Developing Students’ Cultural Intelligence Through an Experiential Learning Activity

Business schools can increase their competitiveness by offering students intercultural skills development opportunities integrated into the traditional curricula. This article makes a contribution by proposing an approach to developing students’ cultural intelligence that is based on the cultural intelligence (CQ) model, experiential learning theory, and contact theory. This study empirically tests the effectiveness of the proposed approach by developing and conducting a cost-efficient, easy-to-implement experiential learning activity where marketing students and advanced English as a Second Language students interview each other about consumer behavior differences. The activity led to a perceived increase in cultural knowledge, motivation, and confidence in the students’ ability to communicate with people from other cultures. Overall, students deemed the activity a valuable part of their education. Students’ CQ was positively correlated with the self-reported (perceived) prior experience-based and studies-based intercultural competence. Compared with domestic students, international students scored higher only on the Cognitive dimension of CQ.