Digital Cultural Intelligence Platforms: Exploring their Impacts on Enhancing Cultural Awareness in Global Business Settings

Abstract

This study investigates the potential of digital platforms to raise cultural intelligence and promote cross-cultural competency in international business settings. This thesis research compares existing CQ digital platforms and their utility in enhancing employees' and organizations' industrial cultural awareness, sensitivity, and agility. This paper seeks to restore hope and bring back some optimism surrounding the future of international business by examining ways to utilize digital tools to support intercultural learning and characterizing aspects that should be considered while optimizing these technologies for a more heterogeneous workforce. The structure of intercultural communication theories concerns cultural intelligence, cross-cultural competency, and digital learning platforms.

This study combines quantitative and qualitative research to evaluate the platform's user experience and general characteristics. This paper consists of user entries, survey results, and interview findings conducted by CQ digital platforms to assess the benefits and shortcomings of the present CQ digital offerings. The aforementioned factors are critical requirements for effective, practical learning, which is why research has established these platforms as disseminators of quality information with user accessibility and opportunities for real-world applications. However, the information provided was not specific enough to any one business or area, which implied a need for more targeted training development. CQ development and embedding experiential learning is always challenging to evaluate, but this highlights areas for future opportunities.

This thesis contributes to existing knowledge on digital CQ platforms by suggesting their numerous advantages related to, but not limited to, the enhancement of adequate intercultural competence, balanced with disadvantages that appear through differing professional contexts in usage. The findings show that although CQ training provided via digital media is compelling, presenting information specific to the industry and/or region further enhances training effectiveness. Based on this, the following recommendations from the study seek to enhance the architecture of digital platforms that enrich cultural intelligence (CQ) and articulate directions for future research to enable CQ enhancements.