Developing cultural intelligence: assessing the effect of the Ecotonos cultural simulation game for international business students

In this study, we test the strength of a cross-cultural simulation game, Ecotonos, in the development of cultural intelligence (CQ) and self-efficacy amongst business students. Cross-cultural training is perceived as an important tool to help develop cross-cultural competence in international managers. Within the training literature, a distinction is made between various types of training, roughly the more cognitive knowledge-transferring training formats and more behavioral training formats such as cultural simulation games or cross-cultural role-plays. The impact of these cross-cultural role-plays is perceived to be stronger due to the process of practicing new behavior in an intercultural safe setting. In this study, we test such a behavioral training format, Ecotonos, to investigate the impact of this cross-cultural intervention on the cultural competence of students in higher business education. This study shows that the use of the Ecotonos cross-cultural role-play supports the development of CQ, specifically metacognitive, motivational, and behavioral CQ. Next, it shows an increase in the development of confidence in cross-cultural encounters. Communication effectiveness did not increase as a result of the Ecotonos cross-cultural role-play.