Exploring cultural intelligence development methods for Indonesian business school students

Abstract

As workplaces become more international, the capacity to function effectively across cultures has become a core competency for business graduates. Cultural intelligence, a person’s capability to function well in culturally diverse settings, has therefore become an important learning outcome for business schools. Yet most existing studies concentrate on classroom-based interventions and pay limited attention to how cultural intelligence can be developed beyond formal instruction. This study explores the methods through which business school students can develop cultural intelligence. Using a qualitative design, semi-structured interviews were conducted with fourteen informants: lecturers experienced in cross-cultural or international business teaching, students who had taken cross-cultural courses or training, and members of business school management. The findings indicate that cultural intelligence can be cultivated across three levels, namely the individual, classroom, and institutional levels, and that the methods at each level operate through two underlying functions: building cultural knowledge and providing intercultural experience, with the latter being further distinguished into direct and indirect forms. The study contributes a functional classification of cultural intelligence development methods that can guide educators and institutions in selecting approaches that fit their objectives and resource constraints. It also highlights the individual and institutional levels, which have received little attention in prior research, as legitimate sites of cultural intelligence development.