Exploring the Impact of Cultural Context in Management Education: A Pre- and Post-course Assessment



Author Information

Salman Ali, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, India

Abstract

In today’s interconnected world, cultural agility is essential for effective cross-border collaboration. This study explores the role of experiential learning in developing cultural agility through the X-Culture Global Collaboration Project, which was run as a credited course for MBA participants. Participants engaged in global virtual teams to solve business challenges, promoting intercultural cooperation and enhancing key competencies. A pre- and post-project survey was conducted among over 100 participants to measure changes in cultural agility across dimensions such as tolerance for ambiguity, cultural curiosity, perspective-taking, and relationship-building. Findings indicate a significant improvement in overall cultural agility, with notable growth in cultural curiosity, perspective-taking, resilience, relationship-building, and communication styles (direct/indirect and task/relationship orientation). Additionally, participants demonstrated a shift towards collectivist tendencies and a more adaptable approach to time perception, reflecting increased flexibility in cross-cultural settings. However, aspects such as egalitarianism and cultural humility remained relatively unchanged. This study highlights the impact of immersive, team-based global projects in strengthening cultural agility, particularly in enhancing adaptability, diverse perspective-taking, and relationship-driven collaboration. It contributes to the discourse on experiential learning and global business education, offering insights into how structured international teamwork fosters essential cross-cultural competencies. Future research could examine the long-term effects of such interventions and compare outcomes across diverse participant groups.


Paper Information

Conference: ACE2025
Stream: Teaching Experiences

This paper is part of the ACE2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
Full Paper
View / Download the full paper in a new tab/window


To cite this article:
Ali S. (2026) Exploring the Impact of Cultural Context in Management Education: A Pre- and Post-course Assessment ISSN: 2186-5892 – The Asian Conference on Education 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 639-644) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.50
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2186-5892.2026.50


Comments & Feedback

Place a comment using your LinkedIn profile

Comments

Share on activity feed

Powered by WP LinkPress

Share this Research

Posted by James Alexander Gordon