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Knowing the origins of a concept can help to explain its form. Knowing the history of the struggle to get concepts such as cultural competence acknowledged can help us to understand some of the future difficulties that there may be in more widespread acceptance. This article discusses the development of cultural competence in the US and explains how both the civil rights movement and changes in immigration to the US were key. More recently, secular trends to individual responsibility have changed the lens through which cultural competence is viewed.

Cross‐cultural communication competence is a key issue in teaching in international schools. Cultural awareness issues are likely to play a role in how effectively the expat teachers in international schools are able to teach. This research examines communication competence, cultural awareness, and communication apprehension of UK teachers in a British curriculum international school in Bangkok, Thailand. Generally, the respondents have a high level of self‐reported communication competence, high levels of cultural awareness, and low communication apprehension. Although the sample size in this pilot work is small, the data do seem to show that intercultural awareness is related to communication competence, and that it is also related to communication apprehension, which itself relates to communication competence. This is an important issue for future research.

The idea of the paper is to define the concept of cultural competence and to explore what is the role of cultural competence in today's world of business. The hypothesis of the project was that the interaction between business and culture is a neglected and poorly understood field of business creation. On the other hand, eminent authors like Richard Florida have recently strongly brought up the topic of creativity as a source of competitiveness.

Finland is used as a case object of case study. The methods used to gather empirical material include expert interviews, workshops and Delphi‐queries. In total, over 200 experts from business, public administration and different fields of cultural production were involved in the study.

The analysis of the material showed that there are many ways in which business may take advantage of collaborating with cultural actors. First of all, there are things that involve or aim at strengthening, changing or developing the corporate image. A corporation can thus look to cultural actors for elements to develop their brand, by borrowing the actor's face or work for advertising, for example. Cooperation with cultural actors can also be justified for corporations in the form of work with interest groups, such as investors, the media, political decision makers, administration and pressure groups. Cooperation can also be a form of shouldering social responsibility, bringing important goodwill with it. A company can seek cooperation also for internal reasons: culture is used as a way of motivating staff and developing creativity.

For the future, more concrete analysis is needed in terms of finding out what kind of results cooperation between business and cultural sphere may bring about.

The implication of the paper is that both businesses and cultural actors and institutions should be more open‐minded for collaboration and finding out true win‐win processes.

What is new in the paper is the way by which author treats the topic in the fashion that shows the possibilities how a single, rather technologically orientated country may find new prospectives for broadening its scope of international competition.

This study aims to focus on an interplay of brand stereotypes (Brands as Intentional Agents Framework [BIAF]) with an aspect of culture and its impact on behavioral intentions in an individualist culture (Norway) and a collectivist culture (Thailand).

This study incorporates a survey conducted in two cultures (Norway: N = 177 and Thailand: N = 288).

In both cultures, competence had a stronger effect on purchase intentions toward a brand than warmth. There was a stronger effect on brand purchase intentions of competence found for an individualist versus a collectivist culture, and we found a stronger effect of warmth on purchase intentions in a collectivist versus an individualist culture. The direct joint effect of warmth and competence on purchase intentions was brand-specific in Norway. Admiration mediated this joint effect in the collectivist but not in the individualist culture.

This study’s results point to cross-cultural variability of some of the effects of brand perceptions on behavioral intentions.

These findings suggest that international brand managers should consider both the cultural universality and the cultural variability of BIAF.

Despite extensive research on BIAF, studies on brand perceptions from the cross-cultural perspective are few. This investigation sheds some light on the differential effects of the framework across a collectivist and an individualist culture.

Teachers advocating for increased engagement by culturally and linguistically different (CLD) students in gifted and advanced programs can use Community Problem Solving (CmPS) to promote cultural competence, positive future images, a future orientation, and critical and creative thinking skills. This chapter provides an overview of standards for developing cultural competence for working with CLD students (Ford & Whiting, 2008), taking into account principles of multicultural education (Banks & Banks, 2010) and stages within the Incubation Model of Teaching (Torrance & Safter, 1990). A guide is presented for teachers as culturally responsive coaches of CLD students in their use of CmPS to enhance their engagement in learning in gifted and advanced programs. In addition, the types of projects and documentation required as part of CmPS projects are discussed, including the written report sections and scoring criteria used in the evaluation.

For more than two decades, clinical legal education scholars have touted the value of cultural competence. Professors, practitioners, and law school administrators now agree that experiential learning opportunities not only provide students with exposure to real clients and organic factual scenarios but also offer students the opportunity to work with diverse individuals. Indeed, because cultural competence is so important to the lawyer–client relationship, many clinical programs offer classroom instruction on cultural competence before allowing students to interact with clients.

Generally, clinical education is reserved for upper-level law students while first-year students spend their time immersed in doctrinal courses and a legal writing and analysis course. Clinical faculty have no opportunity to introduce cultural competence skills to law students unless they enroll in a clinic. As a result, many students receive no training in cultural competence.

This chapter proposes a framework for introducing cultural competence during the first year of law school. The central focus of the framework is the concept of cultural self-awareness. Through an education in cultural self-awareness, students will learn that they are cultural beings whose perspectives on the law are colored by their own life experiences and any attending biases. They will also learn that judicial decision-makers, like other human beings, are influenced by their culture. This approach is necessary to disabuse first-year law students of the notion the law is objective, gender-neutral and colorblind. The chapter offers specific strategies for a Torts course, but the general concepts are applicable to the other first-year courses.

Purpose – This chapter investigates how being Māori influences the sport experiences of Māori participants, and offers a critical Māori perspective on mainstream New Zealand sport. It argues for the value of moving towards a culturally competent approach that embraces, rather than resists, Māori tikanga and practices.

Design/methodology/approach – The research is driven by an Indigenous kaupapa Māori research methodology that privileges research by Māori, about Māori, being Māori. Ten highly experienced Māori participants were interviewed. The cultural competence continuum was employed to assess New Zealand sport’s ability to meet the needs of its indigenous peoples.

Findings – For the Māori participants, mainstream sport reflects the echoes of colonial ways of thinking that frequently ignore or devalue Māori values or interpret assertions of self-determination as separatist and divisive. Using examples from the participants’ experiences, we argue that cultural competence is something that could benefit all in New Zealand sport.

Research limitations/implications – The limitations of a small sample are addressed by triangulating the participants’ perspectives with other sources of information about Maori sporting experience.

Originality/value – The chapter privileges a Māori critique of existing structures and suggests a way forward that could positively influence sport delivery for Māori and people of all ethnicities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore and understand how Chambers of Commerce enhance networking among ethnic small businesses and enable the co-creation of value. This study contributes to extant research through the emergence of the concept of cultural networking competence. This study highlights how Chambers of Commerce in the USA ensures the continuation, growth and replication of ethnic small businesses through cultural networking competence.

This study investigates the research question by conducting qualitative research and adopting an interpretive approach of investigation in the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Chicago. Subjects were recruited using purposive sampling techniques via community links.

Findings show the existence of four different types of value in line with Holbrook’s typology of value – utilitarian, social, emotional and altruistic value. Because these values are culturally related, this study regards these values as cultural networking competence, which differs from general networking competence due to its focus on culture. With cultural networking competence, ethnic firms benefit from access to new domains, the creation of new opportunities, an improved effectiveness in achieving objectives beyond their own ethnic networks and the resources of other actors that can be leveraged for wider impact.

This study contributes to extant research through the emergence of the concept of cultural networking competence. This study highlights how Chambers of Commerce in the USA ensures the continuation, growth and replication of ethnic small businesses through cultural networking competence.

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 authors review the call for cultural competence in psychiatric diagnosis and highlight the barrier of ‘monocultural ethnocentrism’ ‐ the tendency to presume that European‐American standards fit all cultural, racial and ethnic groups. They suggest that clinicians should: familiarise themselves with the history of racism in psychiatry; avoid stereotyping; appreciate the diversity within cultural, racial and ethnic groups; understand that individuals from various cultural, racial and ethnic groups may have had more traumatic experiences; and understand that individuals from the US and UK may have experiences with racism, some of which may cause mental illness. Finally the authors suggest strategies to increase cultural competence.