Short or Long Study Abroad? Cultural Distance May Be the Key
Swinder Janda
Kansas State University, USA
Volume 15: 2020, pp. 75-88; ABSTRACT
With business schools increasingly emphasizing study abroad experiences within their programs of study, there is need for further research related to outcomes of such programs. Increasing cost of education and greater number of students working part-time has made shorter study abroad programs (one to two weeks in duration) more and more popular. However, do shorter programs provide outcomes similar to longer (over a month) duration programs? This study utilizes an online survey to answer this research question and focuses on two prominent study abroad outcomes: cultural intelligence and global mindset. Findings indicate that even though length of study abroad affects the two aforementioned outcomes, the more critical consideration when developing study abroad programs is cultural distance or the degree to which the study abroad location is to a country culturally different from the student’s home country. Implications are provided for study abroad administrators and faculty-leaders.
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