Cultural Training as Behavior Change

People working overseas require knowledge of the local culture, as well as competence in dealing with cross-cultural situations. Acquiring the necessary knowledge, skills, and abilities can be difficult, not just because there is much to learn but because differences between cultures can result in discomfort and act as an affective barrier to learning. Busy adults have limited time to learn, which exacerbates the problem. VCATs (Virtual Cultural Awareness Trainers) have proven to be highly effective at promoting cultural awareness, in spite of these challenges. This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding how cultural learning takes place in VCATs, in terms of behavior change. Virtual role-play together with other learning activities appropriate for each stage in the learning process promote readiness to learn and behavior change. The resulting approach has been applied successfully in cultural awareness training courses for over eighty countries, with over 60,000 learners to date. A longitudinal evaluation with VCAT learners suggests that it has long-term effects on behavior in cross-cultural settings. The paper concludes with some recommendations for further improvements of the VCAT model, through ongoing adaptive training resulting in stronger and more sustained learning outcomes.