Cultural intelligence (CQ) is a construct associated with effective functioning in intercultural contexts. We propose that polyculturalism - the belief that cultures are connected and mutually influencing each other - is an individual-difference factor that can explain individual- and country-level differences in CQ Regression analysis showed that polyculturalism significant predicts CQ in samples from Australia and China. Mediation analysis further showed that the average CQ difference between the two countries can be partially accounted for by polyculturalism. Implications for the development of Coin individuals and groups are discussed. (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.