Experience Abroad and Its Relation to Intercultural Competence and Cross-Cultural Tolerance

Abstract

Successfully managing diversity is becoming more and more important in today's working environment. In this context, the development of intercultural competencies is of significant importance. The presented study gives an overview of the relationship between dimensions of multicultural effectiveness and two factors that are relevant in diversity settings: xenophobia, and international experience. It is shown that, while sole personality dimensions only have limited impact on a positive attitude towards persons with a migration background, a multicultural personality, as a whole, is very important in this context. Furthermore, a person with international experience shows higher values in open-mindedness, but is often also characterized by a lower degree of emotional stability.