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Abstract

Cross-cultural competence not only emphasizes building specific skill sets such as language proficiency or negotiation skills, but also on changing the military's attitudes to other cultures by emphasizing the value and importance of cultural skills for successful military operations. In contrast to developing cultural skills, the task of shifting cultural attitudes is a far more complex process. Using empirical data from a survey of 2,406 Marines, this paper seeks to identify some of the social, demographic and experiential factors that influence military service members' attitudes to the value of culture in military operations. The authors found that of the demographic factors tested, only education and commissioning were positively related to attitudes. The greatest predictors were experiential factors: language skills, a multicultural background, travel experience and frequency of interaction with the local population during a previous deployment. Deployment alone was not a predictor. Cultural training was not related to attitudes, although satisfaction with the cultural training was a predictor of positive attitudes.

Keywords

attitudes to culture cross-cultural competence cultural capabilities culture training Marine Corps military effectiveness psychology

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U.S. Marines’ Attitudes Regarding Cross-Cultural Capabilities in Military Operations

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Supplementary Material