answers from the participants are given in the table below. Principals expressed two different views on the factors preventing principals from increasing their cultural intelligence. These factors were the factors unrelated to principal and the factors related to principal. Most of the principals (n=35) expressed the factors unrelated to the principal such as barriers resulting from the family, financial difficulties, environmental conditions and problems related to the education system. Half of the principals (n=20) expressed factors related to the principal such as inadequacy of academic knowledge, lack of desire for self-development, setting inappropriate goals and acting according to his own worldview.

"The high level of cultural intelligence of the school principal increases the personnel's well-being at work (M-3)". "The principal's high level of cultural intelligence creates a cultural synergy at school (M-31)". "This provides a positive school climate (M-24)". "It increases the satisfaction of parents and students, especially those emigrating from different countries
In relation to Table-4, examples of the quotations from the principals' opinions on the factors that prevent school principals from increasing their cultural intelligence levels are given below. The participants were asked the question "What do you think can be done to increase the cultural intelligence levels of school principals?". The themes, sub-themes, and codes obtained according to the answers from the participants are given in the table below. Principals expressed two different opinions on what can be done to increase the level of cultural intelligence: the things to be done by the superiors of the principals and the things to be done by the principal. Most of the principals (n=32) remarked that there were things to be done by their superiors such as rewarding, providing training, providing opportunities for travelling abroad, assigning foreign missions, assigning missions in different regions, and increasing the income level. Half of the principals (n=25) stated that there were things to be done by the principals such as being motivated, improving their knowledge, improving their skills, and increasing their cultural awareness.
Examples of quotations regarding the principals' opinions on what can be done to increase the cultural intelligence levels of principals are given below.

Discussion
This study aims to determine the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence levels, to determine the activities of these principals to increase their cultural intelligence levels, the factors that prevent them from increasing their cultural intelligence levels, the advantages of their having a high level of cultural intelligence and their suggestions to increase their cultural intelligence levels. First, the school principals' opinions on their cultural intelligence levels were analyzed. According to the results of the analysis, most of the participants stated that their cultural intelligences were at a high level, while only a few of the participants reported that their cultural intelligence was at a medium (average) level, and some of the participants pointed out that their cultural intelligence was at a low level. Goksoy (2016), who conducted a quantitative study on the cultural intelligence level of school principals, reached similar results with the results of this study. Goksoy (2016) found that the school principals' level of cultural intelligence was high and their levels of cognitive, motivational and behavioral intelligence were high while their metacognitive cultural intelligence was at a medium level. Additionally, in another quantitative research conducted by Yasar and Gokalp (2017), it was determined that middle school principals had medium (average) level of cultural intelligence. Yasar and Gokalp also discovered that school principals could not adequately perform metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral activities related to cultural intelligence. Moreover, the results of the quantitative research conducted by Gokalp et al. (2017) also supported the results of this research. Gokalp et al. concluded that middle school teachers had a moderate (average) level of cultural intelligence. Moreover, Cobanoglu (2021), who undertook a study on the cultural intelligence levels of teachers, determined that teachers' level of cultural intelligence was "generally high". Furthermore, in the study done by Sengul (2018) it was concluded the cultural intelligence levels of teacher candidates were high. As it can be seen in different studies (Akhal & Liu, 2019;Gezer & Sahin, 2017;Kozikoglu & Tosun, 2020;Licki & Van Der Walt, 2021) that achieved similar results, this result of the study is similar to the results of other studies in the field.
Regarding the activities to increase their level of cultural intelligence, the principals stated that they did activities such as increasing their knowledge, going abroad, developing social relations, and participating in projects. Most of the principals pointed out that they did activities related to increasing their knowledge to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals expressed that they did activities such as reading books about different cultures, reading a literary book by a foreign author, watching foreign movies, studying abroad, learning the history of other nations, learning a foreign language, and playing musical instruments from different cultures to increase their knowledge. More than half of the principals stated that they did activities related to going abroad such as having a vacation abroad, working abroad, participating in sports activities abroad to improve their cultural intelligence levels. Half of the principals pointed out that they did activities that developed their social relationships such as making friends from different countries and participating in the activities of international aid organizations to improve their cultural intelligence levels. Some of the principals reported that they participated in projects to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals remarked that they took part in projects supported by European Union and sister school projects and projects in continents other than Europe. When the literature is examined, many studies supporting the results of this study have been found. For example, Ang and Van Dyne (2008) determined that reading books about different cultures, learning a foreign language, and going abroad increased the cultural intelligence of individuals. Ergun and Guzel (2017) also found that reading books, living in cities having culturally different population, education, having interest in art and sport, going to the cinema and theatre positively influenced the participants' cultural intelligence. They also determined that the participants who read 15 or more books, who had bachelor's degree and who lived cites had higher levels of cultural intelligence than the participants who read less than 15 books, who had associate's degree and who lived in the towns. In the study undertaken by Gokten and Emil (2019), it was determined that participating in Erasmus Program had a statistically significant effect on all sub-dimensions of cultural intelligence. Besides, the results of the present study are partially in line with Zapata's (2011) study, suggesting that one of the most effective ways to develop intercultural abilities is to engage in face to face interactions with people from other cultures. Additionally, a study done by Robledo-Ardila et al. (2016) in Colombia with undergraduate students demonstrated that second language proficiency and extracurricular activities caused a significant enhancement in cultural intelligence of participants. The results of this research are also confirmed by the research conducted by Kurpis and Hunter (2017). Kurpis and Hunter determined that the education based on intercultural experience was positively related with all of the dimensions of cultural intelligence except metacognitive cultural intelligence while working and travel based on intercultural experience were positively related with all of the dimensions of cultural intelligence. Similarly, Schwarzenthal et al. (2017) found that engaging in intercultural contact (learning about others) were positively related to higher cultural intelligence among participants. Moreover, Shu et al. (2017) also found that intercultural activities were positively related to cultural intelligence. Furthermore, Yasar and Gokalp (2017) concluded that the principals' cultural intelligence levels increased as the number of foreign languages that the principals knew and the number of foreign countries they went to increased. As a result, it can be said that the results of this study are strongly supported by the results of other studies in the literature (Abaslı & Polat, 2019;Earley & Ang, 2003;Kement et al., 2019).
The principals expressed three different opinions on the advantages of having a high level of cultural intelligence for the school principal. These advantages were organizational advantages, professional advantages, and individual advantages. Most of the principals stated that high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with organizational advantages such as increase in personnel's well-being, cultural synergy, positive school climate, increase in productivity, increase in parents' satisfaction, increase in job satisfaction of the employees, reduction in conflicts and increase in student's satisfaction. More than half of the principals remarked that a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with professional advantages such as increased job performance, increased job success, job fit, better decision making and intercultural leadership. Some of the principals stated that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with individual advantages such as increased individual well-being, ensuring personal development, improved communication skills, being more flexible, decreased burnout, and quick adaptation to different cultures. When the literature is examined, many studies supporting the results of this study have been found. For example, Licki and Van Der Walt (2021) found that perceived cultural intelligence of principals had a positive relationship with teachers' job satisfaction and reliance-based trust Similarly, In Akhal and Liu's study (2019), it was found that managers' cultural intelligence positively affected the workers' intercultural adaptation and thus reduced their turnover intentions. Again, Barakat et al. (2016) determined that the global managers' high levels of cultural intelligence affected their own job performance and job satisfaction positively and significantly. Besides, Celik and Eflatun (2020) determined that cognitive cultural intelligence significantly predicted social communication skills, environmental communication skills and business performance skills, which were sub-dimensions of socio-cultural adaptation. Additionally, Solomon and Steyn (2017) determined that cultural intelligence of the managers, who were leaders, was found to have a strong relationship with empowering leadership. Moreover, Simsek and Ozturk (2018) determined that there was positive and strong relationship between the metacognitive and cognitive cultural intelligence of the managers and transformative leadership. Furthermore, when the literature was analyzed, it was seen that cultural intelligence was positively related to leaders' ability to work and adapt in intercultural environment (Oolders et al., 2008), work adjustment, task performance, decision-making skills (Ang et al., 2015;Templer et al., 2006) while it reduced workplace conflict and burnout caused by managing in intercultural situations (Ang & Van Dyne, 2008;Lugo, 2007;Tay et al., 2008). Consequently, it can be said that studies in the literature support the results of this research.
Principals expressed two different views on the factors preventing principals from increasing their cultural intelligence. These factors were the factors unrelated to principal and the factors related to principal. Most of the principals expressed the factors unrelated to the principal such as barriers resulting from the family, financial difficulties, environmental conditions and problems related to the education system. Half of the principals expressed factors related to principal such as inadequacy of academic knowledge, lack of desire for self-development, setting inappropriate goals and acting according to his own worldview. When the literature is examined, many studies supporting the results of this study have been found. For example, A study conducted by Thomas and Inkson (2017) revealed that the intercultural failures and the inability to develop cultural intelligence were caused by being unaware of cultural biases, not making sense of one's behavior, and experiencing culture shock. Besides Nel et al. (2018) discovered that participants' religious identity was negatively related to cognitive cultural intelligence and it influenced cognitive cultural intelligence negatively. Additionally, Hu et al. (2017) determined that conflicts resulting from relationship and duties negatively influenced the development of cultural intelligence. Brooks (2017) also reported that ethnocentrism, some personal traits such as introversion, low levels of openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness prevented the development of cultural intelligence. Moreover, the studies of Ang et al. (2006) and Livermore (2011) determined that individual factors such as personality traits (extraversion, harmoniousness, responsibility, emotional balance, openness to experience) affected the individual's cultural intelligence level positively or negatively. Additionally, Ang and Van Dyne (2008) reported that the reasons such as lack of desire for self-development and setting inappropriate goals were related to the motivational cultural intelligence of the individual. In sum, it can be said that studies in the literature support the results of this research.
Principals expressed two different opinions on what can be done to increase the level of cultural intelligence: the things to be done by the superiors of the principals and the things to be done by the principal. Most of the principals remarked that there were things to be done by their superiors such as rewarding, providing training, providing opportunities for travelling abroad, assigning foreign missions, assigning missions in different regions, and increasing the income level. Half of the principals stated that there were things to be done by the principals such as being motivated, improving their knowledge, improving their skills, and raising their cultural awareness. When the literature is analyzed, some studies that provide suggestions for increasing cultural intelligence have been found. In his research, Cobanoglu (2021) suggested providing the teachers with information about different cultures, ensuring that they understand the differences, and creating motivation for learning different cultures. Besides, Goksoy (2016) suggested that cultural intelligence levels of administrators who will be assigned to administrative roles in educational organizations should be taken into consideration. Additionally, Kozikoglu and Tosun (2020) suggested that the activities and courses should be added to teacher training curriculum in order to support the intercultural communication, development of awareness for different cultures and learning about the different cultures. Yasar and Gokalp also recommended that the school principals should be provided opportunities for learning foreign languages and financial support for their having holiday abroad. Moreover, Thomas and Inkson (2017) recommended that an individual should read foreign books, watch foreign movies, make friends from foreign countries and use social media to develop his knowledge about different cultures. Brooks (2017) also suggested that the employees should be assigned to mission abroad temporarily. Again, the study by Tay et al. (2008) supports the result of this research. Tay et al. (2008) found that educational level was positively related to cultural intelligence. Furthermore, Ang and Van Dyne (2008) found that working or living in a foreign country for a temporary period provided opportunities for intense experiential learning that could increase cultural intelligence.

Conclusion
There is no qualitative research conducted in Turkey to determine the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence. Therefore, it is important to analyze the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence. This study aimed to determine the opinions of high school principals on their cultural intelligence levels, their activities to increase their cultural intelligence levels, advantages of their having high cultural intelligence level, the factors that prevent them from increasing their cultural intelligence levels and their suggestions for increasing their cultural intelligence levels. The following results were obtained from the study: (1) Most of the participants answered that their cultural intelligence was at a high level, while only a few of the participants answered that their cultural intelligence was at a medium level, and some participants answered that their cultural intelligence was at a low level.
(2) Most of the principals pointed out that they did activities related to increasing their knowledge to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals expressed that they did activities such as reading books about different cultures, reading a literary book by a foreign author, watching foreign movies, studying abroad, learning the history of other nations, learning a foreign language, and playing musical instruments from different cultures to increase their knowledge. More than half of the principals stated that they did activities related to going abroad such as having a vacation abroad, working abroad, participating in sports activities abroad to improve their cultural intelligence levels. Half of the principals pointed out that they did activities that improve their social relationships such as making friends from different countries and participating in the activities of international aid organizations. Some of the principals reported that they participated in projects to improve their cultural intelligence levels. These principals remarked that they took part in projects supported by European Union and sister school projects and projects in continents other than Europe.
(3) Most of the principals stated that the high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with organizational advantages such as increase in personnel's well-being, cultural synergy, positive school climate, increase in productivity, increase in parents' satisfaction, increase in job satisfaction of employees, reduction in conflicts, and increase in student's satisfaction. More than half of the principals remarked that a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with professional advantages such as increased job performance, increased job success, job fit, better decision making and intercultural leadership. Some of the principals stated that having a high level of cultural intelligence provided the school principal with individual advantages such as increased individual well-being, ensuring personal development, improved communication skills, being more flexible, decreased burnout and quick adaptation to different cultures. (4) Principals expressed two different views on the factors preventing principals from increasing their cultural intelligence. These factors were the factors unrelated to principal and the factors related to principal. Most principals expressed the factors unrelated to the principal such as barriers resulting from the family, financial difficulties, environmental conditions and problems related to the education system. Half of the principals expressed factors related to principal such as inadequacy of academic knowledge, lack of desire for self-development, setting inappropriate goals and acting on his own worldview. (5) Principals expressed two different opinions on what can be done to increase the level of cultural intelligence: the things to be done by the superiors of the principals and the things to be done by the principal. Most principals remarked that there were things to be done by their superiors such as rewarding, providing training, providing opportunities for travelling abroad, assigning foreign missions, assigning missions in different regions, and increasing income level. Half of the principals stated that there were things to be done by the principals such as being motivated, improving their knowledge, improving their skills, and raising their cultural awareness.

Recommendations
To increase the cultural intelligence level of school principals, not only decision-makers and senior administrators in the field of educational administration but also school principals themselves should take responsibility and act their part. Decision-makers and senior administrators should reward principals who have developed their cultural intelligence. Principals should be provided with vacation opportunities abroad and should be assigned abroad at certain intervals to have experience abroad. In the selection of school principals, candidates with high cultural intelligence should be selected as principals, and cultural intelligence should be one of the criteria for selecting principals. Principals, on the other hand, should be motivated to develop their cultural intelligence and increase their knowledge on this subject.
Researchers who will study the same or similar subjects in educational organizations can conduct their research at different education levels, with different sample groups, and with different sample numbers. They can replicate and compare these results using different research designs. This research can be applied to the groups that will participate in European Union Projects before and after the project. The relationship between cultural intelligence and other variables such as burnout, organizational commitment, organizational citizenship can be investigated.

Limitations
The limitation of this research is that it was designed in a single province, with a limited sample group, and only through a qualitative design. The field study of this research was carried out in the 2020-2021 academic year. The data were collected with semi-structured interview form.