Intercultural competencies development for professional collaboration: a systematic literature mapping from 2016 to 2021

Abstract

Undoubtedly, we live in an increasingly interconnected world, where physical borders have ceased to impede interrelationships and collaborative work of people coming together to solve various global problems. This raises the question: how can we promote effective collaboration among professionals with different cultural references? This article aims to share the evidence analyses published from 2016 to July 2021 about forming intercultural competencies to promote professional collaboration. The method was a systematic mapping of the literature in the Scopus and Web of Science databases, with 325 articles identified from the search strings. The findings show that this collaborative work is relevant in academic studies, and English-speaking countries mainly produce research in this area. The most recurrent context for the research is higher education, and the primary competency present in the inquiries is intercultural communication. This systematic mapping provides a framework for identifying less significant challenges and contexts also, such as assessing learning and the influence these competencies exert on global and multicultural collaborations. The mapping also establishes a database of studies that can support future studies in this line of research.