EFFECTS OF ALTERNATIVE INSTRUCTIONAL APPROACHES ON CROSS-CULTURAL TRAINING OUTCOMES

We investigated the (a) effectiveness of cross-cultural training in pr omoting cultural awareness and (b) differential effects of didactic an d experiential approaches on cultural awareness and trainee reaction. MBA students (N=105) participated in a cross-cultural training program structured to allow for a pretest-posttest experimental design. Parti cipants were randomly assigned to one of three instructional condition s: integrative, video, and experiential (BaFa BaFa). Trained participa nts reported a significantly higher level of cultural awareness, but t here were no significant differences among training conditions on this variable. Experientially trained participants, however, reacted more positively to the training. Implications of the results and suggestion s for future research are discussed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al l rights reserved.