Interpersonal Cross-Cultural Contact: Exploring the Role of Cultural Encounters as Antecedent to Cultural Competence at Workplace

The purpose of this study is to qualitatively investigate how interpersonal cultural encounters in daily lives make individuals culturally competent at workplace. Using in-depth interviews of Indian working executives, I conducted an inquiry to arrive at my findings. The findings suggest that cultural encounters in work as well as non-work settings influence cultural competence at workplace. Especially, the role of family-based encounters was found to be significant. Contribution of this study towards the scholarship on cross-cultural management and future scope for research are discussed.