Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory

Use this test to ensure that those you’re planning to send overseas or who will be immersed in new cultures have the skills required to acclimate to the new challenges they’ll face with the Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory. 

What does it do and what problem does it solve?

This assessment is a unique tool designed to help individuals prepare for overseas travel or relocation abroad by highlighting stressors and ability to adjust to immersion in another culture.  Use it to train or prepare employees for overseas positions and/or identify those who might be less suited for assignment to foreign offices.  Use the Search function (upper right) to find similar tests including the “Intercultural Communication Inventory”.

The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory (CCAI) provides a new model for improving organizational performance and competitive position through effective cross-cultural interaction. It helps individuals gain insight into their likely ability to adjust to a new culture and environment and the potential stressors that lie ahead. It is specifically designed to develop an individual’s readiness for travel or relocation abroad.

The CCAI not only raises awareness, but focuses on the skill-building that is necessary to put this heightened awareness to use. Based on significant research, this tool goes beyond awareness to focus on developing the communication and behavioural skills believed to be most critical to successful cross-cultural interaction. By integrating individual self-assessment, observe feedback, skill-building exercises and action planning, the CCAI provides the foundation for immediate action and on going development. It can also be used to counsel individuals considering life changes that could expose them to people from different cultures, backgrounds, values or experiences.

What It’s Best Used For

• Screening Global Assignments: Vetting internal candidates or external applicants for foreign office placements to identify individuals who will thrive under international stress or flag those unsuited for overseas deployment.
• Pre-Departure Employee Training: Helping transferred employees prepare for relocation or extensive travel abroad by highlighting the specific personal stressors they are likely to encounter.
• Multi-Rater 360-Degree Feedback: Gathering objective external data by utilizing the built-in feedback option, which allows up to three independent observers to rate the candidate’s interpersonal flexibility.
• Cross-Cultural Skill Building: Structuring corporate workshops or group training sessions focused on transitioning teams from baseline cultural awareness into concrete behavioral action tracking.
• Diversity and Inclusion Counselling: Guiding professionals, educators, or students through organizational life changes that will expose them to individuals from highly diverse cultures, values, or backgrounds.

The Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory can be used as a stand-alone training tool for both groups and individuals, takes only 15-30 min to complete and is self-scoring.

Key Features

• Accurately measures an individual’s potential for cross-cultural adaptability regardless of experience with and knowledge of another language or culture
• A feedback option enables three observers to provide feedback about an individual
• An action-planning guide helps participants understand potential implications of their scores and suggests activities that can strengthen their skills.

Measurement Scales

• Emotional Resilience – helps measure the degree to which an individual can rebound from and react positively to new experiences.
• Flexibility/Openness – helps measure the extent to which a person enjoys the different ways of thinking and behaving that are typically encountered in the cross-cultural experience.
• Perceptual Acuity – helps assess the extent to which a person pays attention to and accurately perceives various aspects of the environment.
• Personal Autonomy – helps to measure the extent to which an individual has evolved a personal system of values and beliefs while at the same time respects others and their value systems.

Report – a self-scored profile helps direct scores within each of the four cross-cultural dimensions.

Norms – based on a total of 653 male and female subjects tending to be highly educated.

Online Version Reports are delivered within 48 hours

Formats

• Online – Administered/scored online without paper booklets. Online submissions require up to 48 hours for reports to be generated and returned.
• Paper – Administered/scored by hand. No online administration/scoring option is available.