The mediating role of intercultural wonderment: connecting programmatic components to global outcomes in study abroad

Abstract

This study examines the mediating role of intercultural wonderment in relation to students’ development of a global perspective. We utilize both confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling to validate the intercultural wonderment construct and test the direct and indirect effects of the structural pathways in the model, respectively. Additionally, we highlight the relative and comparative effects of our model across cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal dimensions of student development while also testing equivalent and nested models to rule out alternative and rival explanations. The results have broad implications for study abroad researchers and practitioners who are interested in developing a deeper understanding of how students learn and develop in study abroad contexts, while offering a more nuanced understanding of how experiential and constructivist practices influence student learning abroad.