Intercultural

Aptitude Assessment

Organizational Summary Report

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 Organizational Summary Report
Nolan DeFrates
9/25/2025

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 Table of contents

Mission of celebrating cultural uniqueness 3

Summary 4

Assessment overview 7

Individual scales 8

Cultural Interest 9

Cross-Cultural Communication 10

Emotional Self-Regulation 11

Ethical Orientation 12

The Research Basis 13

Item scoring 14

Cultural Interest 17

Cross-Cultural Communication 18

Emotional Self-Regulation 19

Ethical Orientation 20

Reflections on Your Aptitudes 21

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 MISSION OF CELEBRATING CULTURAL
UNIQUENESS (CCU) AT TIFFIN UNIVERSITY
Our commitment fosters inclusive excellence through celebrating
cultural uniqueness in an environment that is welcoming, understanding
of different perspectives, affirming, and safe for all populations. The
collaborative strategic alignment of the Councils for Academic Experience,
Expansion of Opportunity, and Talent & Engagement cultivates the
opportunity to support and maintain an educational and working
environment which promotes a commitment to inclusive excellence.

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 Summary

Group code:
Nolan DeFrates IS2JmTWyIM
Date: 9/25/2025

Scale Your score General University students

Total IAA 4.89 Average Average

Cultural Interest 5.14 Average Average

Cross-Cultural Communication 6.33 Above Average Above Average

Emotional Self-Regulation 2.38 Below Average Average

Ethical Orientation 5.71 Average Average

The table above summarizes your scores on the four aptitudes assessed by the IAA, as well as your
total IAA score. It shows the aptitude and your raw score and then compares this score with the
scores of two reference groups. The next column compares your score with the scores of the
national population of adults. If you identified with a group when you completed the survey (either
university students, faculty or staff, or employees of for-profit or non-profit organizations), the right
column compares your score to the scores of that population.

The IAA Total shows your overall score when equal weight is given to each area assessed by the
IAA. All of the aptitudes are important, but in individual circumstances, they may not be equally
important. Of course, if one or more of your aptitudes is significantly lower than the others,
working to raise that aptitude would also raise your IAA Total score as assessed by the IAA.

Assessment results are for educational and training purposes and should not be used for job
placement or employment decisions.

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 Summary

General

University Students

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 Assessment Overview

The IAA assesses four distinct areas of

Emotional Self-
aptitude that are of key importance for
intercultural leadership. Regulation
Intercultural leadership typically
requires greater adaptation than
monocultural leadership, and
Cultural Interest adaptation requires resiliency.
This is a measure of self-reported curiosity
about people from different cultures, an Without sufficient Emotional Self-
interest in learning new things in general and Regulation, leaders can react in
learning about people in particular, and a maladaptive ways that interfere with
valuing of people from different cultures. judgement and the evenhanded
responses to management situations
This interest is a necessary disposition for needed for effective leadership.
being able to function effectively with
culturally diverse situations.

Ethical Orientation
Culturally astute individuals with
strong intercultural communication
skills and a large reservoir of
emotional resiliency are still not going
to be effective leaders of organizations
if their ethical orientations are such
Cross-Cultural that they are willing to take ethical
shortcuts to achieve their goals, or
Communication
even worse, if their ethics are such
Cross-Cultural Communication is a necessary that their goals are at odds with the
skill for adapting and relating to people in organizations that they serve.
other cultures in an effective and persuasive
manner. While there are limits to the accuracy
of self-assessment of ethical behavior,
Both Cultural Interest and Cross-Cultural an Ethical Orientation is so important
Communication are aspects of Cultural to leadership that it needs to be
Intelligence, the ability to recognize and addressed, and this self-assessment
adapt to cultural differences. Cultural can promote useful reflection for the
Intelligence has been shown to be a separate leader as well as require at least a
intellectual ability from general intelligence. verbal affirmation of a commitment to
ethical behavior.

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 ethical behavior.

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 Assessment Overview

One way to think about intercultural leadership is to view it as supported by emotional self-
regulation and protected by an ethical orientation to leadership.

This foundation facilitates an effective channeling of cultural interest that allows for cross-
cultural communication skills to be fully utilized and maximally effective.

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 Individual scale
Cultural Interest
Compared to General

Your score : 5.14 Average

Compared to University Students

Your score : 5.14 Average

Cultural Interest is a measure of your self-reported curiosity about people who are
different from you, an interest in learning new things in general and in learning about
people in particular, a measure of an individual’s valuing of and enjoyment in spending
time with people from different cultures. Our research shows that these characteristics
tend to go together.

The population as a whole is interested in cultural differences, but people who score
high on Cultural Interest tend to have a strong interest in learning more about other
cultures and a disposition to appreciate and value people different from themselves.

People who score low on Cultural Interest tend to lack interest in learning about other
cultures and people different from them, prefer to spend time with people from their
own culture and ethnic backgrounds, and may lack an appreciation for what people
from backgrounds different from theirs have to offer.

Individuals who score very low in Cultural Interest may fail to recognize differences
among people from different cultures or view those who differ from them with
suspicion.

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 Individual scale
Cross-Cultural Communication
Compared to General

Your score : 6.33 Above Average

Compared to University Students

Your score : 6.33 Above Average

The Cross-Cultural Communication scale describes the principles that direct you in
finding common understanding among group members and ensuring that each
member feels appreciated and their contributions are valued.

Well-developed Cross-Cultural Communication orientation can assist in the leadership

of culturally diverse teams facing unique challenges related to complexity, team
dynamics, and group cohesiveness. Cross-Cultural Communication interventions
maintain cultural uniqueness while finding common ground among group members
while generating positive outcomes and personal growth.

In summary, Cross-Cultural Communication skills engage in the process of

understanding and shared meaning. In a multicultural environment, developing solid
cross-cultural communication skills is vital. This will enable you to create a positive work
culture, bringing out the best in all team members.

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 Individual scale
Emotional Self-Regulation
Compared to General

Your score : 2.38 Below Average

Compared to University Students

Your score : 2.38 Average

The Emotional Self-Regulation subscale measures an individual’s ability to remain calm

in stressful and/or novel situations. Emotional Self-Regulation also contributes to
initiating or inhibiting actions triggered by emotions.

Emotional Self-regulation also influences behavior triggered by emotions. For instance,

lower levels of Emotional Self-regulation are associated with reacting with
annoyance/poor tolerance to others and/or withdrawing from interpersonal conflict.

Studies on Emotional Self-Regulation indicate that there is a significant positive link

between emotion regulation, depression and anxiety management. If a person lacks
Emotional Self-Regulation skills, they may express this by overreacting to situations;
experiencing negative emotions that last a long time; and have mood swings people
with higher levels of Emotional Self-regulation show higher emotional control and
social-emotional intelligence.

When working with another culture it is important to be able to cope well with
psychological and emotional discomfort and possible conflict. Emotion Self-regulation
ability is positively related to cross-cultural competence.

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 Individual scale
Ethical Orientation
Compared to General

Your score : 5.71 Average

Compared to University Students

Your score : 5.71 Average

Ethical orientation describes what principles govern your behavior and how you feel
personally about promoting and protecting other cultures, cooperation, bravery,
supporting others, and making moral decisions and choices both professionally and
personally.

Individual ethical orientation affects the formation of ethical behavior. One’s ethical
orientation also serves as a guide to ethical decision making partially when working
with others who vary on diverse demographics and have differing worldviews.

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 The Research Basis

In 2021, a team of eight PhD-level content experts with extensive experience living, working and
teaching in multiple international cultures was assembled to take a fresh look at how to evaluate
intercultural leaders.

This team assembled a list of 357 items, each of which described a potential attribute of an
intercultural leader, across ten different domains of content. This set of 357 items was administered
to a pilot group of 136 university faculty, university students and business leaders who rated their
own personal characteristics using the item pool on all attributes.

These responses were then subjected to a procedure called Principal Component Analysis to
determine which of the items combine to identify common characteristics of leadership. In these
preliminary tests, those items that clustered together the strongest were identified, and items that
did not cluster strongly enough were eliminated. A series of further statistical analyses eventually
reduced the item pool to 34 strongly-clustering items making up four different aptitudes of
leadership.

The 34-item section was then given to five representative samples of five different adult
populations in the United States. These samples were comprised of university students, university
faculty, university staff, employees of for-profit commercial organizations, and employees of non-
profit organizations. There were a total of 627 participants.

The results of these surveys were further analyzed using additional statistical methods (exploratory
factor analysis and structural equation modeling) to identify those items that formed valid and
reliable characteristics of intercultural leadership.

Four predominate characteristics again emerged as strong and consistent clusters in all five
different populations. Nine of the items were eventually eliminated, and the remaining 25 items
were shown to identify four important characteristics of intercultural leaders.

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 The Research Basis

The characteristics that best differentiated people, which we called aptitudes, were: Cultural
Interest, Cross-Cultural Communication skill, Emotional Resiliency, and an Ethical Orientation.

Two of these attributes, Cultural Interest and Cross-Cultural Communication skill, were shown to
correctly identify the characteristics of a widely-accepted cultural intelligence scale, the CQ, in each
of the populations in which it was assessed.

The other two scales pointed to important additional attributes of intercultural leadership that are
not currently measured by the CQ, Emotional Resiliency and an Ethical Orientation.

Of course, there are extensive bodies of research documenting the importance of emotional
resilience and ethical personal characteristics to effective leadership, but these characteristics are
not currently measured in the leading intercultural leadership surveys.

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 The IAA effectively differentiates high-scoring from low-scoring individuals across five different U.S.
populations on each of these four aptitudes!

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 Item scoring
For all of the survey items on the IAA, you told, “Here are a number of statements that may or may
not apply to you.” For each statement, you are asked to click on the button next to the number and
description “that best indicates the extent to which you agree or disagree with each statement. As
shown in the graphic below, there are seven choices ranging from “1 – Disagree strongly” to “7 –
Agree strongly.” Four aptitudes are assessed on the IAA – Cultural Interest, Cross-Cultural
Communication, Emotional self-Regulation, and Ethical Orientation. The assessment of each of
these aptitudes is made up of from three to eight items.

Once you complete the survey, your scores on each aptitude are added up, and that total is divided
by the number of items to get your average score per item. This is your raw score. The raw scores
for each aptitude are then added together and divided by four, the number of aptitudes, to get
your Total IAA score.

For one of the aptitudes, Emotional Self-Regulation, an additional step is needed. For the other
three aptitudes, the scores can be calculated directly, but Emotional Self-Regulation is different
because you display your ability to regulate your emotions by being able to reduce negative
emotions such as anxiety or depression. As a result, if you score high on experiencing a negative
emotion, you effectively score low on the ability to self-regulate that emotion. For this reason, the
Emotional Self-Regulation scale has to be reverse-scored. A response of “1” is treated as if it were a
“7,” a response of “2” is treated as if it were a “6” score, and so on. As a result, you will see a high
score on Emotional Self-Regulation if you gave most of the items low marks, and vice versa.

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 Item scoring
Your raw scores for each of the four aptitudes and the Total IAA score are then compared to
national norms, both for the overall U.S. population and also for a specific sub-population if you
selected a specific sub-population that was relevant for you. The specific populations are: university
students, university faculty, university staff, employees in for-profit corporations, and employees in
non-profit corporations. So-called cutoff scores have been identified for each population and
aptitude to determine whether your score falls into one of seven categories: bottom 5%, bottom
10%, below average (10th percentile to less than 25th percentile), average (25th percentile to less
than 75th percentile), above average (75th percentile to less than 90th percentile), top 10%, and top
5%.

If you selected a specific sub-population that was relevant to you, you receive two scores for each of
the aptitudes; an overall U.S. population score and a score relevant to your sub-population. We do
this because different sub-populations have different score distributions. University faculty, for
example, tend to score higher on most of the IAA aptitudes. Other sub-populations tend to score
lower on some of the scales and higher on others. Providing two sets of scores allows you to
compare yourself to both the total U.S. population and the sub-population that you identify with.

All of the items for Emotional Self-Regulation are reverse-scored. For the other three aptitudes, the
scores can be calculated directly, but Emotional Self-Regulation is different because you display
your ability to regulate your emotions by being able to reduce negative emotions such as anxiety
or depression. As a result, if you score high on experiencing a negative emotion, you effectively
score low on the ability to self-regulate that emotion. For this reason, the Emotional Self-
Regulation scale has to be reverse-scored. A response of “1” is treated as if it were a “7,” a response
of “2” is treated as if it were a “6” score, and so on. As a result, you will see a high score on Emotional
Self-Regulation if you gave most of the items low marks, and vice versa.

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 Item scoring
Cultural Interest

Question Answer Score

I am curious about people different from myself. Agree a Little 5/7

I am intrigued by individuals who are different from me. Agree a Little 5/7

I like learning things about people. Agree a Little 5/7

I like to learn new things. Agree a Little 5/7

I value cultural differences. Agree Moderately 6/7

I like to be around people different from myself. Agree a Little 5/7

Individuals from different cultures fascinate me. Agree a Little 5/7

Your Compared to general Compared to university

Scale
score population students

Cultural
5.14 Average Average
Interest

Total IAA 4.89 Average Average

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 Item scoring
Cross Cultural Communication

Question Answer Score

I understand the norms of proper expression when engaged in Agree

6/7
multi-cultural communication. Moderately

I understand what should not be asked in multi-cultural Agree

6/7
situations. Moderately

I believe I am aware of non-verbal messages when offered by Agree

7/7
others in cross-cultural situations. Strongly

Your Compared to general Compared to university

Scale
score population students

Cross Cultural
6.33 Above Average Above Average
Communication

Total IAA 4.89 Average Average

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 Item scoring
Emotional Self Regulation

Question Answer Score

I often feel vulnerable to stress. Agree Moderately 2/7

I am easily stressed. Agree Moderately 2/7

I often get hopeless. Neutral 4/7

I feel blue about life. Agree a Little 3/7

I get upset easily. Agree Moderately 2/7

I get anxious in new situations. Agree Moderately 2/7

I get panicked in a crisis. Agree Moderately 2/7

I am easily annoyed. Agree Moderately 2/7

Your Compared to general Compared to university

Scale
score population students

Emotional Self
2.38 Below Average Average
Regulation

Total IAA 4.89 Average Average

All of the items for this aptitude are reverse-scored. A response of “1” is treated as if it were a
“7,” a response of “2” is treated as if it were a “6” score, and so on. As a result, you will see a
high score on Emotional Self-Regulation if you gave most of the items low marks, and vice

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 versa.

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 Item scoring
Ethical Orientation

Question Answer Score

Agree a
I have the opportunity to behave ethically at work. 5/7
Little

Agree a
People find me to be trustworthy and honest. 5/7
Little

Agree
I understand my responsibility to others and their safety. 6/7
Moderately

Agree
I do things for others without being asked. 6/7
Moderately

I realize that people of other cultures have a need to support Agree

6/7
one another and connect as a group. Moderately

Agree
I am able to work well with others who are different from me. 6/7
Moderately

I can appreciate that different cultural practices, such as forms

Agree
of greetings and table manners, are viewed as the right way to 6/7
Moderately
behave within that culture.

Your Compared to general Compared to university

Scale score population students

Ethical
5.71 Average Average
Orientation

Total IAA 4.89 Average Average

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 Item scoring
Reflections on Your Aptitudes
What cultural interests would you like to pursue or learn more about?

What challenges do you face in communicating with people who are different from
you?

What emotion or emotions do you have the most difficulty managing?

There is often a tension between behaving ethically to do what is right and to serve as a
role model to others on the one hand and operating at a disadvantage to others who
are willing to “bend the rules” to gain an unfair advantage on the other. What
challenges do you face in this area?

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 Item scoring
Reflections on Your Aptitudes
What do you see as your greatest IAA strengths?

What do you see as your greatest IAA weaknesses?

What do you see as your greatest intercultural challenges?

What do you see as your greatest intercultural opportunities?

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 Item scoring
Reflections on Your Aptitudes
Intercultural aptitudes are not fixed. If you decide to do so, you can improve in the
aptitudes that you are weak in, and you can learn to apply your strengths to better
advantage. In other words, you can change, but you need to make a definite and
specific decision to do so. You then need to make a plan on taking specific steps to
improve, and keep repeating the new ways of thinking and behaving until they become
your new habits. It is probably best to focus on one area at a time. Is there an area that
you are willing to commit to improving?

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