Background <p>The dynamic, multicultural healthcare environment and increasing worker diversity highlight the importance of cultural intelligence (CQ). High cultural intelligence helps employees seek colleague assistance, enhances resilience, and encourages innovative behavior. This study aims to develop a structural equation model (SEM) to test the impact of culture intelligence as a mediating factor between resilience and innovative work behavior (IWB) among emergency care nurses.</p> Methods <p>A convenience sample of 276 nurses from four emergency departments in Alexandria participated in a cross-sectional, correlational study. Three validated scales were used to measure the study variables.</p> Results <p>The study found that nurses had moderate mean scores for culture intelligence (58.94%), resilience (58.40%), and innovative work behavior (61.49%). The structural equation model analysis showed a good fit (CFI = 1.000, IFI = 1.000, RMSEA = 0.063), confirming that culture intelligence mediates the relationship between resilience and innovative work behavior, with a p-value less than 0.05.</p> Conclusions <p>The study highlights the significant influence of cultural intelligence on resilience and innovative work behavior in emergency nurses. The findings contribute to the growing literature by establishing a model linking these variables, emphasizing the role of cultural intelligence in enhancing resilience and creativity in high-pressure settings. Human resource managers should implement cultural intelligence-focused educational programs and revise recruitment criteria to select nurses with high cultural intelligence traits.</p> Clinical trial number <p>Not applicable.</p>