Adaptação e validação de instrumento de medida de competências interculturais para estudantes universitários Brasileiros

The main objective of the research described in this paper was to make freely available to researchers and management professionals a measurement instrument of intercultural skills (ISs), in Portuguese, validated according to the procedures recommended in the literature. ISs are CI knowledge, skills and motivations that enable individuals to adapt to multicultural environments. This research translated and adapted an English instrument to Portuguese using data from a survey of 268 Brazilian university students. The instrument was validated through a confirmatory factor analysis. The results showed that, with removal of impure items, both the instrument and the constructs are valid in the new context. The research contributes to the administration of academic institutions by making available an instrument of intercultural measurement and to theory, by verifying the validity of constructs in contexts different from those in which they had already been tested. ICs are particularly important for managers who increasingly find themselves involved in transactions that cross borders. The demand for ICs in managers explains why almost 1/4 of tertiary students seeking international exchanges programs are registered in business courses abroad. The importance of ICs for management and the frequency with which exchange students come from business courses makes this research particularly relevant to management theory and practice.