eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

This study examined the effect of student exchanges on cultural intelligence. The research focused on the outgoing students of Aalto University School of Business. The students spent the spring semester of 2012 studying at one of the Aalto University School of Business' partner universities.

The research design used was a mixed methodology: the study used both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative method was represented by the pre- and post-exchange surveys which were administered in January 2012 and July 2012. As a part of both surveys the participants were asked to fill the Cultural Intelligence Scale (Ang et al., 2007) in order to measure their level of cultural intelligence prior to their student exchange and compare it to the level at the end of the foreign exchange. The qualitative data collected was formed from primary data (open-ended question at the end of the post-exchange survey) and secondary data (meaningful pieces of information from students' travel reports).

A total of 26 students answered to both surveys. The results indicate that a slight improvement in the students' cultural intelligence happened due to the foreign exchange.