Global standards and local authenticity: Cross-cultural leadership and employee behavioural adaptation in heritage-based hotels in Baghdad

The hospitality sector in cities undergoing rapid post-conflict rehabilitation faces an unusual organisational problem: how do local employees perform global service standards without erasing the cultural identity heritage-based hotels were meant to preserve in the first place? This study examines the role of cross-cultural leadership (CCL) in predicting employee behavioural adaptation (EBA) and employees’ perceived integration of global operational standards with local cultural authenticity (employee-perceived global-local integration, GLI) in heritage-based hotels in Baghdad, Iraq. A quantitative, crosssectional design was used. Data were collected from 380 frontline employees and mid-level supervisors across nine heritage-themed hotels in Baghdad using a structured, bilingual questionnaire. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was applied using Smart-PLS 4, with 5,000 bootstrap resamples. Results show that CCL is positively associated with EBA (β = 0.543, p < 0.001), which in turn is positively associated with GLI (β = 0.470, p < 0.001). The indirect path from CCL to GLI through EBA (β = 0.255, p < 0.001) accounts for 58.2% of the total effect, a pattern consistent with partial mediation. These findings are consistent with an extension of Social Exchange Theory in which culturally intelligent leadership is associated with employees’ capacity to navigate the tension between globalisation and heritage preservation as an organisational resource, although the cross-sectional design does not permit causal claims. Practically, the study offers a culturally grounded framework for human resources (HR) practitioners and tourism policymakers in post-transition Middle Eastern markets.