Validating the Intercultural Sensitivity Scale in the Hungarian University Context

Abstract

Understanding the level of intercultural sensitivity among employees is crucial for managers to identify potential issues and develop strategies, particularly in intercultural contexts. Thus, the main aim of this study is to validate Chen and Starosta’s (2000) Intercultural Sensitivity Scale in the Hungarian context. To that end, the authors distributed the 24item questionnaire to 361 Hungarian university students at a private business school, examining the scale’s five factors, namely Interaction Engagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment, and Interaction Attentiveness. A confirmatory factor analysis was then carried out using SPSS AMOS 26.0.0, which indicated that the fivefactor model did not fully align with the data from the Hungarian cohort. The findings of this study demonstrated a lack of independence among the five factors, highlighting the complexity of measuring intercultural sensitivity in varying cultural contexts. To improve the validity and reliability of the instrument and better assess intercultural sensitivity among Hungarian populations, major changes to the items of the questionnaire are suggested.