Dr. Nor Zainiyah Norita Binti Mokhtar

Invited Speech: Leveraging Behavioral Cultural Intelligence (CQ) in Promoting Inclusion: A Collaborative Approach to Developing an Advertisement for McDonald’s New Product by Students from Shenandoah University and International Islamic University Malaysia

Biography:

Nor Zainiyah Norita Mokhtar has been in the education field for the last 27 years and has been in service with the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) for 24 years. She completed her PhD at the University of Sheffield, United Kingdom. Her research interests revolve around teaching and learning strategies, linguistics (particularly Pragmatics and Semantics), Intercultural Communication from the linguistic perspective and areas pertaining to literacy issues amidst children in primary education. She is the Coordinator for the High Immersive Programmes under the Flagship of National Education Philosophy, IIUM which involves a collaboration of programmes with schools in Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore and Brunei in the near future.  Another involvement is with the River of Life Flagship in IIUM. This flagship caters towards the conservation and river care in Malaysia. She is also actively involved in designing a course pertaining to sustainable development and has participated in developing the course modules and training of the trainers. Her tenure as a visiting professor at the University of Brawijaya, Indonesia, has recently ended where she was lecturing on TPACK as a teaching strategy in language learning. She was also invited as an Adjunct Professor at the Shenandoah University, Virginia, United States of America.  Her tenure started in August 2023 and ended in December 2023. During her stay there in Shenandoah University, she was affiliated with the Department of Mass Communication and assigned to teach Intercultural Communication and First Year Seminar under the theme “You’re a Creative Genius”.

She has also played a very active role in virtual exchange education and also Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) which started during her fellowship in a COIL programme organized by the Barzinji Project under the Shenandoah University, Virginia, USA in 2021. She has collaborated in projects with both local and international universities as well as schools. Currently, she is in the midst of developing her seventh project with the Shenandoah University, USA.

Abstract:

This paper explores the role of Behavioral Cultural Intelligence (CQ) in promoting inclusion during the development of a global advertisement for McDonald’s new product. The advertisement, created through a collaboration between students from Shenandoah University in the United States and the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM), serves as a case study in applying Behavioral CQ to cross-cultural marketing. By examining the stages of cultural research, creative development, communication, and feedback, the paper demonstrates how Behavioral CQ enables the creation of advertisements that respect and resonate with diverse cultural audiences. The study highlights the importance of Behavioral CQ in fostering inclusive marketing strategies that are essential for global brands like McDonald’s. The findings suggest that incorporating Behavioral CQ into international advertising efforts can enhance cultural sensitivity, promote inclusivity, and ultimately contribute to the success of global marketing campaigns.