The role of international experience and cultural intelligence in the intention to work abroad (the case of geographically and politically isolated countries)

PurposeThis study contributes to the conversation on international career development and its antecedents. Drawing on experiential learning theory and social cognitive theory, the current comparative study investigates the extent to which students' pre-existing international experience (IE) drives their cultural intelligence (CQ) development and influences global career intention for human resource planning purposes.Design/methodology/approachThis study has a comparative nature and adopts quantitative research methodology, which includes survey measures of CQ index, IE and intention to work abroad variables. Quantitative data are collected from a sample of more than 400 business students of leading Australian and Russian universities.FindingsThis study showed that IE variables are positively related to the level of CQ facets; the authors showed that Motivational CQ is the strongest predictor for the Intention to work abroad for both countries; the authors proved that students' IE is positively related to an Intention to work abroad for both countries and is partially mediated by CQ for Australia; and study showed that geographical isolation facilitates higher intention to work abroad than political isolation.Practical implicationsDeeper understanding of students' international career intentions and its antecedents will allow practitioners to provide better preparation for local/global careers and will allow students to make more informed and decisions. Companies would benefit from the ability to predict applicants' intention to work abroad. Stronger awareness of own preferences and available trajectories will allow students to select the best fit for them.Originality/valueThis study extends the conversation on international career development and its antecedents in the students' domain by strengthening measurements of IE and advancing the understanding of relationship between previous IE and individual facets of CQ. An empirical data from isolated locations – Russia (politically) and Australia (geographically) – bring a new timely contribution about a role of the isolation in shaping international career intentions.