Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
International Higher Education Conference, 11 - 13 Ekim 2018
In 21st century, it is very important to carry out successful cross-cultural
interactions. With the effect of internationalization, colleges are developing new
policies in order to compete in global academic environment. One of these initiatives
in the European context is Erasmus Student Mobility Program. Moreover, Cultural
intelligence (CQ) is the phenomenon that is regarded as one of the essential skills to
carry out those cross-cultural interactions. In general terms, it is the “ability to make
oneself understood and the ability to create a fruitful collaboration in situations where
cultural differences play a role”. CQ has four main factors, which are cognitive
(knowing about other cultures), metacognitive (cultural awareness), motivational
(desire to learn about other cultures), and behavioral (adapting verbal and nonverbal
behavior). Moreover, personality shapes individuals’ attitudes and perceptions
towards other cultures. While it is certain that all personality traits play an important
role on determining CQ, previous research showed that all four factors of CQ are
significantly related only to openness to experience. Therefore, the purpose of this
study was to investigate the effect of participating in Erasmus Program on university
students’ CQ after controlling for the effect of personality trait “openness to
experience”.
This quantitative research was utilized as a causal comparative research design.
The population in this study was all university students in Turkey, and the study took
place in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara. The target population in this research was
college students. Sample was drown from a comprehensive public university for
convenience purposes in Ankara. The sample consisted of two groups of participants:
the students who returned to Turkey after 3 to 12 months period of studying abroad
with Erasmus program and students who did not participate in Erasmus Program, and
who have not been abroad for educational purposes. A total number of 450 students
were participated in the study. Data collection instruments were Cultural Intelligence
Scale and Big Five Inventory: Openness to Experience Subscale. For reliability purposes, the pilot studies were conducted, and Cronbach’s alpha values were found
to be .77, .83, .84, and .79 for CQ factors, and .78 for Openness to Experience.
MANCOVA was conducted for main data analyses. The assumptions of
MANCOVA were checked. According to the results, Erasmus experience was
significant, Pillai’s T=.12, F (4,446) = 15.51, p < .05, ƞ2=.12, meaning that 12% of
the variance is explained by Erasmus experience. Moreover, openness to experience
was also significant, Pillai’s T=.15, F (4,446) = 19.73, p < .05, ƞ2=.15, meaning that
15% of the variance is explained by openness to experience personality trait.
According to the results of univariate tests, Erasmus experience had significant effect
on metacognitive CQ, F (1,449) = 24.37, p < .0125, ƞ2 = .05, on cognitive CQ, F
(1,449) = 33.34, p < .01, ƞ2=.07, on motivational CQ, F (1,449) = 42.22, p < .01,
ƞ
2=.09, and on behavioral CQ, F (1,449) = 35.57, p < .0125, ƞ2=.07.
The results showed that participating in Erasmus Program increases all factors
of CQ significantly. To graduate students who will be more competent and selfconfident in intercultural contexts, who will be more respectful towards cultural
differences in their country and around the world, college students should be provided
with cross-cultural immersion opportunities.
Keywords: Cultural intelligence, Erasmus Student Mobility Program,
openness to experience, university students, internationalization