Enhancing multi-layered intercultural competence through a global virtual hackathon

In an increasingly interconnected and complex world, navigating diverse cultural contexts is crucial for students preparing to enter the global workforce (Rauschert and Cardetti, 2022). Intercultural competence, the ability to engage with and adapt to diverse cultural perspectives, enhances students’ capacity to work effectively in multicultural teams and contribute meaningfully to organizations and society (Parmigiani et al., 2022; Rauer et al., 2021). Similarly, interdisciplinary competence, which involves integrating knowledge across fields, is essential for addressing complex, transdisciplinary challenges that cannot be solved within the boundaries of a single discipline (Vanhée et al., 2024; Yangyang et al., 2021).

Virtual collaboration has become a defining feature of modern work environments (Cathro, 2020), as teams increasingly work across geographic, cultural and disciplinary boundaries in digital settings. However, many educational institutions do not adequately prepare students for these challenges, particularly in developing intercultural competence, interdisciplinary collaboration and digital teamwork skills (Rauer et al., 2021). To address these skills gaps, educators have increasingly turned to experiential learning methods that simulate real-world challenges through virtual collaboration (Garcia et al., 2023).

One promising yet underexplored pedagogical approach is the global virtual hackathon – a structured, time-constrained event in which diverse teams collaborate online to develop innovative solutions (Khan et al., 2020). Although hackathons originated in the information technology context, they are increasingly recognized in business education as an engaging, hands-on, problem-based learning approach for generating innovative business ideas (Khan et al., 2020; Lyons et al., 2021).

Research on intercultural competence in global virtual collaboration has often been conceptualized primarily through national cultural differences (Swartz et al., 2020; Falk et al., 2024), with limited attention to additional layers of cultural variation, such as linguistic diversity and disciplinary cultures, that add to the complexity of such global virtual learning experiences. In this study, intercultural competence is conceptualized as multi-layered rather than binary, as students engage not only across national contexts but also across linguistic and cultural diversity and across disciplinary boundaries (Kaweesi et al., 2018; Kolster and van der Wende, 2026). This reflects the complex nature of intercultural learning in contemporary global virtual teams, where cultural differences are not limited to nationality but emerge across multiple intersecting identity and knowledge systems.

In business education, limited research has explicitly examined how intercultural competence develops in global virtual learning environments characterized by differences not only in national context but also in language use and disciplinary orientation. Recognizing these intersecting dimensions is important because collaboration in global virtual teams is shaped not only by cross-national interaction but also by how participants negotiate meaning across linguistic repertoires and engage with different knowledge traditions that inform their approaches to communication and problem-solving.

This study contributes to the business education literature by advancing a more nuanced conceptualization of intercultural competence development as emerging through interaction across multiple cultural interfaces. It further shows how hackathon-based learning can serve as a pedagogical space in which such competence is actively cultivated within a virtual, global learning environment, where differences in cohort composition and academic positioning are integral to the learning process. Therefore, this study aims to answer the following research question: How does participation in a global virtual interdisciplinary hackathon contribute to the development of intercultural competence across national, linguistic and disciplinary cultural dimensions?

The first step in answering these questions is to establish the conceptual framework and pedagogical design that inform the hackathon. The results section presents insights from students’ pre- and post-hackathon reflections, as well as lecturers’ reflections. The discussion explores how multi-layered intercultural competence was enhanced to drive intercultural learning. The implications of this global virtual experiential learning design will then be outlined, along with its limitations and recommendations for enhancing global virtual hackathons as a multi-layered intercultural teaching method.

Social constructivism, experiential learning, and Deardorff’s (2009) Process Model of Intercultural Competence provide the conceptual foundation for this study. Social constructivism frames learning as a collaborative process through which knowledge is co-constructed across diverse contexts. Experiential learning complements this by emphasizing reflection and real-world challenges. Deardorff’s model offers a framework for examining how intercultural competence develops through such collaborative experiential processes.

Social constructivism, developed by Lev Vygotsky in 1968, proposes that language and culture shape how individuals experience and interpret reality. Learning occurs through social interaction, where knowledge is constructed through engagement with others within cultural contexts (Akpan et al., 2020). Experiential learning extends this perspective by positioning students as active participants who learn through experience, reflection and interaction (Kolb, 1984; Schreiber and Valle, 2013). It enables students to engage in authentic problem-solving activities in which meaning is negotiated and knowledge co-constructed through shared experience, processes that are essential for developing critical and collaborative skills (Akpan et al., 2020). Digital learning environments further extend these principles to virtual spaces, allowing students to collaborate and co-construct knowledge beyond physical boundaries (Kirste and Holtbrügge, 2019; Knoblauch, 2022).

Deardorff’s (2009) Process Model of Intercultural Competence conceptualizes intercultural competence as a dynamic, cyclical process encompassing attitudes (e.g. openness, respect), knowledge (e.g. cultural self-awareness, understanding others), skills (e.g. observing, interpreting) and outcomes (adaptability, empathy, effective communication), Its emphasis on iterative development and mutual learning makes it highly relevant to collaborative, virtual learning environments.

In this study, intercultural competence is conceptualized as a multi-layered construct emerging through interaction across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts. National cultural contexts shape expectations and collaboration styles (Timbalari, 2019), linguistic diversity influences meaning-making in a shared working language (Kridel, 2010), and disciplinary knowledge cultures shape how problems are framed and solved (Kaweesi et al., 2018). These layers structure how students engage with differences in global virtual collaboration.

While intercultural competence is often framed in national terms, global virtual collaboration involves additional layers of meaning-making shaped by language and disciplinary perspectives. Applying Deardorff’s model within this expanded view enables analysis of how attitudes, knowledge and skills develop through interaction across multiple forms of difference.

Because intercultural competence is a continuous process, it aligns with interdisciplinary and virtual collaboration contexts where participants must adapt, negotiate meaning, and refine their approaches in response to diverse perspectives. This process-oriented understanding provides a lens for analyzing how students engage with and adapt to multiple forms of difference in global virtual learning environments.

Furthermore, the model highlights the internal and external outcomes of intercultural competence, including flexibility, adaptability and effective, appropriate communication and behavior in intercultural situations (Deardorff, 2009). These outcomes are crucial in a hackathon, where rapid problem-solving, teamwork and innovation are essential (Khan et al., 2020). Because intercultural competence is framed as a continuous process rather than a fixed outcome, the model aligns with the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration, in which participants must continually learn from one another, adapt to new perspectives, and refine their problem-solving approach.

This process-oriented understanding of intercultural competence provides a useful lens for analyzing how students engage with and adapt to multiple differences within global virtual collaborative learning environments.

Hackathons have evolved from short, technology-driven events into structured, time-bound, collaborative environments for problem-solving and idea generation in education (Franco et al., 2022; Oyetade et al., 2024). In business education, they are increasingly recognized as pedagogically adapted learning interventions that support interdisciplinary collaboration, entrepreneurial thinking and applied problem-solving (Khan et al., 2020; Szymanska et al., 2020). As an experiential, technology-enabled learning environment, hackathons enable students to engage with real-world challenges through intensive collaboration and the co-construction of knowledge across disciplinary boundaries by integrating the experiential learning focus of hackathons with the collaborative knowledge-generation process highlighted in interdisciplinary and virtual learning research (Garcia et al., 2023; Surendran et al., 2023).

This collaborative and interactive nature aligns closely with research on intercultural virtual projects in business education, which highlights the role of structured virtual interaction in facilitating intercultural learning (Crossman and Bordia, 2012). Studies on virtual intercultural collaboration further demonstrate that digitally mediated teamwork can foster intercultural competence, a global mindset, and the ability to work effectively in culturally diverse teams (Garcia et al., 2023). Through the process of negotiation, shared meaning-making, and reflection, students develop intercultural knowledge, communication skills, and the capacity to navigate diverse perspectives and practices by combining intercultural learning processes with the collaborative dynamics inherent in virtual teamwork (Nandi and Mandernach, 2016).

Hackathons can also be understood as a form of problem-based learning (PBL), requiring students to develop solutions to complex, real-world problems through inquiry and collaboration (Savery, 2006; Szymanska et al., 2020). This emphasizes application over passive knowledge acquisition by requiring participants to integrate knowledge and produce actionable solutions under time constraints. At the same time, they function as open innovation environments, where knowledge is co-created through interactions among participants with diverse expertise (Franco et al., 2022). This is particularly relevant in global virtual contexts, where collaboration involves navigating differences in perspectives, communication practices and problem-solving approaches.

Hackathons also bridge academic learning and real-world practice by creating environments that mirror industry environments (Rys, 2026; Szymanska et al., 2020). Their time-bound nature fosters adaptability, teamwork and problem-solving skills valued in business contexts (Rys, 2026; Surendran et al., 2023). From the perspective of cultural intelligence, such experiences require individuals to adapt effectively across cultural contexts (Earley and Peterson, 2004). Bringing together participants from diverse backgrounds promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and mutual understanding, which are key dimensions of intercultural competence (Ribault et al., 2022; Surendran et al., 2023). The shift toward virtual and hybrid formats further positions hackathons as global learning environments, enabling collaboration across geographical and institutional boundaries (Franco et al., 2022). Recent research also highlights the growing importance of such digitally mediated environments for developing intercultural competence in higher education (Zuo, 2025).

Drawing on these perspectives, this study conceptualizes the global virtual hackathon as a hybrid pedagogical intervention in business education that integrates experiential learning, problem-based learning and open-innovation processes. It provides a structured environment in which students engage with real-world challenges and co-construct knowledge across disciplinary and cultural boundaries, thereby supporting the development of intercultural competence in global virtual teams.

Business education in an international context should be inherently multidisciplinary and require the development of cross-cultural and cross-institutional knowledge and skills to support students’ professional development (Aggarwal and Wu, 2023). In resource-constrained contexts that many universities face, innovative and inexpensive pedagogies are needed to support the development of such knowledge and skills (Akdeniz et al., 2019). Such pedagogies could be further supported by collaborating with non profit organizations (NPOs) to enhance students’ professional development training through experiential learning projects (Aggarwal and Wu, 2023). This pedagogical positioning of business education in an international context informed the hackathon’s design.

The hackathon aimed to support students in developing intercultural competence across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts by strengthening their ability to collaborate in international virtual teams to address a real-world organizational challenge. To support this objective, the hackathon design incorporated time-bound collaboration, interdisciplinary teamwork, rapid strategy development, engagement with a real-world NPO brief, and structured solution pitching. These activities required students to negotiate meaning across linguistic and cultural differences, integrate disciplinary perspectives under time constraints, and respond collaboratively to an authentic organizational challenge within a global virtual learning environment.

Thirty business management students from the UK and 200 corporate communication students from South Africa (SA) were invited to participate in a global virtual hackathon in November 2024. Because the academic calendars of the UK and SA differ, the hackathon was offered as an optional activity, since SA students’ academic year had already concluded by the time of implementation.

An outreach campaign promoted the event for 4 weeks, both during class sessions and through digital communication platforms. Because participation required prior registration, the lecturers were able to monitor student interest and implement additional targeted engagement strategies to encourage participation, particularly among the UK cohort.

In total, 4 UK students and 21 SA students registered for the hackathon. The final group composition reflected the voluntary nature of participation and the timing constraints of their respective academic calendars. This resulted in an asymmetrical yet pedagogically valuable global collaboration structure in which students engaged across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts within small-group virtual teams. Teams were intentionally structured into 4 groups, each with 1 UK student and 5 SA students. Although numerically asymmetrical, the team structure mirrored many real-world global virtual collaborations, where minority cultural representation requires the explicit negotiation of voice, authority and interpretation.

The participating students represented diverse linguistic backgrounds. While English served as the shared working language of the hackathon, the South African cohort included students whose home languages were Setswana, Sesotho, isiZulu and Afrikaans, whereas the UK cohort included students from both English-speaking and additional international-language backgrounds, including Ukrainian and Arabic. This linguistic diversity also enhanced the multi-layered intercultural interaction explored in this study.

A South African NPO was selected as the industry partner for the hackathon for its strategic focus on sustainable orphan care and its experience operating across diverse cultural and international contexts. The NPO offered students authentic strategic issues to address during the hackathon. The NPO representative assisted in formulating the client brief, which outlined current challenges and the NPO’s envisioned future impact. During the hackathon, the NPO representative participated in a structured virtual engagement session, providing background on the organization’s strategic priorities and current challenges. This was followed by a question-and-answer session in which students could clarify aspects of the brief. Students presented solutions to these strategic issues at the end of the hackathon for feedback.

Students received preparatory materials two weeks before the hackathon, including background information on the NPO, the client brief, the elevator pitch template, the Nonprofit Strategy Canvas (NSC) (Ben Rejeb and Bagheri, 2025), and instructional videos explaining how to apply the NSC and structure an elevator pitch. In addition, students completed pre-hackathon reflections that prompted them to consider their expectations of intercultural collaboration and their prior experiences of working across different cultural contexts.

The hackathon started with a team-building activity that focused on the students’ cultural and linguistic backgrounds. For example, students greeted each other in their home languages, shared places of significance in their countries, and described traditional meals from their cultural contexts. This activity created an entry point for intercultural engagement and supported interaction across national and linguistic diversity within the teams.

Thereafter, educators provided orientation for the hackathon and introduced the challenge: identify one pressing strategic issue facing the NPO, apply the NSC to develop a solution, and deliver a five-minute elevator pitch presenting the proposed strategy. After an engagement session with the NPO representative, teams collaborated in breakout rooms for 20 min to complete the NSC and prepare their responses to the challenge.

One representative from each team presented their proposed solutions. Students received immediate feedback through engagement with the NPO representative and the educators. After the hackathon, students completed a post-hackathon reflection that encouraged them to reflect on their intercultural learning experiences, collaboration across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts, and the development of their understanding of working in a global virtual environment.

The sequence of preparatory engagement, pre- and post-hackathon reflections, intercultural interaction, client engagement, collaborative problem-solving, and structured feedback reflects the experiential and socially constructivist learning design of the hackathon, within which students co-constructed knowledge across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts.

This study employed a qualitative approach (Du Plooy, 2009) to conduct an in-depth analysis of students’ perceptions of the virtual hackathon, with a particular focus on multi-layered intercultural competence. Reflection served as the primary method, serving as a sense-making process through which the students critically analyzed experiences, challenged assumptions, and integrated theory with practice to generate new knowledge (Brookfield, 2000; Radović et al., 2021). Open-ended questions guided students in reflecting on their expectations, challenges, intercultural competence and interdisciplinary skills, making the qualitative approach well-suited to capturing the depth and complexity of their experiences. In addition, lecturers’ structured reflections, based on their observations during the hackathon, were included as a complementary source of qualitative data to support the interpretation of the collaboration process and provide an additional analytical perspective on students’ reported experiences.

Reflections were used as part of the hackathon’s experiential learning design and to generate qualitative data (Brookfield, 2000). Students’ perceptions were evaluated through reflection via an online pre- and post-hackathon written activity comprising seven open-ended questions. The reflection questions were designed to align with the study’s conceptual framework, particularly Deardorff’s (2009) dimensions of intercultural competence. The pre-hackathon questions captured students’ initial attitudes, expectations, and perceived levels of global competence, as well as their awareness of disciplinary differences. The post-hackathon questions focused on students’ experiences of intercultural collaboration, including perceived benefits and challenges, and on their reflections on how these experiences contributed to the development of their intercultural knowledge, skills and adaptability. This use of reflective practice is consistent with prior research highlighting reflection as a key mechanism for developing intercultural awareness and sensitivity in business education contexts (Starr-Glass, 2014). This structure enabled the data collection to capture both baseline perceptions and perceived developmental changes across key dimensions of intercultural competence (Garcia et al., 2023) while remaining open-ended to allow for unanticipated insights.

Students received the link to the online pre-hackathon reflection activity via personalized email one week before the hackathon, and the post-hackathon activity was sent to them in the same way immediately afterward. All students who registered for the hackathon completed both reflections. Ethical clearance was obtained from the relevant institutional review boards in both participating universities. Participation was voluntary, informed consent was obtained from all participants, and responses were anonymized to ensure confidentiality. The reflections varied in length and depth, ranging from brief responses of approximately 50–100 words to more extended reflections exceeding 250 words. While variability in response depth is common in reflective data (Moon, 2001), including all responses ensured that the full range of perspectives was captured, consistent with qualitative approaches that prioritize diversity of experience over uniformity of response.

In addition to student reflections, lecturers’ observations during the hackathon were recorded in reflective field notes. These observations focused on interaction patterns within teams, participation dynamics, processes of interdisciplinary collaboration, and intercultural challenges that emerged during virtual teamwork. Lecturer reflections on their observations were used to complement student-reported experiences and to provide an additional perspective on how collaboration unfolded during the hackathon.

The data were analyzed inductively using qualitative content analysis (Duriau et al., 2007). This approach allowed themes and patterns to emerge directly from students’ pre- and post-hackathon reflections, ensuring that the findings were grounded in participants’ lived experiences rather than predetermined categories. The researchers independently read the reflections and identified preliminary themes. The coding process was iterative, with initial codes refined through comparison and discussion to ensure conceptual consistency across the data set. These themes were compared and discussed collectively, resulting in 3 overarching themes: expectations, intercultural competencies and interdisciplinary competencies.

While the themes were generated inductively from the data, the interpretation of the findings was informed by Deardorff’s (2009) Process Model of Intercultural Competence. This model served as a conceptual lens for understanding students’ reflections on collaboration across national, linguistic and disciplinary contexts in relation to the development of intercultural attitudes, knowledge, skills and outcomes within the global virtual hackathon environment. This approach ensured that the study remained methodologically inductive while situating the findings within an established intercultural competence framework.

Validity and trustworthiness were thus established through inter-coder reliability strategies that involved independent reading and preliminary coding, followed by collaborative finalization of the thematic structure (Creswell and Clark, 2018). This process involved iterative comparison and discussion among the researchers to reconcile differences in interpretation and ensure that the final themes accurately reflected patterns within the data.

This section presents findings from students’ perceptions, collected through pre- and post-hackathon reflections, focusing on expectations and the development of intercultural and interdisciplinary competencies. These findings are complemented by lecturers’ reflections to provide an additional analytical perspective.

Participants expressed overlapping expectations, including gaining hands-on problem-solving experience in an international, interdisciplinary environment. They anticipated applying academic knowledge to real-world challenges presented by NPO while developing innovative solutions. These expectations reflect an expectation of an experiential learning environment in which disciplinary knowledge would be applied collaboratively within a time-bound global virtual context.

Collaboration with peers from different cultural and academic backgrounds was a key expectation, valued for enhancing communication, teamwork and networking. UK Participant 1 noted: “A chance to apply my skills to a real-life situation and working with a diverse group of individuals; a useful skill to prepare for life in the workplace”. Similarly, SA Participant 8 expected to “learn various things from students of different cultures, including problem-solving skills, working in groups, and being able to address challenges”. These expectations illustrate students’ awareness of cultural and disciplinary diversity shaping collaboration and reflect early orientations toward intercultural engagement, consistent with intercultural attitudes such as openness and curiosity described in Deardorff’s (2009) model.

Students highlighted the benefits of intercultural collaboration, including fostering creativity and innovation, bringing diverse perspectives to problem-solving, and strengthening global awareness. SA Participant 2 noted: “The benefit of collaborating with individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds can bring a wide range of opinions and ideas, which can enhance creativity and lead to innovative solutions”. UK Participant 3 similarly highlighted: “One of the primary benefits is the diversity of perspectives that enrich problem-solving […] leading to more innovative and well-rounded solutions”. These expectations further demonstrate recognition of disciplinary knowledge cultures as resources for developing collaborative strategies within interdisciplinary hackathon teams.

Anticipated challenges included communication barriers, leadership dynamics and time zones. SA Participant 20 mentioned “overcoming potential communication barriers or misunderstandings due to cultural differences”, while SA Participant 12 highlighted “mishearing due to different accents”. UK Participant 1 added that barriers could be worsened in virtual contexts due to “Internet lagging and tech issues”. Students’ anticipation of communication challenges reflects an early awareness of the linguistic and virtual dimensions of intercultural collaboration, which often shape interactions in global virtual teams. However, most expected that open communication and flexibility would mitigate these challenges.

Students differed in their perceptions of their readiness to engage in intercultural collaboration before the hackathon. Some felt confident, including SA Participant 5: “I have a high level of global competency”, and UK Participant 4: “My level of global competency is strong, shaped by experiences working with people from various cultural backgrounds and adapting to diverse perspectives”. These responses suggest that some students entered the hackathon with prior experience navigating cultural differences in international or multicultural contexts.

Others framed their intercultural competence as developing, acknowledging room for growth. UK Participant 1 reflected: “Quite good at [this] […] but there is room for improvement”, while SA Participant 12 emphasized a willingness to learn: “I am willing to pick up new skills and adjust to varied viewpoints in global settings”. These reflections indicate that several students anticipated the hackathon as an opportunity to strengthen their ability to engage across national cultural contexts, rather than viewing intercultural competence as a fixed capability.

Importantly, students’ responses indicated awareness that collaborating with peers from another country would require adapting to different perspectives, expectations and interaction styles in a global virtual learning environment. SA participant 3 noted, “broadening my knowledge because I will have different ideas on how other people from different cultures think and how they solve problems”. This suggests that participants entered the hackathon with emerging intercultural attitudes, such as openness, curiosity and a willingness to engage with difference, which are recognized as foundational components of intercultural competence development.

Overall, participants described intercultural competence as a developing capacity shaped through interaction rather than a stable personal attribute. This process-oriented view positioned the hackathon as an opportunity to engage with cultural differences directly through international collaboration.

Participants generally expressed confidence in their own disciplinary competencies but less confidence in the other discipline.

South African participants cited corporate communication strengths such as digital communication, journalism skills and stakeholder relationship management. SA Participant 18 shared that they were “well equipped in communication areas such as social media management, content creation, and brand and reputation management”. UK participants varied in confidence about their corporate communication competencies, with UK Participant 1 admitting: “I know quite little about this […]” while UK Participant 4 felt: “My knowledge of communication is strong, which positions me well to support students in this field”.

Perceptions of business strategy competencies ranged widely. Several SA students described their knowledge as basic; for example, Participant 12: “still at a beginner level”. Although familiar with concepts such as business and market analysis and strategic planning, many acknowledged the need for more in-depth expertise, particularly in areas that intersect with communication. UK participants reported varying confidence. UK Participant 1 stated: “Room for improvement, but overall a good understanding”, while UK Participant 4 expressed strong confidence: “I possess a comprehensive understanding of business strategy, covering both foundational principles and advanced frameworks”.

These responses indicate that students entered the hackathon expecting complementary disciplinary contributions and viewing it as a growth opportunity. This was evident in responses such as “I hope it would allow me to expand my business knowledge” (SA Participant 3) and “I am looking forward to learning more from the other students” (UK Participant 4). They also highlight uneven levels of expertise and the need for adaptation, negotiation, and shared meaning-making across knowledge frameworks: “I am comfortable making adjustments toward new points of view, and I am eager to learn” (SA Participant 7).

This highlights an important dimension of intercultural competence development in interdisciplinary settings, where participants must learn to interpret unfamiliar terminology, priorities and problem-solving approaches across disciplines. Within Deardorff’s model, these expectations can be seen as early evidence of openness to alternative perspectives and a willingness to engage across differences.

Across the pre-hackathon findings, similarities and differences emerged between the South African and UK student groups. Students from both contexts expressed strong expectations for working in an international, interdisciplinary environment and recognized the value of collaborating with peers from another country. However, corporate communication students more often emphasized creativity as a key benefit of intercultural collaboration for generating innovative ideas, whereas UK student responses highlighted how working across different perspectives could enrich problem-solving and lead to more well-rounded solutions. This reflects differences in disciplinary focus, with corporate communication students placing greater emphasis on creativity and idea generation, while business management students tend to focus more on developing structured, outcome-oriented solutions.

Both UK and South African students expressed confidence in their existing intercultural competencies, often linking this confidence to prior interactions with people from diverse cultural backgrounds. At the same time, students from both groups acknowledged that there was still room for further development in working across cultural differences. South African students explicitly emphasized their willingness to adapt and adjust their perspectives in response to others, recognizing that collaboration would involve engaging with different ideas that would need to be negotiated within the team. These responses suggest that students from both contexts entered the hackathon with a foundation of prior intercultural exposure and viewed the collaboration as an opportunity to further develop their ability to work constructively across national cultural differences in a global virtual team environment.

An interesting pattern that emerged was that business strategy students generally expressed greater confidence in their communication-related skills than corporate communication students did in their business strategy competencies, suggesting an asymmetry in perceived readiness to contribute across disciplinary areas at the start of the hackathon. This was also reflected in how some South African students described the hackathon as an opportunity to expand their business knowledge, while UK students more often referred to learning from other students, indicating expectations of knowledge exchange that were not limited to disciplinary areas but included broader collaborative learning across the team.

Overall, participants reported that their expectations were largely met regarding collaboration and problem-solving in diverse teams. SA Participant 3 reflected: “My expectations were met as I was able to collaborate with a diverse team to solve a real-world challenge”. UK Participant 1 similarly noted:

Students valued cross-cultural collaboration for enhancing problem-solving strategies and for exposing them to alternative viewpoints. SA Participant 13 stated:

UK Participant 1 echoed this: “Different cultures and different areas of study brought many different viewpoints and ideas. Others were able to contribute ideas that I had not thought of”. These reflections indicate that students experienced intercultural collaboration not only as engagement across national cultural differences but also as interaction across disciplinary perspectives and problem-solving traditions, confirming the multi-layered nature of intercultural learning anticipated in the pre-hackathon findings.

Key benefits included refining communication skills, tailoring ideas for diverse audiences, and ensuring culturally inclusive solutions. UK Participant 3 emphasized:

Participants also valued networking and direct engagement with a real NPO client.

Challenges included language barriers, cultural differences and limited time to build rapport. SA Participant 8 noted: “I expected some difficulties, particularly with time zones, but I underestimated how subtle cultural differences could affect team dynamics”. Others reported difficulty understanding “different accents” (SA Participant 1) and “articulation styles” (SA Participant 16). Disciplinary challenges were also noted, as UK Participant 3 stated: “[…] quickly aligning our diverse approaches to problem-solving within the short time frame”. Strategies such as open communication and active listening helped overcome these difficulties. SA Participant 10 shared: “Open communication and mutual respect […] helped navigate differences smoothly”.

These reflections indicate that linguistic and disciplinary variation shaped collaboration in the virtual environment. These responses indicate that students’ expectations shifted from anticipating intercultural interaction primarily at the level of national difference to experiencing collaboration as a multi-layered process shaped by disciplinary approaches, linguistic negotiation and virtual teamwork practices. Compared with pre-hackathon expectations, students’ reflections suggest that anticipated challenges became important learning opportunities that supported the development of collaborative problem-solving strategies within the global virtual team context.

Students reported a significant increase in confidence in working across cultures, especially in adaptability, empathy and cross-cultural communication. SA Participant 5 reflected: “This hackathon improved my capacity to adapt and communicate with people from various backgrounds and adjust to their outlooks”. Similarly, UK Participant 3 stated: “This experience increased my confidence in working across cultures and gave me practical skills to collaborate effectively in a global environment”. Compared to pre-hackathon responses, intercultural competence was experienced as strengthened through interaction.

Participants highlighted the importance of patience, flexibility and inclusivity, while recognizing the value of integrating diverse perspectives. As SA Participant 2 explained: “Working virtually with an international team certainly taught me lessons in patience and flexibility, which will be beneficial in an international context”. These findings indicate development across multiple dimensions of intercultural competence, as highlighted by various SA Participants who mentioned “adapting my communication […] adjust to their outlooks” (SA Participant 10)”, adapting to various contexts” (SA Participant 3), and “adapting to diverse perspectives” (SA Participant 4).

These findings reinforce the multi-layered nature of intercultural competence development observed in the hackathon, where students simultaneously navigated national cultural diversity, linguistic variation, disciplinary expectations and virtual collaboration norms. These layers interacted to shape how students interpreted perspectives, responded to differences, and co-constructed shared solutions within their teams. This shift from expectation to demonstrated adaptation reflects movement across the attitudinal, behavioral and interactional dimensions of intercultural competence development described in Deardorff (2009).

Post-hackathon reflections indicate that students developed a stronger understanding of how communication skills (rather than corporate communication competencies) and business strategy competencies intersect in collaborative problem-solving.

The hackathon was seen as a practical learning experience that strengthened communication skills, especially for conveying complex ideas to diverse audiences. SA Participant 15 shared: “The hackathon enhanced my communication skills, particularly in conveying complex ideas to a non-specialist audience”. UK Participant 1 emphasized: “It was helpful in learning how to phrase things in a way that others can understand, simplifying phrases and using synonyms when needed”. These reflections show that students not only applied the theoretical principles of their disciplines but also learned to reframe terminology to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration and shared understanding across teams.

An increase in listening and speaking skills was also noted. Some participants reported that the hackathon “took my listening techniques to another level” (SA Participant 1) and increased their confidence in contributing to discussions and negotiating ideas within interdisciplinary teams. UK Participant 4 reflected: “I am a student but really a shy type […] when I saw how my fellow young mates were speaking and giving ideas […] I was moved to participate”.

Both SA and UK participants reported an expanded understanding of business strategy, especially in the NPO sector. SA Participant 11 noted:

UK Participant 4 added: “It enlightened me more about business strategy. [It] made me understand that there is more to business strategy than I was expecting”. Engaging with NPO challenges broadened students’ perspectives, exposing them to donor retention, operational realities and financial sustainability. UK Participant 1 observed: “It also brought up some things I don’t often consider when thinking about business strategy, such as how to retain and gain new donors for a non-profit organization”.

The SA students in particular mentioned appreciating the NSC as being “extremely helpful” (SA participant 12), “providing clear structure” (SA Participant 5), “helped me to plan strategically and think critically” (SA Participant 9), with SA participant 20 noting: “I wish I had attended this before my marketing assignment, I would have used the NSC canvas and aced it!”.

These findings show that students viewed disciplines as distinct yet interconnected, requiring adaptation and negotiation, and served as an additional intercultural layer. SA Participant 13 stated it very well:

Across post-hackathon reflections, both the South African and UK student groups reported meaningful growth in their intercultural, communication and interdisciplinary competencies; however, they interpreted these learning experiences differently. While some students in the pre-hackathon reflections referred specifically to expectations related to corporate communication competencies, post-hackathon reflections across both groups more consistently emphasized the development of broader communication skills. Students from both contexts reported increased confidence in working across cultural boundaries and recognized the value of engaging with diverse perspectives when addressing complex organizational challenges. This shared confidence suggests that the hackathon served as an effective experiential learning environment in which intercultural competence developed through interaction across national and disciplinary boundaries. At the same time, South African students more often emphasized their willingness to adapt communication styles and adjust their approaches in response to differing viewpoints, highlighting the importance of negotiation, flexibility and relationship-building in collaborative work. In contrast, UK students more often emphasized the strategic and analytical value of diverse perspectives, which strengthened problem-solving and contributed to more structured, comprehensive solutions. These differences reflect how students drew on their respective disciplinary orientations and prior intercultural experiences when interpreting the collaboration process, reinforcing the multi-layered nature of intercultural competence development within the hackathon environment. Across both groups, participants also reported increased awareness of linguistic variation, virtual teamwork dynamics and interdisciplinary expectations, indicating that intercultural learning extended beyond national cultural engagement to encompass adjustments in communication across accents, articulation styles and professional problem-solving approaches.

Educators’ observations during the hackathon provided an additional perspective on how intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration unfolded in practice.

From the educators’ perspective, students initially approached the hackathon with strong enthusiasm for working in international teams. However, during the early stages of collaboration, some uncertainty was evident about how to integrate disciplinary perspectives into a shared strategic framework. This observation aligned with students’ later reflections, which highlighted the need to negotiate different approaches to problem-solving across communication and business strategy contexts. Educators also observed that the structured tools introduced during the hackathon, including the NSC and the elevator pitch template, helped teams translate interdisciplinary ideas into more coherent strategic solutions within a limited time frame.

Educators also observed that linguistic variation necessitated adjustments in communication. These adjustments became more visible over time, aligning with student post-hackathon reflections. This alignment between observed interaction patterns and students’ reported experiences supports the interpretation of intercultural competence development as a multi-layered process that extends beyond national cultural exchange alone.

Despite the teams’ numerical differences, students contributed in various but complementary ways to the collaboration. UK students frequently helped explain and implement the NSC, leveraging their familiarity, while South African students offered valuable local context about the NPO scene and community realities. Educators did not see the uneven team makeup as hindering collaboration, and students did not consider it a major obstacle. However, some participants noted that having more UK students might have enhanced intercultural exchange.

Educators also observed that students’ confidence grew as the hackathon progressed, particularly during the transition from initial brainstorming to strategy development. Although some hesitation was evident during early team engagement, especially in virtual breakout sessions, participation became more balanced over time as teams negotiated shared goals and responsibilities. Students’ ability to collaborate effectively under time constraints and produce structured recommendations, despite not having worked together before, was identified as a particularly notable outcome of the initiative. This progression aligned with students’ post-hackathon reports of increased confidence in working across cultural and disciplinary boundaries.

Challenges related to participation levels and scheduling constraints were also evident from an organizational perspective. Lower-than-expected participation from some students and limited interaction within certain groups affected the extent to which collaboration could develop equally across teams. However, where active engagement occurred, educators observed strong commitment to teamwork, meaningful interaction with the nonprofit partner, and sustained interest in participating in similar initiatives in the future. These observations align with students’ reflections that time pressure and coordination challenges served as both constraints and catalysts for the development of collaborative learning.

Overall, pre- and post-hackathon student reflections, supported by educator observations during the collaboration process, indicate that the global virtual hackathon provided a meaningful learning environment in which students developed intercultural, corporate communication, business strategy competencies and communication skills through interaction across national cultural contexts, disciplinary perspectives, linguistic variation and virtual teamwork practices.

Across both phases, students’ expectations of intercultural engagement and interdisciplinary collaboration were largely confirmed, while challenges related to communication differences, time constraints, coordination and uneven participation became opportunities for learning and adaptation within the collaborative process. Educator observations further highlighted that structured strategy tools and contextually grounded contributions, particularly from students familiar with the South African environment, helped teams translate interdisciplinary perspectives into coherent recommendations despite limited preparation time. Comparative reflections from South African and UK participants suggest complementary emphases in their experiences of intercultural collaboration, with South African students more frequently highlighting adaptive interaction processes and UK students emphasizing the contribution of diverse perspectives to structured problem-solving and strategy development.

The findings demonstrate that participation in the global virtual interdisciplinary hackathon contributed to the development of a multi-layered intercultural competence encompassing national, linguistic and disciplinary cultural dimensions within a digitally mediated learning environment. Pre-hackathon reflections showed that students entered the collaboration with generally positive expectations for intercultural and interdisciplinary teamwork, although varying levels of confidence and differing disciplinary orientations shaped their approaches to collaboration. Corporate communication students emphasized creativity, idea generation and diverse perspectives, whereas business management students focused more strongly on structured problem-solving and strategic outcomes. These differences suggest that disciplinary culture influenced students’ expectations of teamwork and knowledge contribution from the outset, while uneven perceptions of disciplinary expertise further shaped anticipated dynamics of participation. Such findings support previous research highlighting the role of interdisciplinary collaboration in fostering innovation and novel problem-solving approaches (Braßler and Schultze, 2021; Hero and Lindfors, 2019). At the same time, students recognized that effective collaboration would require navigating not only national cultural differences, but also linguistic variation, disciplinary expectations and virtual teamwork dynamics.

Post-hackathon reflections and educator observations indicated meaningful growth in intercultural, communication and interdisciplinary competencies across both student groups. Students reported greater openness to diverse perspectives, increased appreciation for different approaches to problem-solving, and stronger confidence in working across cultural boundaries. South African students more frequently emphasized adaptability, negotiation, flexibility and relationship-building, particularly in adjusting communication styles in response to differing viewpoints, whereas UK students focused more strongly on the strategic and analytical value of diversity for strengthening solutions and producing more comprehensive recommendations. These differences reinforce the argument that intercultural competence within global virtual teams is multi-layered and shaped by disciplinary orientations, contextual experiences and communication practices in addition to national culture. Consistent with Deardorff’s (2009) Process Model of Intercultural Competence, the findings suggest that intercultural competence is developed through iterative experiential learning, reflection and adaptation within collaborative problem-solving contexts rather than through exposure to diversity alone. The findings further support social constructivist perspectives, which conceptualize knowledge as co-constructed through interaction in diverse social contexts (Vygotsky, 1978).

Importantly, intercultural learning extended beyond engagement with national culture to include linguistic and virtual communication dimensions. Students and educators highlighted challenges related to accents, articulation styles, language barriers, time zones, technology, participation dynamics and coordination within virtual teamwork contexts. However, students also reported developing adaptive communication strategies such as paraphrasing, active listening, turn-taking, clarification, facilitation and inclusive practices to overcome misunderstandings and maintain collaboration under time pressure. These findings align with previous research on virtual intercultural learning and digital teamwork, which emphasizes the importance of adaptability, trust-building and structured interaction in fostering intercultural competence and global mindset development (Erez et al., 2013; Gannon et al., 2016; Vega Chica, 2025). Educator observations further demonstrated how structured tools and facilitation processes enabled teams to integrate diverse disciplinary perspectives into coherent recommendations despite limited preparation time and uneven participation levels. Communication students often drove idea generation, while business students contributed more strongly to structuring strategic solutions, and South African students frequently contextualized recommendations for the local NPO environment. These complementary participation patterns illustrate how interdisciplinary and contextual diversity became resources for collaborative knowledge construction rather than barriers to participation.

Collectively, the findings contribute to business education literature by demonstrating how global virtual hackathons can function as experiential pedagogical environments that foster intercultural competence through sustained interaction across multiple cultural layers simultaneously. While previous research has largely conceptualized intercultural competence in relation to national cultural differences, this study extends existing frameworks by demonstrating the importance of linguistic diversity, disciplinary knowledge cultures, and digitally mediated collaboration in shaping intercultural learning within global virtual teams. The findings further highlight the pedagogical value of structured experiential learning designs and simulated high-pressure environments for developing adaptability, inclusivity, communication competence and collaborative problem-solving skills relevant to contemporary global professional contexts (Kolm et al., 2022; Stoica et al., 2023). In doing so, the study responds to calls for innovative, technology-enhanced pedagogies that support intercultural competence development in higher education (Zuo, 2025) and demonstrates how virtual hackathons can prepare students for increasingly global, interdisciplinary and digitally connected workplaces.

This study examined how participation in a global virtual interdisciplinary hackathon contributed to the development of intercultural competence across multiple interconnected cultural dimensions, namely, national, linguistic and disciplinary cultures, conceptualized in this study as multi-layered intercultural competence. The findings confirm the value of global virtual hackathons as experiential and technology-enhanced pedagogical environments that support students’ ability to navigate culturally diverse, interdisciplinary and digitally mediated collaboration while strengthening communication, adaptability and collaborative problem-solving skills relevant to global professional contexts.

The findings demonstrate that intercultural competence develops not only through exposure to national cultural diversity but also through sustained engagement with linguistic variation, disciplinary expectations and virtual teamwork practices within authentic collaborative environments. In doing so, the study extends social constructivist perspectives (Vygotsky, 1978; Salmons, 2011) and Deardorff’s (2009) Process Model of Intercultural Competence by conceptualizing intercultural competence within global virtual collaboration as multi-layered and developed through experiential, digitally mediated interaction. The findings, therefore, contribute to a more nuanced understanding of intercultural competence development and highlight the need for business education pedagogies that intentionally prepare students to navigate these intersecting cultural layers within increasingly global, interdisciplinary and digital professional environments.

The findings also position global virtual hackathons as hybrid experiential pedagogical environments that bridge theory and practice by immersing students in authentic, multicultural, interdisciplinary and time-constrained problem-solving contexts. In doing so, the study contributes theoretically by demonstrating how hackathons function not merely as collaborative activities, but as structured experiential learning environments through which multi-layered intercultural competence is actively developed through interaction, negotiation and collaborative problem-solving across national, linguistic, disciplinary and digital cultural dimensions. Consistent with research on interdisciplinary collaboration (Braßler and Schultze, 2021; Hero and Lindfors, 2019; Saqr et al., 2024) and virtual teamwork (Erez et al., 2013; Badrinarayanan, 2024; Kolm et al., 2022). The findings further demonstrate that structured facilitation, digital collaboration tools, and authentic client engagement play a central role in supporting meaningful intercultural learning within global virtual teams.

As global virtual collaboration becomes integral to the modern workforce, universities must prepare students for culturally diverse, interdisciplinary and digital work environments. The findings suggest five key implications for business education practice.

Firstly, the findings highlight the importance of pre-hackathon preparation to support intercultural and interdisciplinary collaboration. Business education programs should provide preparatory training on intercultural awareness, communication adaptation, virtual teamwork and disciplinary differences to reduce uncertainty and strengthen early collaboration.

Secondly, the findings demonstrate the value of structured facilitation and scaffolding within global virtual collaboration environments. Structured tools, guided facilitation, reflective activities and rotating leadership roles can support participation, coordination and strategic problem-solving in interdisciplinary teams.

Thirdly, the findings reinforce the need for digital collaboration training as a core component of business education curricula. Students should develop competencies in virtual teamwork, online facilitation, digital communication etiquette, collaborative technologies and remote project coordination to prepare for contemporary global workplaces.

The findings also highlight the pedagogical value of authentic, community-engaged and problem-based learning environments. Partnerships with NPOs, industry stakeholders and community organizations can enhance authenticity, intercultural learning, and students’ ability to engage with contextual and stakeholder complexities.

Finally, the findings suggest that business education should conceptualize intercultural competence more broadly than national culture alone. Curricula should recognize the multi-layered nature of intercultural competence, including disciplinary expectations, linguistic diversity, communication adaptation and digital interaction practices. Carefully designed global virtual hackathons may provide valuable opportunities for students to develop these interconnected competencies through collaborative problem-solving and reflection.

This study used a small, asymmetrical sample within a qualitative, exploratory design, limiting the generalizability of the findings. The results should therefore be interpreted as indicative of how a specific group of students perceived the development of multi-layered intercultural competence during participation in a global virtual hackathon. In addition, the voluntary and extracurricular nature of participation may have introduced self-selection bias, as students already interested in intercultural collaboration may have been more likely to participate. Despite these limitations, the study provides valuable insights for designing future hackathons and technology-enhanced pedagogical practices to develop multi-layered intercultural competence. Future research with larger, more diverse cohorts could strengthen the evidence base through comparative analyses and by exploring strategies, such as integrating hackathons into formal coursework, to address barriers related to time and relevance. Furthermore, the use of longitudinal approaches, post-event interviews, and validated instruments such as the Cultural Intelligence Scale and Multicultural Personality Questionnaire could provide deeper insight into the long-term development of intercultural competencies across national, linguistic and disciplinary dimensions within digitally mediated learning environments.