Cognitive Intelligence as a Core Competency for Hospitality Managers: A Conceptual Approach

The hospitality industry is characterised by high levels of complexity, uncertainty, and interpersonal intensity. While emotional intelligence (EI) has dominated both academic and practitioner debates on effective hospitality leadership, considerably less attention has been paid to cognitive intelligence (CI) as a foundational managerial competency. Drawing on interdisciplinary research from management, psychology, and hospitality studies, this paper argues that cognitive intelligence constitutes a critical yet under-theorised capability for innovation management and organisational performance in hospitality contexts. Building on established distinctions between cognitive and emotional intelligence, and synthesising evidence from hospitality and general management research, this paper develops a conceptual framework positioning CI as a core meta-competency that enables sensemaking, judgement, problem-solving, and adaptive decision-making in complex service environments. This conceptual paper contributes to the literature on innovation and hospitality management by reframing managerial intelligence as a performance-enabling capability that underpins learning, adaptability, and long-term organisational effectiveness in hospitality organisations.