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The significant increase in service offerings throughout the world has caused marketing scholars to focus their attention on the characteristics of the service encounter. With the growth in global business, more attention is also being paid to cross‐culture service encounters. This study proposes adding to that trend by attempting to measure the effect of intercultural sensitivity on the cross‐cultural performance of service employees.

Questionnaires were carried out in four‐ and five‐diamond hotels located in the state of Florida with reputations for attracting foreign guests.

The results indicate that employees with high intercultural sensitivity scored significantly (p<0.05) higher than employees with low intercultural sensitivity in terms of service attentiveness, revenue contribution, interpersonal skills, job satisfaction, and social satisfaction as they relate to cross‐cultural encounters. There was no significant difference in scores for motivation‐to‐work and perceptions of primary rewards (compensation, recognition, etc.).

The study was limited to upscale in Florida hotels.

Results suggest that service firms would benefit from testing for and providing training in intercultural sensitivity for employees involved in cross‐cultural service encounters.

The purpose of this paper is to understand when, how, and why service employees adapt the service encounter to meet the values and expectations of culturally disparate customers.

The authors tested the hypothesized framework utilizing a scenario-based experimental study. In total, a sample of 296 prospective restaurant service employees were asked to evaluate their willingness to adapt their behavior when faced with cultural differences as well as out group status. Furthermore, respondents were asked to assess their level of metacognitive cultural intelligence.

The authors found that both perceived cultural differences and out group status positively affect the service employee’s willingness to adapt their behavior. Further, cultural intelligence (CQ) positively moderates one of those two direct relationships.

The authors extend the literature on the service-adjustment process, as well as the managerial implications of service adjustment. The study is among the first to introduce the role of the service employees’ CQ in adaptation to an intercultural service encounter.

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 ability to effectively engage in cross-cultural interactions is imperative for leaders in our increasingly globalized world. Those who possess certain key psychological resources are more likely to engage in cross-cultural interactions successfully. Psychological resources include cross-cultural hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, which together comprise cross-cultural psychological capital (CC PsyCap). Previous research has indicated that CC PsyCap predicts cultural competence, yet the pathways underlying this relationship remain unexplored. We examined the relationships among CC PsyCap, engagement in cross-cultural interactions, stress during cross-cultural interactions, and cultural competence. The hypothesized relationships were tested using a sample of 135 undergraduate students (76% female) participating in study abroad programs. Participants completed measures of cultural competence, CC PsyCap, engagement, and stress approximately one month into their study abroad. Structural equation modeling analyses indicate that CC PsyCap and stress influence cultural competence directly and indirectly through engagement level during cross-cultural interactions. Furthermore, the results suggest that CC PsyCap indirectly influences engagement through stress during cross-cultural interactions. We discuss the implications of these results for people preparing to enter cross-cultural environments.

States that the major reasons for difficulties in cross‐cultural communication stem from the fact that actors from different cultures have different understandings regarding the interaction process and different styles of dialogue. Suggests that better understanding of communication within other cultures is the key to success. Uses past literature to suggest a number of cultural variability constructs concerning preferred interaction behaviours and the common themes they share. Presents three case studies to illustrate this.

The purpose of the study is to explore and compare customer perceptions of service encounter behavior in the USA and the Republic of Korea and to identify the relationship of the underlying behavioral dimensions to customer satisfaction.

A questionnaire was designed to collect data in the USA and Korea. Exploratory factor analysis was employed to extract the most distinct set of behavioral dimensions underlying each culture. Predictive validity was examined using correlations and regression analysis.

Key differences were found between US and Korean restaurant customers' perceptions of wait‐staff behavior and their impact on performance. While personalization was a significant predictor of satisfaction in the US sample, concern was a significant predictor for the Koreans. Courtesy and civility were important to both samples.

Customer satisfaction is strongly influenced by employee behavior. To ensure success in international markets, service providers should recognize and understand the differences that potentially exist based on nationality and culture. Resources allocation decisions pertaining to training and service provision should be designed to effectively respond to local customer needs.

Previous research seeking to explain customer satisfaction has for the most part overlooked the interaction between the customer and the service provider. This research extends previous work by examining cross‐cultural differences and intends to provide a better understanding of restaurant customers in the USA and Korea, as well as to enable restaurant operators and managers to better service their clientele in the global marketplace.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the methodological approaches adopted in cross‐cultural service quality (CCSQ) research and the extent to which these approaches have adhered to the general principles of established cross‐cultural research methodology.

A search was conducted to identify CCSQ papers published between 1995 and 2009. The authors searched four well‐known online databases: ABI Inform (Proquest Direct), Emerald Library, ScienceDirect, and EBSCOhost. This search identified 40 studies, which were examined according to three broad groups of methodological issues: research design, instrumentation and data collection, and data analysis and measurement.

Despite the acknowledged contributions that these selected studies have made to the services‐marketing field, it is evident from this review that researchers have frequently overlooked many important aspects of cross‐cultural research methodology. These methodological deficiencies are discussed and various remedies are suggested.

There has been a growing research interest in comparative cross‐cultural service‐quality in recent decades. As this relatively new branch of service‐quality research becomes more prominent, it seems opportune to examine the methodological approaches adopted in these studies and the extent to which these approaches have adhered to the general principles of established cross‐cultural research methodology. This is the first work to examine such a large number of CCSQ studies.

This paper aims to examine the role that personal cultural orientations play in customer attributions in intercultural service encounters.

A conceptual model was developed depicting the relationships between service delivery outcome, personal cultural orientations and customer attributions. Data were collected from 640 Chinese and Western customers using scenario-based experiments in a restaurant context to assess the hypothesized relationships in the model.

The findings show that compared to service delivery success, customers tend to hold service employee and firm responsible for service delivery failure rather than themselves and cultural differences. Moreover, personal cultural orientations partially moderated the influence of the service delivery outcome on customer attributions.

Future research could adopt different methodologies such as critical incident techniques and surveys to replicate the study.

Service firms are recommended to design programs to influence customer attributions such as “customer education programs” and “customer appreciation programs” to achieve high customer satisfaction.

This study examines the differences in customer attributions between successful vs unsuccessful service delivery. It also sheds light on the potential moderating role of personal cultural orientations on the relationship between service delivery outcome and customer attributions.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the mindfulness construct in Thomas’ (2006) cultural intelligence (CQ) model and identify three mindfulness facets based on the mindfulness literature: empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses. Relationships among mindfulness, cross-cultural knowledge and cross-cultural behavioral ability are explored.

A case study of two French banking institutions operating in the USA is used incorporating multiple sources of data: participant observations, primary public and private documentation sources, archival records, secondary data and open-ended interviews with a key informant.

The two organizations showed similar emphasis on cross-cultural knowledge but differences in cross-cultural behavioral ability. These differences were traced to the posited mindfulness components of empathy, open-mindedness and using all senses.

The two-sample case only provides emerging evidence of the role of mindfulness in linking cross-cultural knowledge to behavioral ability and will require validation through empirical studies to test for significance of relationships among these CQ facets.

Thomas’ (2006) CQ model and the authors’ understanding of its underlying mindfulness components provide insight in predicting cross-cultural potential of employees and designing customized employee training to help organizations meet the needs of a globally diverse workplace.

The development of mindfulness qualities should improve interactions among individuals in any organizational setting, with added benefit of bridging cross-cultural differences.

This paper helps extend research on CQ facets using a qualitative method incorporating multiple sources of evidence to explore the mindfulness CQ construct.

The article “Culture shocks” in inter-cultural service encounters was published in 1999. The purpose of this paper is to analyze how the scientific discussion about this issue has developed and which open research questions are still awaiting solutions.

The main contributions of the original article are evaluated in the light of the current state of research. Simultaneously, the scientific development is commented on the basis of the original theoretical and empirical insights.

The original article belongs to those that initiated an extraordinary development of the research field. Aspects of inter-cultural encounters have found increasing attention in service marketing research. However, some fundamental problems of inter-cultural studies are still unresolved, and some of the theoretical and management oriented stimuli of the 1999 paper still seem worthy of consideration.

The retrospective analysis gives insight into the scientific development of the research on inter-cultural service encounters. It identifies relevant development lines, new perspectives and open questions for future research.