David R. Earnest

The impact of stressors during international assignments

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between cross-cultural adjustment and stress of expatriate employees with families in a multinational corporation and identify common stressors reported during international transitions. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods through an online survey based tool. The CernySmith Assessment captured the statistical measures of objective adjustment scales along with written in, subjective stressor responses from a sample of expatriates. Findings – Overall subjective stress level was negatively correlated with all five objective adjustment domains (organizational, cultural, relational, behavioral, and personal). Seven stressor categories (cultural, occupational, relational, historical, crisis, spiritual, physical) demonstrated statistically significant negative relationships with overall adjustment. Regression analysis indicated expatriate adjustment was predicted by spiritual, occupational, and...

Meaningful Gamification in an Industrial/Organizational Psychology Course

Motivation and game research continue to demonstrate that the implementation of game design characteristics in the classroom can be engaging and intrinsically motivating. The present study assessed the extent to which an industrial organizational psychology course designed learning environment created with meaningful gamification elements can improve student perceptions of learning, course experience, and learning outcomes compared to a traditional course. A mixed analysis of covariance revealed that those in the gamified condition showed significantly higher perceptions of learning, engagement, and motivation than those in the traditional course. This research suggests that students can learn just as effectively as traditional courses but have more favorable and positive experiences in the course through more, novel, interactive teaching methods. Future research implications are discussed.

Study Abroad in Psychology Increasing Cultural Competencies Through Experiential Learning

Despite the prominence of study abroad programs, few are offered in the field of psychology. The current study sought to investigate the impact of study abroad programs in psychology through a comparison of study abroad and domestic student cultural competencies. Participants included 104 undergraduate students enrolled in either a psychology study abroad program or domestic psychology courses who completed pre–post Cross-Cultural Adaptability Inventory measures. Results indicated greater emotional resilience, perceptual acuity, and cultural adjustment in study abroad students when compared to domestic students. Results suggest that by incorporating the experiential learning of study abroad with psychology’s focus on human behavior, faculty can create high-impact learning environments that foster student cultural competencies.