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1 – 10 of over 5000Tien‐Chen Chien and Gary N. McLean
This study aims to explore the intercultural training needs for US business expatriates on assignment in Taiwan. The study assesses Taiwan culture‐specific training needs of US…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore the intercultural training needs for US business expatriates on assignment in Taiwan. The study assesses Taiwan culture‐specific training needs of US expatriates from the perspectives of both US expatriates and their Taiwanese colleagues and compares the perceived importance of these intercultural training needs between these two groups.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the survey method to assess the opinions of US business expatriates as well as their Taiwanese colleagues. A questionnaire was developed for the study. A total of 26 items were identified as knowledge and skills needed for US business expatriates in Taiwan. The items all fall within six categories: knowledge of the nation, relationship building, interpersonal communication, business protocol, legal issues, and living in Taiwan.
Findings
Data collected from 78 US respondents and 78 Taiwanese respondents were analyzed using matched pairs t‐tests. Between‐group differences for the overall 26 items and each category were examined. Results indicate that there was a significant difference between the US and Taiwanese respondents in the perceived importance of the overall items.
Originality/value
Although there has been an abundance of literature on intercultural training, rarely has research been done on Taiwan cultural‐specific training. A study in this area can help human resource practitioners in developing expatriate training programs. Research results can contribute to the knowledge base of expatriate training and development, as well as the development of theories in this area.
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Luana Ferreira-Lopes, Iciar Elexpuru-Albizuri and María José Bezanilla
Allowing for interaction with foreign cultures without the need to travel, intercultural virtual collaboration represents a potential tool to develop business students’…
Abstract
Purpose
Allowing for interaction with foreign cultures without the need to travel, intercultural virtual collaboration represents a potential tool to develop business students’ intercultural competence. This study aims to explore students’ perceptions towards the implementation of a research-based task sequence in a project in which undergraduate Business students from Spain collaborated virtually with undergraduate business students from The Netherlands during a semester. More specifically, this paper investigates what intercultural competence indicators were mostly developed by the sequence implemented; how much each task from the sequence in question developed different intercultural competence indicators; and how much students enjoyed participating in each task.
Design/methodology/approach
Data was collected through after-task reflection questionnaires. A quantitative analysis of Likert-type questions was carried out and open-ended responses were used to illustrate findings.
Findings
Results reveal that the task sequence developed different dimensions of students’ intercultural competence and, particularly, fostered a positive attitude towards intercultural relationships, increased students’ cultural knowledge and awareness and equipped students with skills to work in diverse teams. It also showed that as complexity grew along the sequence, the average students’ perception of their intercultural competence development tended to decrease. The majority of students’ very much liked participating in the different tasks.
Originality/value
Designing telecollaborative projects can be very challenging and understanding the learning potential of different pedagogical strategies for virtual collaborative environments can help teachers to take better-informed decisions.
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Betina Szkudlarek and Laurence Romani
The purpose of this paper is to address the decreasing role of professional associations in governing the work of entrepreneurial, knowledge-intensive professions such as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to address the decreasing role of professional associations in governing the work of entrepreneurial, knowledge-intensive professions such as management consulting. It presents the example of an alternative path to traditional professional regulation. This organic professionalization path is introduced through the concept of dispersed institutional entrepreneurship.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper builds on an in-depth qualitative investigation of professionals in the intercultural industry combining physical and digital ethnography in a multi-modal investigation.
Findings
The findings illustrate how an ideological divide within the professional community prevents an emergence of the traditional, association-led professionalization path. Instead, the investigated community follows an organic, bottom-up route, with competing individual entrepreneurs developing converging strategies and products. This process is labelled dispersed institutional entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The findings indicate that current views on professionalization need to reconsider admission criteria and the professionalization paths that are generally assumed. Further research could focus on investigating organic professionalization paths among other professional groups.
Originality/value
With an in-depth qualitative investigation of an aspiring professional community this paper contributes to an ongoing discussion on the process of professionalization. The findings show that independent agents’ efforts could be at the centre of the process. They can prevent the professional association from leading the professionalization project while enabling the organic development of synergies across the community.
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The purpose of this study was to analyze the journal entries of study abroad students from a college of business that participated in four separate nine-day study abroad programs…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to analyze the journal entries of study abroad students from a college of business that participated in four separate nine-day study abroad programs to identify whether the development of intercultural maturity is possible in a short-term study abroad program and if learning and development differ based on race/cultural background.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used content analysis of student journals. The journal entries of 33 students from four different short-term study abroad trips served as the data from which a qualitative content analysis using nvivo was conducted.
Findings
Development of intercultural maturity can, in fact, occur from a short-term (10-day) study abroad program. Student development progressed through the first two levels of the Intercultural Maturity Framework, with multicultural students progressing further. All students achieved first and second levels of the Developmental Trajectory of Intercultural Maturity on the King and Baxter Magolda (2005) framework in all three areas, including cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal.
Research limitations/implications
The author realizes the limitations of one form of data, the journal, and thus proposes for the future both pre-travel questions to encourage further critical thinking and learning and additional methods of obtaining data.
Practical implications
This study suggests that it might be advantageous to re-design the experience, whereby the students are guided with particular questions before or at the start of the study abroad program, to propel them forward in the process of critical reflection and development of intercultural maturity.
Originality/value
This study specifically applies the framework of King and Baxter Magolda’s (2005) Intercultural Maturity framework to examine the extent to which intercultural maturity of business students can be developed within the constraints of a short-term (nine-day) study abroad program. It also adds the dimension of comparing multicultural student development to non-multicultural student development.
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Samantha Charlotte Brandauer and Susanne Hovmand
The purpose of this paper is to use the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) International Business (IB) program as a case study to illustrate how experiential learning theory…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to use the Danish Institute for Study Abroad (DIS) International Business (IB) program as a case study to illustrate how experiential learning theory (ELT) can be put into practice in an education abroad context through pro-active intervention and through supporting immersion activities inside and outside the classroom.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will use the IB program at DIS as a case study to illustrate how a holistic approach to study abroad is put into practice and how it aligns with the current theories in experiential learning and intervention in student learning during the study abroad process. It will examine various elements of the IB program as well as self-assessment data gathered from students through evaluations and a unique survey.
Findings
Through concerted intervention efforts, DIS is exposing students to different perspectives as well as professionals within the Danish and European business communities, utilizing real-world case examples, making students active participants in their learning, strengthening their intercultural skills and preparing students to be able to reflect on and articulate what it is they have learned abroad. Based on student self-assessment, students agree that DIS is helping them prepare for the global work place.
Research limitations/implications
This paper is limited to the experiences and practices within DIS IB program and all student data come from their own self-assessment and do not do pre- and post-testing to measure students' intercultural gains.
Practical implications
This paper should be useful to higher education institutions and study abroad programs looking to enhance the experiential learning opportunities for business students abroad.
Originality/value
This case study serves to illustrate examples of ELT in practice and intervention in student learning abroad with a particular focus on skills needed for business students in a global work place.
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Cameron C. Beatty and Amber Manning-Ouellette
Pre COVID-19 there were a growing number of opportunities for study abroad across higher education in the United States, (Rosch & Haber-Curran, 2013; Martinez, 2012). This paper…
Abstract
Pre COVID-19 there were a growing number of opportunities for study abroad across higher education in the United States, (Rosch & Haber-Curran, 2013; Martinez, 2012). This paper aims to examine phenomena surrounding outcomes of student abroad experiences while centering students’ leadership learning. Centering leadership learning as a framework, findings indicate participants in the study grew in the of areas of leadership efficacy and capacity through the short-term study abroad.
Natalie S. Mikhaylov and Isidro Fierro
The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of development of cultural knowledge and cosmopolitan identities among international management students in multicultural…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the process of development of cultural knowledge and cosmopolitan identities among international management students in multicultural learning environments and to investigate how international business students develop global mindset during their studies.
Design/methodology/approach
A comparative analysis was conducted within four undergraduate management and business administration programs in international higher educational institutions, based on constructivist grounded theory methodology. The empirical study is grounded in data that were collected from triangulated multiple sources: qualitative semi-structured interviews with students, faculty and student services professional (n = 95) from 23 countries, participant observation in four programs and document reviews, and were analyzed using the dimensional analysis.
Findings
The study presents a global mindset development process model, which takes into the account social capital of the learners, as well as the existing and emergent social ties.
Practical implications
The paper provides tentative recommendations for the steps that management educational programs and multinational companies can take to promote an environment conductive for cultural knowledge exchange.
Originality/value
The paper presents the development of global mindset as a social learning process; in particular, it addresses the role social capital plays in knowledge generation and sharing in multicultural learning environment. It contributes to the understanding of cultural knowledge development in social networks. Additionally, the paper examines the feasibility of development of global mindset in international higher educational.
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This paper aims to discuss the possibility of embracing an Islamic perspective on interculturality and social justice as an underlying system of multicultural education. While…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to discuss the possibility of embracing an Islamic perspective on interculturality and social justice as an underlying system of multicultural education. While western thought continues to dominate the education scholarship, advancing an alternative epistemology can ameliorate the scope of multicultural education by considering other relevant elements. In particular, interreligious relations have not been researched extensively in terms of managing cultural capital in schools. This paper argues that Islamic ethics provide a system of justice and rules of conduct that satisfy the principles of multicultural education.
Design/methodology/approach
Classical texts (Qu’ran and Hadith) are analyzed to explore the Islamic perspective on interculturality and social justice. While the plurality of interpretations is remarkable, the aim is to examine these texts on the basis of ethical and humanistic orientation.
Findings
Islamic ethics are commensurate with intercultural empathy and multicultural education. While some verses are interpreted as evidence of the religious legitimacy of enmity and hostility towards non-Muslims, they are decontextualized readings isolated from the verses’ historical contexts.
Practical implications
This paper proposes considering Islamic ethics as a foundation of multicultural education. Because Islam promotes social justice, teachers and students are encouraged to take action and never tolerate any act of oppression. Teachers should pay attention to conflicts that may arise from theological differences among students.
Originality/value
This paper offers a new perspective that has been sidelined and not considered in Modern issues. Because multicultural education recognizes the necessity of appreciating all cultures, Islam delivers a similar framework that is based on peaceful intercultural communication and social justice.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral dimensions of the middle managers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of the metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioral dimensions of the middle managers’ cultural intelligence (CQ) on firms’ innovation performance in a context of cultural diversity and the mediating role of knowledge sharing in this relationship. The author deepens the analysis by exploring the moderating role of collaborative climate (CC) on the link between CQ and KS.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted on 186 foreign middle managers working in Tunisian firms. The data analysis was performed via the partial least square method.
Findings
The results revealed that middle managers’ metacognitive CQ has a positive effect on KS, which in turn enhances firms’ innovation performance. In this line, KS partially mediates the relationship between metacogntive CQ and innovation performance. Findings also indicate that CC moderates the link between three dimensions of CQ, namely metacognitive, behavioral and motivational CQs and KS.
Originality/value
The paper sheds lights on the contribution of middle managers’ CQ and the CC within firms to the KS and innovation performance in a context of cultural diversity. At the best of the author’s knowledge, the links among these variables had not been empirically examined, especially involving samples of middle managers. This study offers important insights for managers by providing them with tools to improve KS and firms’ innovation.
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Chenchen Li, Ling Eleanor Zhang and Anne-Wil Harzing
In response to the somewhat paradoxical combination of increasing diversity in the global workforce and the resurgence of nationalism in an era of global mobility, the purpose of…
Abstract
Purpose
In response to the somewhat paradoxical combination of increasing diversity in the global workforce and the resurgence of nationalism in an era of global mobility, the purpose of this paper is to uncover how employees on international assignments respond to exposure to new cultures. Specifically, the paper aims to explicate the underlying psychological mechanisms linking expatriates’ monocultural, multicultural, global and cosmopolitan identity negotiation strategies with their responses toward the host culture by drawing upon exclusionary and integrative reactions theory in cross-cultural psychology.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper draws on the perspective of exclusionary vs integrative reactions toward foreign cultures – a perspective rooted in cross-cultural psychology research – to categorize expatriates’ responses toward the host culture. More specifically, the study elaborates how two primary activators of expatriates’ responses toward the host culture – the salience of home-culture identity and a cultural learning mindset – explain the relationship between cultural identity negotiation strategies and expatriates’ exclusionary and integrative responses, providing specific propositions on how each type of cultural identity negotiation strategy is expected to be associated with expatriates’ exclusionary and integrative responses toward the host culture.
Findings
The present study proposes that expatriates’ adoption of a monocultural identity negotiation strategy is positively associated with exclusionary responses toward the host culture and it is negatively associated with integrative responses toward the host culture; expatriates’ adoption of a multicultural identity negotiation strategy is positively associated with both exclusionary responses and integrative responses toward the host culture; expatriates’ adoption of a global identity negotiation strategy is negatively associated with exclusionary responses toward the host culture; and expatriates’ adoption of a cosmopolitan identity negotiation strategy is negatively associated with exclusionary responses, and positively associated with integrative responses toward the host culture. The following metaphors for these different types of cultural identity negotiation strategies are introduced: “ostrich” (monocultural strategy), “frog” (multicultural strategy), “bird” (global strategy) and “lizard” (cosmopolitan strategy).
Originality/value
The proposed dynamic framework of cultural identity negotiation strategies illustrates the sophisticated nature of expatriates’ responses to new cultures. This paper also emphasizes that cross-cultural training tempering expatriates’ exclusionary reactions and encouraging integrative reactions is crucial for more effective expatriation in a multicultural work environment.
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