Does international experience count in the cross-cultural management course effectiveness?

The rapid increase of globalization processes in many aspects of social and work life has pushed educators to develop students with cross-cultural competence in order to work in culturally diverse settings. We extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of cross-cultural management courses by emphasizing multidimensional learning outcomes. Furthermore, we investigate the influence of international experience on the effectiveness of cross-cultural management education. By studying 179 students at two universities, our results showed that students’ international experience through international student status was positively associated with their cognitive cultural intelligence, and students’ international experience through military affiliation was positively related to their motivational cultural intelligence and cross-cultural adjustment efficacy. We discuss ways to utilize experience for better learning and implications for management education.