Intercultural competences and interaction schemes — Four forces regulating dyadic encounters in international business

•We examine international business encounter behavior and schemes from a psychological perspective.•We introduce a model on intercultural encounter dynamics and inherent regulating forces driving individual-level consistency.•High consistency level increases proximity behavior and thus facilitates trust creation and success.•Low consistency level increases avoidance behavior and facilitates failure as it does not facilitate trust creation.•Intercultural competences and learning assist in increasing consistency.

Intercultural competences are highly valued in international business (IB) as antecedents to building trust, whereas a lack of them and problems concerning cultural sensitivity have been identified as major reasons for failure. And yet, there is very little research on trust building and interaction on the level of the individual, particularly from the viewpoint of interaction dynamics and the individual's behavioral schemes. This paper approaches the rudiments that regulate individuals' behavior in dyadic IB encounters from a psychological perspective. It integrates Grawe's consistency theory from psychology into intercultural competence literature and analyzes interaction dynamics. As a result, it proposes a conceptual model introducing novel forces for behavior and motivation in IB encounters. The model comprises four forces that are based on the basic needs that regulate interaction towards proximity or avoidance behavior. Based on the model, we present propositions linking consistency, motivational schemes, and encounter outcomes.