Encouraging Intercultural Interaction by Cultural Specific Learning Design

Abstract

Increased levels of internationalization have led to individuals working in multicultural organizations, a trend that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. To navigate these environments successfully, more emphasis is being placed on the importance of higher education in preparing and arming the future workforce with the international competencies required to be successful in contemporary organizations. The aim of this research is to shed much needed light on how the learning design of management courses influence how and with whom 263 students learn within two culturally diverse post-graduate management courses. We found that Course B (specific cross-cultural design) significantly and with large effect size increased intercultural interaction over time relative to Course A (generic learning design), whereby qualitative findings confirm substantial differences in lived experiences between the two courses. This highlights that educators need to carefully design intercultural interactions rather than hoping that these will develop naturally over time.