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The aim of this paper is to review published conceptual and research papers within the field of international, comparative and cross‐cultural HRD.

The paper's approach is a targeted literature review focusing on papers within the mainstream HRD journals, as well as a small number of non HRD journals.

The literature review revealed that international, comparative and cross‐cultural HRD is an emerging subfield of study. In general the authors were able to categorise the literatures into the three trajectories specified. However, they noted contradictions and confusions within the literature.

The paper is solely theoretical in nature; however, it does identify gaps for further research. The authors highlight specific research questions within each trajectory as well as proposing a global HRD construct.

The paper is particularly valuable to scholars interested in theorising and researching international, comparative and cross‐cultural HRD. It sets the scene for the special issue on the three trajectories, and identifies possible avenues for future theorising and research.

This paper seeks to address the recent challenges in the international human resource development (HRD) research and the related methodological strategy.

This inquiry is based on a survey of literatures and integrates various comparative research strategies adopted in other major social science disciplines.

Based on comparative strategies found in other disciplines, the authors propose a framework to advance comparative HRD research and theory development.

The proposed framework emphasizes methodological consistency in HRD research and improving the relevance and rigor in theory development. It also highlights the required qualities of comparative researchers.

This is an initial effort in analyzing the emerging comparative HRD literature for an alternative framework to advance methodological research on HRD theory building.

Evaluates how HRD needs which arise from different business strategies will depend on, among other things, the purpose and structure of the strategies involved. Considers the motivation for strategic HRD, expenditure and responsibility. Concludes that a strategic approach to training and development necessitates increased theoretical rigour, more rigorous evaluation of effectiveness, and resolution of responsibility for training.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the efficacy of foreign immersion programs in terms of increasing cross-cultural awareness among university students in business, accounting, human resources and agriculture. The authors extrapolate from their population to the practice of developing business professionals on international assignments.

This paper presents findings of a four-year, government-sponsored university exchange program involving 40 professional management and agriculture science students from four US and Brazilian top research universities who participated in a semester-long study abroad experience. Pre-departure and post-exchange data were collected using the well-established Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI). In addition, the authors collected academic performance data and verbal mid- and end-project personal assessments. Two of the authors of this paper served as project directors, the third as evaluation specialist.

Despite intensive pre-departure preparation, in-country support and cultural immersion, the research subjects failed to attain significant and consistently higher levels of intercultural awareness. Students tended to overestimate their own level of cross-cultural competence both before and after the program. While students tended to perform well academically and voiced high levels of satisfaction with their own overseas stay, objective measures of cross-cultural awareness did not mirror these outcomes.

Multiple measures of cross-cultural competence exist, and it is possible that the development in areas other than those measured by the IDI did take place. It is also sensible to assume that cognitive development might take longer and was not captured by the post-test right after return.

The paper suggests that cross-cultural development requires carefully designed interventions, feedback and mentoring/coaching. Simply sending individuals on overseas assignments, no matter how well prepared and supported by the institution, does not guarantee the development of multi-cultural attitudes and cognitive frames of mind.

The development of cross-cultural competence has been described as a central concern for universities and workplaces alike. The burgeoning research literature on cross-cultural development reflects not only the importance of the topic but also the struggle to find effective pedagogical and andragogical approaches to fostering such development in university students, expatriate managers, working professionals and members of the workforce in general.

The paper presents evaluation findings of a carefully designed and well-supported exchange program over a period of four years and involving three cohorts of students. These students are at the cusp of moving into the workplace, where many will assume professional and leadership positions in international settings. Given the high failure rate of international development and placement and the increasing global interconnectedness of academic and business organizations, the paper suggests the need for carefully designed and well-supported overseas programs to maximize cross-cultural development.

The purpose of this paper is to offer a comparison of how human expertise is perceived by human resource development (HRD) scholars across several Western European countries and in the USA.

A qualitative, exploratory approach using electronic mail was used for this study. In total, 36 leading HRD scholars from 11 different countries were interviewed.

There is a propensity of several countries to converge towards common themes. Based on this fact, a European‐US definition of expertise is offered: expertise is the combination of knowledge, experience, and skills held by a person in a specific domain.

One major limitation is the selection of “experts” to describe “expertise”. Second, although all but one European interviewee spoke fluent English, the questions were asked in English. Third, virtual ethnography coupled with traditional interviewing is known to be best. Fourth, the research is deeply embedded in one field. Finally, the rather small sample size underrepresented some countries.

The findings provide HRD practitioners with a better understanding of training and development practices and give additional ground for employee development. They shed light on cultural differences and on cross‐national communication. As organizations increasingly expand worldwide and outsource, understanding expertise across nations can provide insights into selection and hiring procedures and help with cross‐cultural training for expatriates. Expertise can also be used as a performance measure to develop employees for optimal performance.

The paper explores a training and development construct internationally

This article aims to suggest implementing an integrated approach – named intercultural engineering – at university level. Engineering today often takes place across cultures, locations and organizations. As a result, many companies have included cross-cultural training activities into their internal human resource development program. However, current practice neglects the engineering context and might enable sophisticated stereotyping.

This article presents the case of a German bachelor study program in International Industrial Engineering and the theoretical foundations of its design.

Engineering education needs to move beyond simplistic comparative cross-cultural management theory. It needs to acknowledge cultural complexity in engineering through an integrated development of competencies for utilizing the benefits of cultural diversity.

The contribution of this article lies in providing a practical example of how to develop integrated competencies for cultural diversity in engineering, as based on latest theory.

The emerging technological work culture calls for a massive re‐education of the existing workforce, especially for the new careers emerging as a result of the revolutions in microelectronics, biotechnology and communication. In this monograph the author argues that for management it demands a new attitude toward employees as human capital. For the average worker, especially those displaced by the new technologies, it will require re‐education focused on skill development for new careers and service activities.