Abstract:

Relevance: Rapid global economic, demographic and geopolitical changes over the last two decades have elevated intercultural competence from a social asset to a vital professional skill for navigating complex international business environments. It has become a crucial hybrid qualification, which enables in business environments productive and success-oriented interaction with people from different cultures and is thus already a critical factor in personnel decisions. That’s why the ability to quantify business oriented intercultural competence is becoming an essential aspect of human resource management (HRM).
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the major psychometric methods in the context of personnel selection procedures in business environments for determining intercultural competence.
Methodology: The most commonly used psychometric analysis methods – Big Five Factors, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI), IRI Procedure / Saarbrucken Personality Questionnaire, and Operationalized Psychodynamic Diagnostics (OPD) – are analyzed according to Bolten’s requirements for intercultural competence, which assess the self-perception and personality traits of applicants in connection with intercultural competence. The results are summarized by a SWOT analysis for each method.
Findings: The use of existing psychometric methods can help to validly determine the personal skills and characteristics of employees. All tests have major strengths and weaknesses that have been scientifically evaluated and validated. However, none of the methods tested is suitable for measuring intercultural competence in business environments.
Conclusions: There is currently a huge gap between the existing instruments and the necessary quantification of intercultural competence in business environments. That’s why a novel test must be developed, based on the proven advantages of the existing methods, and focused on business applicability.