Improving Cultural Intelligence Through Experiential Learning in Nontraditional Adult Students at a Private Mid-Atlantic University MBA Program.

摘要

The demand for culturally competent employees continues to increase both domestically in the United States and abroad. Educational institutions must be aware of the demand and make accommodations for this shift in employee requirements as well as the growing business needs of multinational corporations. Study abroad programs often emerge as the leading technique among researchers for developing international business knowledge in students, but nontraditional adult students cannot be expected to undertake the associated high cost, time, and strain on job responsibilities. This research integrated two complementary experiential learning techniques, guest speakers and culture specific case studies, into globally focused MBA classrooms at a private mid-Atlantic university. This study used a mixed methodology that paired open-ended questions to the Mini-Cultural Intelligence Scale (Mini-CQS), as a pre- and post- test measure of the change in cultural intelligence in nontraditional adult students. The results suggest that the integration of experiential learning techniques was effective in changing the cultural intelligence of the nontraditional adult students in this study.