This study aims to explore whether a short-term study abroad program (STSAP) can foster empathy in undergraduate business students through humanities-based experiential encounters, addressing the understudied intersection of humanities pedagogy and attitudinal development in international business education.
A convergent mixed-methods exploratory design included 17 undergraduate students who participated in a six-week faculty-led program in Japan. Empathy was measured pre- and post-program using the Empathy Components Questionnaire (ECQ). Qualitative data from structured reflective journals were coded along the ECQ’s five dimensions.
Statistically significant increases were observed following participation in four of five empathy subdimensions: cognitive ability, affective ability, affective drive and affective reactivity. Cognitive drive did not show a significant change. Qualitative evidence was broadly consistent with the quantitative patterns.
The small sample from a single institution, absence of a control group and immediate post-test timing constrain causal inference and generalizability.
This paper offers transferable design elements for faculty desiring to improve empathy in students through a STSAP: structured pre-departure preparation, guided disorientation, sustained reflection, direct interpersonal engagement with community members and close faculty accompaniment.
Programs that expose business students to unfamiliar cultural, historical and organizational contexts through humanities encounters may contribute to more ethical leadership and respectful cross-cultural interaction. Responsible engagement with host communities and attention to reciprocity are essential.
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to empirically measure empathy development in a STSAP context using a validated multidimensional instrument. It positions empathy as a theoretically grounded, measurable and pedagogically manipulable outcome of humanities-integrated international business education.
