Cross-Cultural Skills Taxonomy and Survey Responses from Deployed Air Force Personnel

RAND researchers developed a taxonomy of 14 categories of cross-cultural behaviors for Air Force personnel. The importance of these behaviors was evaluated by surveying approximately 21,000 previously deployed airmen. The dataset likely contains survey responses linking behavior categories to training received and deployment performance.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the perceived importance of cross-cultural enabling behaviors like foreign language skills and stress management.
• Identifying training gaps by comparing reported training levels with the importance of goal-oriented behaviors like negotiating and influencing.
• Modeling differences in cross-cultural skill needs based on Air Force Specialty Codes (AFSCs), grade, or deployment location.

Strengths

• Taxonomy is based on a review of literature and discussions with Air Force personnel.
• Survey includes responses from approximately 21,000 deployed personnel.
• Framework distinguishes between 9 enabling behaviors and 5 goal-oriented behaviors.

Limitations

• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Data is closed license, restricting access and reuse.

Provenance

Source

RAND Corporation, authored by Chaitra M. Hardison.

Collection Method

Survey of previously deployed Air Force personnel.