Comparing the intercultural sensitivity of American tertiary faculty abroad and domestically: A case for contextual consideration in assessing sensitivity

This qualitative study establishes and compares the Intercultural Sensitivity (IS) of tertiary American faculty teaching: mono-national, non-American students in the UAE; and multi-national, non-American populations in the US. Faculty IS is crucial in today's internationalized tertiary spheres as it affects learning, student belonging, and faculty retention. Data were collected through four-week reflexive participant-generated photography and photo-elicitation interview methods, analyzed using Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity (DMIS). The US-based group exhibited more progressive sensitivity than the UAE-based group, motivating thematic analyses of the DMIS data. Five themes emerged, providing insight into lived experiences and highlighting potential shortcomings of the theoretical framework. This study is the first to the best of the researcher’s knowledge to investigate IS among American faculty teaching internationally diverse populations domestically and to compare IS differences with instructors teaching mono-national, non-American students abroad, offering implications for professionals in internationalized higher education and intercultural research.