Abstract
As more people gravitated to the city, urban areas in the United States became increasingly diverse, yet the Church missed the opportunity to reach these multicultural cities. Though there were efforts at designing a core curriculum for cultural adaptability training, there was a lack of data supporting its effectiveness. Much of the Church’s response to the urbanization focused on cross-culturalism with the view of urban communities as mission fields. Literature revealed that cultural adaptability and cultural intelligence were needed skill sets for the workplace. Faith organizations that routinely worked among cross-cultural populations needed to ensure that their staff received proper training in cultural skills before leaving for the field. This research centered on a small study of urban missionary candidates from World Impact. The quantitative approach followed a methodology that was exploratory, rather than hypothesis, driven. The design used a survey tool called the Cross Cultural Adaptability Inventory. The tool utilized a Likert scale and rating scale questions, as opposed to open or closed question surveys. In determining acceptable levels of cultural adaptability in missionary candidates, this study found evidence of notable increases in adaptability as a result of training. Additionally, cultural adaptability in relation to demographics was validated. However, the linear combination of demographics predicting cultural adaptability was not found. Literature supported the lack of consensus on the direction of cultural adaptability studies. The expectation of this study was that organizations would take a deeper look at how they were conducting cultural adaptability training. The data gathered from this research project led to the recommendation for continued study on the individual components of cultural adaptability, including additional occupations and pretesting as a best practice prior to post-testing
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Dissertations (EdD) -- Education; Cultural relations; Missionaries -- Training of; Cultural intelligence
Date of Award
2017
School Affiliation
Graduate School of Education and Psychology
Department/Program
Education
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate
Faculty Advisor
Rhodes, Kent;
Recommended Citation
Ruder, Romney, "Competencies and the changing world of work: the need to add cultural adaptability and cultural intelligence to the mix when working with urban missionary candidates" (2017). Theses and Dissertations. 839.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/839