International career aspirations: Can multicultural personality traits predict the interest in working abroad?

Ana Carballal-Broome (1) , María-José Pinillos (2)
(1) Faculty of Social Sciences, Nebrija University, Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015, Madrid, Spain , Spain
(2) Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo de los Artilleros s/n, 28032 Madrid, Spain , Spain

Abstract


The business world is faced with the need to create new strategies in order to identify a global mentality and an international motivation in professionals who hardly work anymore in monocultural environments. This study investigates the characteristics of international career aspirations in order to identify multicultural personality traits that may predict interest in working abroad. An empirical research has been carried out with 243 individuals using the Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ), a multidimensional instrument whose objective is to measure multicultural efficacy. The results of the study suggest that open-mindedness and flexibility are the main predictors of the interest in working abroad. These findings have important implications for organizations that require suitable candidates to work effectively in international and multicultural environments.


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Authors

Ana Carballal-Broome
acarball@nebrija.es (Primary Contact)
María-José Pinillos
Author Biographies

Ana Carballal-Broome, Faculty of Social Sciences, Nebrija University, Santa Cruz de Marcenado 27, 28015, Madrid, Spain

Dr. Ana Carballal-Broome is a lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Modern Languages at Nebrija University in Madrid, Spain. She teaches intercultural communication and global skills for international business environments. Her areas of research and specialization include cross-cultural management, intercultural competence and development of intercultural skills for professional purposes.

María-José Pinillos, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University Rey Juan Carlos, Paseo de los Artilleros s/n, 28032 Madrid, Spain

Dr. María-José Pinillos is an Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University Rey Juan Carlos. She teaches strategy management, organization and entrepreneurship, and her research areas include entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial culture. Her recent research includes servitization studies.

Carballal-Broome, A., & Pinillos, M.-J. (2022). International career aspirations: Can multicultural personality traits predict the interest in working abroad?. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 22(2), 11–21. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v22i2.35

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