In this research, the authors present a framework for developing Intercultural Competence (IC) and use Tridimensional Digital Virtual Worlds (3DVW) as environments for developing Intercultural Competence. They developed an artifact, via Design Research, constituted by an educational method using the 3DVW Second Life® as the place for a virtual exchange program between 92 Brazilian and Portuguese master students. The results of the authors' study indicate that the 3DVW can be used for the development of IC because it allows rich experiential and relational/conversational learning opportunities, especially due to the affordances of immersion/sense of presence, social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing.

In this research, the authors present a framework for developing Intercultural Competence (IC) and use Tridimensional Digital Virtual Worlds (3DVW) as environments for developing Intercultural Competence. They developed an artifact, via Design Research, constituted by an educational method using the 3DVW Second Life® as the place for a virtual exchange program between 92 Brazilian and Portuguese master students. The results of the authors' study indicate that the 3DVW can be used for the development of IC because it allows rich experiential and relational/conversational learning opportunities, especially due to the affordances of immersion/sense of presence, social interaction, content production and knowledge sharing.

RESUMOA Grounded Theory surge como um caminho para a geração de teorias, desenvolvendo um estilo único que viesse atender esta questão. Após quase 50 anos de utilização nas ciências sociais, como estão os resultados das pesquisas feitas por meio da Grounded Theory no Brasil? A pesquisa é de abordagem qualitativa, de nível descritivo, baseada em investigação bibliográfica na construção do referencial teórico e de levantamento bibliométrico de 20 artigos (com classificação entre A1 e B1), encontrados em periódicos científicos nacionais e nos anais dos congressos da Associação Nacional de Pós-Graduação e Pesquisa em Administração (ANPAD), publicados entre 2000 e 2014, que indicaram utilizar o método no desenvolvimento de pesquisa empírica publicada para a geração de novas teorias. Dentre os principais resultados, a conclusão é que a Grounded Theory como método de pesquisa nos artigos analisados não é aplicada de maneira uniforme, embora os autores tenham empregado as etapas e os princípios básicos que mantiveram a essência do método. Observou-se que a maioria dos artigos foram planejados e executados com base nos procedimentos metodológicos propostos pelo método, embora tenham desconsiderado alguns princípios elementares na sua construção. Todos os artigos analisados neste estudo não produziram uma teoria propriamente dita; mas sim produziram aproximações teóricas.Palavras-chave: Grounded Theory. Método de pesquisa. Pesquisa bibliográfica. ABSTRACTGrounded Theory emerged as a way of generating theories; of developing a unique style that was able to fill the can fill the gap between "theoretically disinterested empirical research" and "empirically disinterested theories", proposing a way that would be solve this question.

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Frequently, research on management education does not take into account the role of Information Technology as a key resource to support teaching and learning processes. In this article, the authors explore the current applications of Three Dimensional Virtual Worlds (3DVW) for Management education. The authors researched the educational institutions subscribed to Second Life (SL) (http://secondlife.com/), as it is one of the most popular open 3DVW available worldwide. The results reveal that only 31% of the institutions that answered the authors’ questionnaire actually use SL in Management education. Regarding the acceptance of SL in Management education, one third of the 15 institutions using it claim that it has been well received and accepted both by students and lecturers/professors. These results lead to several questions for further research and development of practices concerning the use of 3DVW for Management education.