In their research paper, Galinsky and Maddux, Professor of Ethics at the Kellogg School of Management and assistant professor of Organizational Behaviour at INSEAD, respectively, conclude that cross-cultural experiences can enhance creativity.

The authors found that living abroad and adapting to new cultures facilitated creativity since participants who lived overseas for a longer period of time were more able to find a hidden solution to a problem and to an interpersonal negotiation task.

This is because exposure to different cultures provides individuals with access to more novel ideas and concepts that they can then use in their creative processes. Expatriates also learn that the same behaviour can have a completely different meaning in another culture, e.g. leaving food on one’s plate in China shows appreciation for your host’s generosity for providing enough to eat while doing so in the U.S. would be insulting. This enables expats to see a problem from different perspectives. Finally, since one of the functions of culture is to provide a set of ‘scripts’ and acceptable practices for behaviour, new cultural experiences provide an alternative norm for behaviour and thoughts as expats and travellers adapt to their new environment. This not only increases their scope for creativity, but also their “relational mobility” -- the ability to move fluidly between different social groups.

Galnisky and Maddux emphasize that merely traveling overseas was not sufficient for this enhanced creativity to emerge, but required living abroad since a certain amount of mental and behaviour transformation is necessary to have longer-lasting effects of creativity. Expats or travellers who engage with the locals, participate in local activities, and actively reflect on their own culture and that of the host culture will derive the most benefits in improving their creativity.