Developing a Global Mindset: The Relationship between an International Assignment and Cultural Intelligence

A global mindset is argued to be critical for managers to develop their firms’ current and future international success. An international assignment is considered to be one of the most powerful means of developing a global mindset. The skill sets, cognitive complexity, and expanded networks resulting from an international assignment provide expatriates with unique and often tacit knowledge. Yet, every overseas assignment is not successful and not every foreign assignment results in the expatriate gaining a broadened perspective and enhanced skill sets. We develop a model that explicates how an individual’s cultural intelligence will affect the relationship between an international assignment experience and the development of a global mindset; and, we suggest that a moderator – cultural intelligence – must play a role in the transformation of the international experience into a global mindset.