CC BY
25Teaching intercultural competence in undergraduate business and management studies
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
Zrinka Friganovic Sain Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia [email protected] Milena Kuznin Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia [email protected] Rebecca Charry Roje Rochester Institute of Technology Croatia [email protected] Published in Training, Language and Culture Vol 2 Issue 2 (2018) pp. 8-25 doi: 10.29366/2018tlc.2.2.1 Recommended citation format: Friganovic Sain, Z., Kuznin, M., & Charry Roje, R. (2018). Teaching intercultural competence in undergraduate business and management studies. Training, Language and Culture, 2(2), 8-25. doi: 10.29366/2018tlc.2.2.1
In times of overwhelming globalisation, fostering intercultural competence has become one of the most important missions of higher education institutions across the world. This competence has become crucial for those aspiring to work in international environments. Students need to be aware of cultural boundaries and the role of instructors in this process is crucial: to provide cultural information is not enough anymore and they need to guide their students' learning so that learners can competently navigate the L2 culture, knowing which values and behaviour patterns of the target culture will assist them in their future workplaces. This paper introduces a case study of how an international institution of higher education in Croatia teaches this competence in various courses. The paper presents qualitative survey data to measure college students' self-reported competences in four categories: motivation, strategy, knowledge and behaviour. Results show that students report higher competences in the areas of motivation and strategy, compared to knowledge and behaviour. Implications of these findings for future education in intercultural competence in institutions of higher education are discussed.
KEYWORDS: best practices in higher education; business and management studies; foreign language teaching; intercultural competence; service management
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This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited (CC BY 4.0)
In times of overwhelming globalisation, intercultural competence has become one of the most important issues in institutions of higher education across the world. In such a context, intercultural competence has clearly become one of the most desirable skills and competences for university graduates who would like to see themselves working in demanding and highly-
1. INTRODUCTION
challenging international environments. As this process extends and increases, the need for cultural sensitivity and understanding becomes one of utmost importance both to institutions of higher education and to companies seeking to hire competent individuals. It is evident that such a situation also generates a corresponding need for cross-cultural and trans-national educational partnerships, and it is imperative not only to
© Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin, Rebecca Charry Roje 2018 8 Training, Language and Culture This content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
'Among cognitive skills one can easily recognise cultural self-awareness and the knowledge of a particular culture, while affective skills include curiosity and open-mindedness'
analyse intercultural competence in those partnerships, but also to analyse them in teaching situations, where crossing cultural boundaries is grounded in the ideals of the core meaning of intercultural competence. Any organisation that wants to be culturally responsive needs to cultivate these skills to be successful in today's world. This paper explores both the theoretical background and the actual experiences of a multicultural institution of higher education in Dubrovnik, the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Croatia. The level of intercultural competence of students is measured using a scientifically validated instrument.
2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
According to Bennett and Hammer (2011), intercultural competence is seen as a set of cognitive, affective and behavioural skills and characteristics that support effective and appropriate interaction in a variety of cultural contexts. Among cognitive skills one can easily recognise cultural self-awareness and the knowledge of a particular culture, while affective
skills include curiosity and open-mindedness. In order to teach students behavioural skills, instructors are encouraged to emphasise the importance of empathy and forming relationships. Intercultural competence clearly also includes an understanding of (and an adaptation to) culturally-based norms and values. Bennett's well-known scale, the Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS), measures reactions to cultural differences, and divides these reactions into six stages, from more ethno-centric to more ethno-relative: denial of difference, defence against difference, minimisation of difference, acceptance of difference, adaptation to difference, and integration of difference (Hammer et al., 2003).
Experts have used a number of constructions and phrases in their attempts to define and fully understand intercultural competence, such as 'world-mindedness' (Sampson & Smith, 1957), 'global centrism' (McCabe, 1994), 'global understanding' (Kitsantas, 2004), 'global competence' (Sindt & Pachmayer, 2007), to name only a few.
Nonetheless, it seems that there is a lack of a unified conceptualisation and assessment of the goals that the process of learning of such a competence requires. The need to acquire this competence is also portrayed in the statistics that show a continual increase in the number of international students as well as of those who
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express interest in studying abroad. According to the latest annual report on international educational exchange, the number of international students at colleges and universities in the United States has increased by 8% to a record high of 886,052 students in the 2013/14 academic year. This report drafted by the Institute of International Education has confirmed that the United States remains the destination of choice for higher education. The United States hosts more of the world's 4.5 million globally mobile college and university students than any other country in the world, with almost double the number hosted by the United Kingdom, the second leading host country.
The same report also revealed an increase of 2% (in comparison with the last academic year) of study abroad students, stating that a total of 289,408 American students studied abroad to earn academic credit from their U.S. colleges and universities.
Even though this number has more than doubled in the past 15 years, from about 130,000 students in the academic year 1998/99, it is evident that fewer than 10% of all U.S. undergraduate students (including community college students) will have studied abroad by the time they graduate. The fact that the vast majority of American undergraduate students enrolled in U.S. institutions of higher education graduate without international
experience was recognised as a possible problem as early as 2001, when a group of eight faculty members from four American universities formed a partnership with the goal of finding ways to better prepare American business students for intercultural communication in the global economy (Durocher, 2009). The assumption of this consortium was that business students, while receiving excellent training in the business component of international business, are poorly prepared for face-to-face communication with members of other cultures. This was seen as a potential risk for global American interests since it could quite possibly weaken American business endeavours abroad (Durocher, 2009).
On the other hand, the European Union also has an ambitious agenda to modernise and internationalise higher education in Europe, increasing mobility among both students and faculty. According to the latest programme Erasmus+, it has also been recognised that education, training and intercultural experience are essential for creating jobs and improving Europe's competitiveness (European Commission, 2015).
Due to the immense impact of globalisation on the world's economy, there is a clear need to create quality programmes in higher education that will offer innovative intercultural communication curricula precisely for those who seek the
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
knowledge that is relevant for such a world. What also seems to be of importance in this matter is the difference between traditional, mono-cultural teaching methods and a newer, intercultural approach to teaching.
Traditional teaching is more analytical, grounded in western-oriented values, and its key terms for the learning process are abstraction, reflection and precision. In this paradigm, communication between teacher and student is linear and one-way (i.e. the teacher is seen as a repository or custodian of knowledge which is passed to the student).
On the other hand, an intercultural approach to teaching is more holistic and thus eastern-oriented. With this approach students learn by example, practice and often by metaphors, while the communication between a teacher and a student may be circular. Students are seen as co-creators of knowledge along with their teachers and are encouraged to play an active role in shaping classroom activities (Hager, 2010).
Pink (2006) argues that the future belongs to a different kind of person with a different kind of mind; artists, inventors, storytellers: creative and holistic 'right-brain' thinkers whose abilities mark the fault line between who gets ahead and who does not. He believes that the Information Age, characterised by left-brain capabilities (such as number crunching and computer-code creation) is
giving way to a new age, the so-called Conceptual Age, which is characterised by right-brain capabilities, such as design and creativity.
In order to be successful in today (and tomorrow's) economy, Pink states, people who crave success must therefore adopt a whole new mindset. He explains what kind of an impact this premise will have for outsourcing retailers, the field of his research. What he discovered was that many of the new highly successful business people of today had their educational background in the fine arts rather than in a traditional business discipline.
The six senses that he focuses on - design, story, symphony, empathy, play and meaning - are applicable to retail and retail design. The first sense, of design, is described through examples and practices that explore the need to move beyond function to design. Through design, we are able to create solutions that connect with our true nature, being economical but with personal reward.
The second sense, of story, is defined by Pink (2006) as crucial to connecting and engaging others in ways that pure argument and fact typically fall short of. Story has been a part of humanity since the beginning of time and enables a deeper emotional connection and a way of communication that changes us, and thus the world around us as well.
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Symphony, the third sense, emphasises the need to synthesise across industries and archive to see the bigger picture and create a new whole. This requires us to be like nurses, to ensure that we continue to provide the art of nursing or the holistic care for individuals in health care systems and societies. Pink reminds us of the current trend to automate almost everything; nursing is in a unique position as an art and a science that cannot be automated but which is also in increasing demand in broader society.
Pink (2006) describes empathy, the fourth sense, as a needed addition to human logic in a time in which complex issues and abundant amounts of information are the norm. Although the wonderful sense of play, the fifth sense, is often frowned upon in the current culture, in which we often take things - especially work matters - very seriously, Pink reassures us that play is pretty much essential in both our professional and personal lives in order to produce health and well-being, as well as great results.
The sixth and final sense Pink identifies as essential is meaning. Because we live in a time in which material things are overwhelming the western world, increasing numbers of people are searching for meaning in their work and at home. Pink sees an increasing desire for "purpose, transcendence, and spiritual fulfilment' (Pink, 2006, p. 67).
When success in one's professional life depends on whether one is able to communicate effectively in intercultural contexts, then there is a clear need for a greater self-insight about the true, hidden force of culture.
Hall (1959) described culture as an unseen but powerful force that holds everyone captive. In his book The Silent Language he reveals how 'culture is not an exotic notion studied by a selected group of anthropologists, but a mould in which we are all cast, and it controls our lives in many unsuspected ways' (Hall, 1959, p. 53).
Hall himself conducted a research study in anthropology in Micronesia and recognised that culture influenced his own life as much as the life of people he studied there.
It is evident that since Hall described this phenomenon the world has changed a lot and international business has grown to an extent that is hard even to compare with the one in the period he was writing.
There are some things that have not changed, though. People still find themselves in difficulties when they need to do business with overseas clients, when they need to manage an ethnically diverse workforce, negotiate their business deals in another language or get a job in a company that has a completely different corporate culture.
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
In order to communicate more successfully in intercultural contexts, the field of intercultural business communication should more strongly emphasise the need to understand one's own individual cultural identity. It should recognise knowledge, beliefs, values, attitudes, traditions, and ways of life that define that sense of identity because by doing so it will be shown that culture not only connects people but helps to define them as entirely unique individuals.
Jameson (2007) defines the need to reconceptualise cultural identity and its role in intercultural business communication. While Hall's work helped connect the field of intercultural communication in various settings such as business, technical, and other professional settings, she envisages that a much broader and more balanced concept of cultural identity would help people not only to gain better self-insight but would also improve the analysis of business problems. She identifies six commonalities that define membership in a group of people that share the same cultural identity. They are vocation, class, geography, philosophy, language, and biology. What seems to be the most important thing is that when people are conscious of their cultural identities and they willingly choose to talk about them to others they may negotiate to some extent even their cultural identities in a discourse, which proves the importance of this concept in measuring overall intercultural competence.
3. THE RESEARCH ENVIRONMENT
3.1 Institutions, students and instructors
The purpose of this research is to provide insight into how intercultural competence can be taught in an international institution of higher education that offers a degree in business and management studies. Students of those programmes need to be aware of cultural boundaries and be prepared to cross them successfully. The role of instructors in the learning process is crucial. Providing the necessary cultural information and language skills are not enough. Instructors need to guide their students so that their learners can competently navigate cultures other than their own, knowing which values and behaviour patterns will assist them in their future workplaces. By doing so, students are also enabled to understand better their own cultural viewpoints as well as those of their counterparts.
3.2 Rochester Institute of Technology
RIT Croatia in Dubrovnik is a global campus of the Rochester Institute of Technology, a private research university in Rochester, New York. The Dubrovnik campus was founded in 1997, and offers 4-year undergraduate degrees in International Hospitality and Service Management and Information Technology. While the student body is primarily local (from Croatia and neighbouring countries), the American curriculum (provided by RIT in Rochester) is taught entirely in English. Students receive both Croatian and
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'Since 2001, hundreds of students from the Rochester campus have spent an academic quarter or semester in Dubrovnik, adding to the diversity of cultures'
American diplomas upon graduation, recognised by the Croatian Ministry of Education, European nations according to the Bologna agreement and American institutions.
Professor-student relationships, academic policies, extra-curricular activities and classroom activities are, in general, based on American educational cultural norms and traditions.
Although English is the official language of classroom instruction and official college communication, and American college culture forms the basis for student life in many ways, the college community functions in practice as a multilingual and multicultural environment. Currently, over 15% of students enrolled at the Dubrovnik campus come from countries other than Croatia, including Australia, Canada, Germany, Albania, Hungary, Russia, Norway, Peru and Bolivia. In addition, through RIT's study abroad programme, nations as diverse as Vietnam and China are represented. In 2014, 6% of incoming first-year students came from outside
Croatia. In 2015, this percentage increased to 18%.
With a current overall enrolment of about 230 students, RIT Croatia Dubrovnik campus is a relatively small and close-knit community in which students are exposed daily to new languages, customs and cultures both through classroom experiences and through social contact with professors, guest speakers and fellow students. Connections to RIT's sister campuses in Dubai, UAE, and Kosovo enrich the multicultural atmosphere.
Study abroad experiences are also an integral part of the multicultural atmosphere of the college. Since 2001, hundreds of students from the Rochester campus have spent an academic quarter or semester in Dubrovnik, adding to the diversity of cultures. Meanwhile, nearly 20 students from the Dubrovnik campus have studied at the Rochester, New York, campus. Participation in Europe's Erasmus exchange programme has also brought students and faculty from Turkey, France and Mexico to the campus in recent years. Thus, students at RIT Croatia in Dubrovnik are exposed on a daily basis to values, behaviours, expectations and traditions that are different from their home cultures. This is true not only for Croatian students and faculty studying or working in an American environment, but is also true of American and international students and faculty
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
who study and work with Croatian colleagues and experience daily life in Dubrovnik.
3.3 Extra-curricular activities
In addition to the daily experience of studying and living in a multicultural community, a variety of extra-curricular activities and college events are designed to expose students to new cultural values. The annual International Dinner, for example, encourages students to experience and share the cultures of the foreign languages they study (French, German, Spanish and Italian) through cooking and tasting various dishes representing those nations. The annual Community Service Day introduces students to the concept of service learning, and emphasises the importance of humanitarian contributions to the local community, and a variety of humanitarian events throughout the year encourage students to donate their time and efforts to assisting local charitable causes.
3.4 Intercultural awareness activities
Many faculty members have also designed their course curricula to include intercultural awareness activities as part of the academic programme. In the Meeting and Events Management Course, second-year students learn that multicultural awareness is a necessary skill if they want to work in an industry such as tourism, which deals with guests coming from all over the globe. In this course, students learn how to improve
communication by recognising different ways people understand cultures. Through role-playing skills and situational analysis, students portray different perceptions of time, space, individualism, power and thinking from one culture to another. Through small group activities students identify and implement strategies to avoid miscommunication due to cultural unawareness.
In the Literary and Cultural Studies course, offered to third-year students, students approach a variety of cultures through modern and contemporary poetry and short stories. The course particularly encourages reflection on the experience of black Americans, through reading and discussing the works of several renowned black writers. In addition, at the end of the semester, students take an active role in shaping the content of the course, by choosing the stories to be read and discussed by the class as a whole. Working in pairs, students are responsible for choosing contemporary short stories (by any author and on any topic, but published not more than 10 years ago) which become required reading for the class. The students who chose the story are responsible for leading a discussion on it facilitated by the instructor. However, the traditional roles of instructors as leaders and students as passive followers are reversed.
The Intermediate Italian course, offered to students in the third year, is designed to help them improve
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their vocabulary and learn how to apply this language in their professional careers. Culture awareness has become a crucial element of modern language education, and there is evidently a greater awareness of the inseparability of language and culture with the ultimate goal to prepare students for intercultural communication. While the primary goal of this course is to enable students to feel free to discuss various subjects and topics, the secondary goal is to acquaint students with contemporary culture and life in the Italian-speaking countries. The course combines traditional methods of language teaching and more recent communicative approaches.
All communicative activities, contemporary texts, and the study of vocabulary and grammar are used to expand all students' communication skills, especially their oral proficiency. The topic of each lesson is connected to one sociological and/or cultural situation of everyday life in Italy. Students are asked to make a comparison between different realities: Italian, their own view of it and their perspective of that situation in their own country. By doing so, they learn not only how to converse in Italian, but also how to become more comfortable exchanging ideas freely in a foreign language. By the end of the course students gain an appreciation of the varied aspects of culture in Italian speaking countries.
In the fourth year of the programme, in the
Negotiation and Conflict Resolution course, the focus is on developing students as effective negotiators by stressing the importance of reaching integrative solutions in a conflict situation. Often students recognise that they did not achieve a win-win resolution because they failed to identify different cultural values and norms. This class uses role plays as an effective teaching tool to engage students in exploring three dimensions of culture (individualism versus collectivism; egalitarianism versus hierarchy and direct versus indirect communication). Students learn how to avoid stereotyping and misperceptions and how to be open to a more accepting view of global negotiations at an interpersonal level. It is suggested that both parties in conflict need cultural intelligence in order to reach a resolution.
Thus, RIT Croatia's Dubrovnik campus provides both students and faculty with a rich, intercultural environment, both in and out of the classroom, in a variety of academic and social situations. Knowledge of, and adaptation to, new cultural norms and values is an integral part of the college experience, although this learning is not always explicitly taught or discussed but sometimes occurs spontaneously or indirectly.
4. AIM OF RESEARCH
While many previous studies have measured the effects of teaching intercultural competence directly, through special curricula and study
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
abroad programmes, this research aims to measure the degree and type of intercultural competence 'absorbed' through these holistic, atmospheric, ambient experiences in an intercultural institution as a whole. We hypothesise that gender does not play a significant role in levels of self-reported intercultural competence. The degree of self-reported intercultural competence does not correlate with gender. Furthermore, because intercultural competence is taught indirectly in this institution and specific cultural knowledge is not explicitly taught, we hypothesise that students in a holistic international environment report greater acquired competences in motivation and strategy than in behaviour and knowledge.
5. METHODOLOGY
The purpose of the survey was to measure the self-reported level of intercultural competence among the students of RIT Croatia Dubrovnik campus. The research conducted was quantitative in nature. The authors used the Cultural Intelligence Scale to measure intercultural competence on four cultural intelligence dimensions: metacognitive (strategy), cognitive (knowledge), motivational and behavioural (Ang et al., 2007).
The metacognitive/strategy category deals with participants' awareness of their own knowledge and ability to adapt appropriately to intercultural situations. For example, participants were asked to
agree or disagree on a scale with the following statement: I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I apply to cross-cultural interactions.
The cognitive/knowledge category deals with participants' level of concrete knowledge of specific cultural norms and expectations in various cultures. For example, participants were asked to agree or disagree on a scale with the following statement: I know the marriage systems of other cultures.
The motivation category deals with participant's level of confidence and enjoyment in intercultural interactions. For example, participants were asked to agree or disagree on a scale with the following statement: I am sure that I can deal with the stresses of adjusting to a culture that is new to me.
The behavioural category deals with participants' use of verbal and nonverbal cues in intercultural interactions. For example, participants were asked to agree or disagree on a scale with the following statement: I use pause and silence differently to suit different cross-cultural situations.
The survey consisted of 20 statements (4-6 in each category) with which students were asked to agree or disagree on a 5-point Likert scale (Appendix A). The survey was created using the Clipboard online tool from Rochester Institute of Technology and the participants were invited to log in and fill in
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the questionnaire online. The students were asked to select the answer that best described their capabilities using the Likert scale (1=strongly disagree, 5=strongly agree).
Participants in the study were RIT Croatia Dubrovnik students enrolled in the Spring Semester of the academic year 2014/2015. The authors used their own classes to access the population. An email was sent to students in the last week of instruction of the Spring Semester. Prior to sending the email, the professors also announced the research in their classes and invited students to participate on a voluntary and anonymous basis. The total of 160 students was reached and 53 students (33% of the enrolled student body) responded to the survey. Out of 53 students who took the survey, 16.98% were freshmen (first year students), 24.53% were sophomores (second year students), 22.64% were juniors (third year students) and 35.85% were seniors (fourth year students). Gender was equally represented (49.06% female and 50.94% male students). A few students did not answer some of the questions, or chose 'not applicable'. These answers have been disregarded, therefore the cumulative average does not always add to 100%.
6. STUDY AND RESULTS
Overall, respondents showed a high level of agreement with most of the statements in the survey. The highest level of agreement was
'The cognitive/knowledge category deals with participants' level of concrete knowledge of specific cultural norms and expectations in various cultures'
reported with statements in the motivational dimension of the cultural intelligence index, comprising five statements. Results show that 72.07% of the students surveyed agreed or strongly agreed in their answers. The undecided category was chosen by 12.45% and 12.45% answered that they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statements offered. Therefore, the mean value for this category, overall, was M=3.97 (SD=0.829).
The next highest level of agreement was reported in the metacognitive dimension of cultural intelligence (strategy category, comprising four of the total 20 statements). Results show that 72.64% of the surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed in their answers. The 'undecided' category was chosen by 18.39% and 8.49% answered disagree or strongly disagree. Therefore, the mean value for this category, overall, was M=3.87 (SD=0.656).
Compared to the first two categories, the level of agreement with the statements in the behavioural dimension of the cultural intelligence, comprising five statements, were somewhat lower, although
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
'The metacognitive/strategy category deals with participants ' awareness of their own knowledge and ability to adapt appropriately to intercultural situations '
still showing general agreement. Results show that 51.70% of the surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed in their answers. The 'undecided' category was chosen by 28.30%, and 18.12% of respondents answered disagree or strongly disagree. Therefore, the mean value for this category, overall, was M=3.44 (SD=0.76).
Finally, the lowest level of agreement was found in
the cognitive dimension of the cultural intelligence scale (knowledge category, comprising six out of 20 questions) showing that 38.68% of the surveyed students agreed or strongly agreed in their answers.
The undecided category averaged out at 34.27% while 25.15% of respondents answered disagree or strongly disagree. Therefore, the mean value for this category, overall, was M=3.17 (SD=0.774).
Table 1 contains the mean and standard deviation results confirming the above statements.
Table 2 reveals a strong positive relationship between strategy and motivation, and a weak one between knowledge and behaviour.
Table 1
Four categories of intercultural competence
N MINIMUM MAXIMUM MEAN STD. DEVIATION
Motivation 47 1.00 5.00 3.9702 .82985
Strategy 49 1.50 5.00 3.8776 .65575
Behaviour 48 1.40 5.00 3.4417 .76069
Knowledge 48 1.00 5.00 3.1771 .77445
Valid N (listwise) 41
Table 2 explains correlations between the four categories.
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Table 2
Correlations between four categories
STRATEGY KNOWLEDGE BEHAVIOUR MOTIVATION
STRATEGY Pearson Correlation 1 .658" .519" .756"
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000
N 49 46 47 45
KNOWLEDGE Pearson Correlation .658** 1 . 498** . 553**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000
N 46 48 45 45
BEHAVIOUR Pearson Correlation .519** .498** 1 .643**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000
N 47 45 48 44
MOTIVATION Pearson Correlation .756** .553** .643** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000 .000 .000
N 45 45 44 47
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)
Levene's and t-tests were performed (Tables 3a and 3b) and equal variances are assumed without Type I error in effect.
Table 3a
Levene's test performed
STRATEGY F SIG.
Equal variances assumed 2.559 .116
Equal variances not assumed
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
Table 3b T-test performed
STRATEGY T df SIG. MEAN STD. ERROR 95%
(2-TAILED) DIFFERENCE DIFFERENCE CONFIDENCE
INTERVAL OF THE DIFFERENCE
LOWER UPPER
Equal variances -2,693 47 .010 - .47458 .17627 -.82920 -.11997
assumed
Equal variances not -2,673 40,909 .011 - .47458 .18855 -83318 -.11599
assumed
Regarding gender differences, statistically significant differences were noted only in the metacognitive/ strategy category. Table 4 shows that female students reported higher scores for the importance of metacognitive skills/strategy category (M=4.11, SD=0.50) than male students (M=3.63, SD=0.71).
Table 4
Gender differences
GENDER N MEAN STD. DEVIATION STD. ERROR MEAN
Strategy Male 24 3.6354 .71846 .50042
Female 25 4.1100 .14666 .10008
7. DISCUSSION
Building on these findings, our results clearly indicate that RIT Croatia Dubrovnik students believe they possess strong metacognitive
strategies for successful management of intercultural situations. Furthermore, the students are capable of adjusting their cultural knowledge when the situation so requires. Students believe
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they are highly motivated to succeed in intercultural interactions. They enjoy interacting and socialising in intercultural situations, and feel confident crossing cultural boundaries at the same time being aware of the cultural knowledge they possess. However, students' responses indicate they are less confident in their own abilities when it comes to controlling and using specific behaviours appropriately in an intercultural context, for example, adjusting verbal and nonverbal signals in conversation.
Finally, students feel least competent in the area of specific intercultural knowledge, or the cognitive domain. When asked about their knowledge of other cultures' legal or marriage systems and rules, for example, most students admitted to their lack of knowledge.
These results are encouraging for educators who wish to foster intercultural skills in students. It shows that students do not overestimate their own competences and do not confuse motivation with actual cultural specific knowledge.
Gender may, in fact, play a role in intercultural competence. Results show that female students reported slightly higher levels of competence in the strategy category. This result should be interpreted further in light of additional research into the role of gender in empathy and emotional intelligence. It is possible that particular
educational attention needs to be paid to male students in order to ensure that they also achieve similar levels of competence in this area.
The results seem consistent with RIT Croatia's institutional approach to teaching and learning intercultural competence through a holistic experience in an intercultural community. Exposure to and participation in a variety of intercultural experiences evidently increases students' motivation, openness and overall attitudes towards other cultures. Students feel confident in their own abilities to successfully navigate these situations in general. However, since the institution is focused primarily on the teaching of business and management practice, direct teaching of specific factual cultural knowledge is a lower priority, which is reflected in students' scores.
The creators of the Cultural Intelligence Scale instrument suggest that the results can be used to predict various competences in an intercultural situation. Ang et al. (2007) argue that high scores in the cognitive and metacognitive categories can predict the subject's skill in cultural judgment and decision. Meanwhile, high scores in the motivational and behavioural categories correlate with the cultural adaptation skill. Finally, high scores in metacognitive and behavioural categories suggest success in the performance of specific tasks.
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
Applying this model of interpretation to our results, we predict that our students' high scores in metacognitive and motivational categories will compensate for lower scores in behavioural and knowledge categories. Looking at these results we feel confident in hypothesising that our students will welcome and seek out intercultural experiences as a source of personal growth and even enjoyment.
7. CONCLUSION
These results suggest that a holistic approach to teaching intercultural competence through the experience in an active learning community through both academic and social activities inside and outside of the classroom can be an effective tool for the education of young people, which can ultimately successfully prepare them for their professional careers and help them face a globalised future. The authors of this paper do not find the lower scores in the areas of cognitive and behavioural competence discouraging since, as Ang et al. (2007) noted, competence in strategy and motivation form the prerequisite foundation for successful intercultural adaptation. Specific knowledge of customs, norms and traditions as well as the accompanying behaviours necessary to respect the same, can be readily learned when the foundation of motivation and self-awareness is high.
It still remains to be said that in order to equip
students even more fully for the challenges awaiting them in a rapidly changing global environment, future educational practices should aim to introduce them to a wider range of specific cultural knowledge and appropriate behaviour and customs, such as legal or marriage systems in particular countries as well as verbal and nonverbal behavioural customs. Further research is necessary and recommended to confirm these initial results, and to test whether self-reported levels of competence can serve as an accurate predictor of actual behaviour in intercultural situations. This research was limited by a relatively small sample size, and an inability to purchase other recognised instruments for measuring intercultural competence. For example, the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) or Global Mindset Inventory (GMI) would be excellent instruments for measuring these competences in more depth. In addition, more research is necessary to determine the effect of students' ages on their levels of competence. This research found no significant differences between year levels. However, future research should take into account students' ages on enrolment, country of origin, as well as the degree of previous familiarity with various cultures in their personal and educational experiences.
Note: This article was first published in the Croatian Journal of Education 2017. Republished by permission of the authors.
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Appendix A. Cultural Intelligence Scale
The Cultural Intelligences (CIs) Scale measures the capability to function effectively in culturally diverse settings. This research developed and tested a model that posited differential relationships between the four cultural intelligence dimensions (metacognitive, cognitive, motivational and behavioural) and three intercultural effectiveness outcomes (cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance in culturally diverse settings). The results demonstrate a consistent pattern of relationships where metacognitive and cognitive CIs predicted cultural judgment and decision making; motivational and behavioural CIs predicted cultural adaptation; and metacognitive and behavioural CIs predicted task performance. Source: http://www.linnvandyne.com/ shortmeasure.html.
Appendix B. The 20-item, Four Factor Cultural Intelligence Scale (CQS)
Instructions: Select the response that best describes your capabilities. Select the answer that BEST describes you AS YOU REALLY ARE (1=strongly disagree; 7=strongly agree).
CQ Questionnaire Items CQ-Strategy:
1. MC1 I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I use when interacting with people with different cultural backgrounds.
2. MC2 I adjust my cultural knowledge as I interact with people from a culture that is unfamiliar to me.
3. MC3 I am conscious of the cultural knowledge I apply to cross-cultural interactions.
4. MC4 I check the accuracy of my cultural knowledge as I interact with people from different cultures.
CQ-Knowledge:
1. COG1 I know the legal and economic systems of other cultures.
2. COG2 I know the rules (e.g., vocabulary, grammar)
by Zrinka Friganovic Sain, Milena Kuznin and Rebecca Charry Roje
of other languages.
3. COG3 I know the cultural values and religious beliefs of other cultures.
4. COG4 I know the marriage systems of other cultures.
5. COG5 I know the arts and crafts of other cultures.
6. COG6 I know the rules for expressing non-verbal behaviours in other cultures.
CQ-Motivation:
1. MOT1 I enjoy interacting with people from different cultures.
2. MOT2 I am confident that I can socialise with locals in a culture that is unfamiliar to me.
3. MOT3 I am sure I can deal with the stresses of adjusting to a culture that is new to me.
4. MOT4 I enjoy living in cultures that are unfamiliar to me.
5. MOT5 I am confident that I can get accustomed to the shopping conditions in a different culture.
CQ-Behaviour:
1. BEH1 I change my verbal behaviour (e.g., accent, tone) when a cross-cultural interaction requires it. 2. BEH2 I use pause and silence differently to suit different cross-cultural situations.
3. BEH3 I vary the rate of my speaking when a cross-cultural situation requires it.
4. BEH4 I change my non-verbal behaviour when a cross-cultural interaction requires it.
5. BEH5 I alter my facial expressions when a cross-cultural interaction requires it.
© Cultural Intelligence Center, 2005. Used by permission of Cultural Intelligence Center. Note. Use of this scale granted to academic researchers for research purposes only. For information on using the scale for purposes other than academic research (e.g., consultants and non-academic organisations), please send an email to [email protected].
