Journal of Teaching in International Business

Volume 32 Issue 2, Oct 2021

https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/wtib20/current

Introduction

Cross-Cultural Competence Development for Business Students

Raj Aggarwal & Yinglu Wu

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2021.1987021

Research Articles

Cross-Cultural Management Education: Core for Business Students in the 21^st Century

Hadia Fakhreldin, Noha Youssef & Marwa Anis

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2021.1960242

The study examines the impact of introducing several cross-cultural management courses in the undergraduate program of a business school on the students’ cultural intelligence level and on their ability to manage conflict more effectively. The experimental method is used where students in the experimental and the control groups respond to the same survey at three different times (240 students); the focus group method is used with a group of nine students from the experimental group to obtain a deeper understanding of the results of the statistical analysis. The findings suggest a positive and significant effect of the cross-cultural management courses on the cultural intelligence level and the conflict management styles of students with obvious differences between male and female students. The findings confirm the importance of these courses and recommend making cross-cultural management courses core for all students to support their future global employability. Furthermore, experiential and blended learning techniques can replace international exposure, which is timely considering the constraints imposed on international travel due to COVID19. The study suggests a helpful insight to international business educators that can support the process of developing their programs through introducing specific courses and complementary teaching techniques that are effective and timely.

The Effects of Work-integrated Education and International Study Exchange Experience on Academic Outcomes

Louis T. W. Cheng, Christine A. Armatas & Jacqueline W. Wang

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2021.1960243

The paper reports on the analysis of data collected from 684 students majoring in Accounting and Finance, to examine the relationship between academic outcomes and Work-integrated Education (WIE) and International Study Exchange (ISE) experiences. Both WIE and ISE are common elements of undergraduate business education because of the benefits to students’ skills development they provide, particularly in the areas of graduate attribute development. This study examined the relationship between the change in students’ academic performance and the amount and type of WIE a student undertook and whether or not they participated in an ISE. Findings showed that both completing a higher amount of WIE and undertaking an ISE are positive predictors of change in a student’s grade point average. In addition, students who undertook industry-relevant WIE or WIE sourced by the school had higher grades on graduation. As well as benefits to overall academic achievement, the results showed that students who participated in ISE had significantly higher grades in the final year, major project, as well as a higher grade on graduation. Furthermore, undertaking an ISE and also doing extra WIE had the greatest effect on change in GPA. These findings strongly suggest that relevant WIE and ISE experiences are valuable for helping students be academically more successful when they return to study at their home institution.

Unpacking Cultural Intelligence: Cultivating Ethnorelativism in International Business Education

Ru-Shiun Liou, Shaista Nisar, Kevin Lee, Deirdre Dixon & Julie Pennington

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2021.1960244

In light of diverse designs of the international business (IB) curriculum, this study investigates how the IB curriculum that requires students to major in a functional area enhances students’ cultural intelligence as well as differentiates the effect of students’ study abroad experience above and beyond various functional IB courses. By conducting qualitative focus groups and a quantitative survey in the United States, we find that although students’ past study abroad experiences improved their cultural intelligence (CQ), the IB education curriculum, even without a study abroad component, plays a pivotal role in improving students’ ethnorelativism, which leads to increased CQ. The finding of the current study supports that IB programs focusing on curriculum that enhances students’ ethnorelativism will help students develop CQ despite lacking study-abroad opportunities due to various travel restrictions, such as the ones caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, ethnorelativism in its own right has become a salient issue in the current climate of rising intolerance against minorities of different cultural backgrounds. We offer suggestions in the IB curriculum to further foster students’ ethnorelativism and CQ.

Improving Translation Teaching for Transnational Business: Voices of Translators from Chinese Enterprises in Africa

Guohua Zhang, Lifei Wang & Bin Ai

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/08975930.2021.1960245

Under the influence of economic globalization, Chinese enterprises are seeking more international market shares, and Africa is one of their crucial markets. This calls for translators who are experienced in multilingual business communication, which brings a challenge for business translation education in Chinese universities. In this paper, a qualitative case study is used to explore the perceptions of a cohort of translators working for globalized enterprises in Africa. This study uses a practical and bottom-up perspective to examine the status quo and the challenges encountered by translators in a transnational business setting. These translators’ experiences and reflections offer a close-up view of communication and language services in Chinese transnational enterprises, and solutions are suggested for improving the teaching of business translation at universities in this era of international transactions. The practitioners’ suggestions offer insights into business translation teaching in Chinese universities and other parts of the world.