Staying connected: Effects of social connectedness,cultural intelligence,and socioeconomic status on overseas students’ life satisfaction

This study investigated the relationship between social connectedness and overseas life satisfaction in addition to the mediating effect of cultural intelligence (CQ) and the moderating effect of socioeconomic status (SES) respectively. We adopted the social capital theory to support the relations among the proposed variables. Data were collected through online questionnaires from Taiwanese students studying abroad; 431 valid responses were analyzed. The results demonstrated that social connectedness was positively related to CQ; moreover, CQ was positively related to students’ overseas life satisfaction, and partially mediated the relationship between social connectedness and overseas life satisfaction. Concurrently, SES was observed to moderate the relationships of social connectedness with CQ and CQ with overseas life satisfaction. Furthermore, the indirect effect of social connectedness on overseas life satisfaction through CQ was moderated by varying SES levels. Our findings confirm that social connectedness affects CQ, and that CQ serves as the mediation mechanism between social connectedness and life satisfaction among overseas students. In addition, SES plays a significant role in the moderated mediation relationship. Limitations of this study and recommendations for future studies are also discussed.     

The effect of study abroad and personality on cultural intelligence: A deeper understanding using the expanded model of cultural intelligence

Using an expanded assessment of cultural intelligence (CQ), this study provides a detailed analysis of how studying abroad impacts the development of CQ. We examined (1) the effect of a study abroad semester on the development of each of the eleven subdimensions of cultural intelligence – Expanded-CQ or E-CQ over time; and (2) whether personality traits (i.e., extraversion and openness to experience) had a moderating role in the relationship between a study abroad semester and E-CQ in a longitudinal study. Data were collected from 361 students both before (Time 1) and after (Time 2) the study abroad semester. Mixed between-within subjects analysis of variance showed that the study abroad semester did have a statistically significant effect on the development of ten subdimensions of E-CQ over time. Moreover, contrary to our expectations, multiple regression analyses demonstrated that individuals who were low on extraversion improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness) more than did individuals who were high on extraversion. Similarly, individuals who were low on openness to experience improved their metacognitive CQ (awareness), their cognitive CQ (culture-general knowledge), and their motivational CQ (intrinsic interest) more than did individuals who were high on openness to experience. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.     

Cross-cultural training effects on cultural essentialism beliefs and cultural intelligence

The study reports on the implementation of a brief intercultural training intervention as part of a university course. The intervention consisted of a series of six lectures, one simulation game and one behaviour modification session, administered over a period of four weeks. Measures of cultural essentialism and cultural intelligence (CQ) were obtained prior to the first lecture and one week after the completion of the last training session. A total of 107 students participated and pre-post test scores were matched for 49 participants. The findings show that cultural essentialism increased, but cognitive and meta-cognitive scores decreased following the intervention. Personality moderated the trainings’ effectiveness: more open-minded students at Time 1 were more likely to report increases in motivational CQ at Time 2. Challenging claims about negative effects of psychological essentialism, cultural essentialism beliefs were positively related to both open-mindedness and cognitive CQ over Time. Implications for brief intercultural training interventions are discussed.     

Cultural distance and expatriate job satisfaction

Despite its strong impact in domestic settings on job performance, organizational commitment, stress, and turnover intentions, job satisfaction has received little attention in the literature on expatriates. This paper analyzes the predictors of job satisfaction that may arise in an expatriate context. Drawing on the cultural distance perspective, we propose that the national cultural distance, supervisor's nationality, host-country language proficiency, expatriate type, and company nationality are important determinants of expatriate job satisfaction. Survey results from 148 expatriates in Japan demonstrate that national cultural distance, supervisor's nationality, and expatriate type have a statistically significant influence on expatriate job satisfaction. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.     

Expectations, satisfaction, and intention to leave of American expatriate managers in Japan

Many multinational corporations experience high and costly rates of expatriates returning prematurely from overseas assignments. Extending the general turnover literature, we test the specific relationships between expectations, satisfaction, and intent to leave for a sample of American expatriates in Japan. In a path analysis, work role clarity and overmet expectations about the general environment were positive predictors of general satisfaction. For job satisfaction, work role clarity and overmet expectations about job discretion were positive predictors. Finally, general satisfaction was the strongest predictor of intent to leave the assignment early. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are explored.     

The relationship between cultural intelligence and performance with the mediating effect of culture shock: A case from Philippine laborers in Taiwan

This purpose of the present study was to explore the role of cultural intelligence (CQ) and its effect on performance of foreign laborers. We also examined the mediating effect of culture shock on the relationship between CQ and performance. Data were collected from Philippine laborers working in Taiwan. A paper-based survey, with a return rate of 76.4%, was completed by 382 Philippine laborers working in Taiwan's manufacturing industries. The results showed that CQ was positively related to the performance of Philippine laborers and negatively related to culture shock. In addition, we found that culture shock partly mediated the relationship of CQ and performance. These findings suggested that CQ can serve as a predictor for cross-cultural effectiveness. Implications for practice and direction for future research are offered.     

Organizational role ambiguity as a proxy for uncertainty avoidance

Despite studies’ mixed results regarding the construct validity of Hofstede’s (2001) Uncertainty Avoidance (UA) Index and findings linking UA to related psychological, physiological, and behavioral health outcomes at the cultural level of analysis, none have examined the concurrent criterion-related validity of UA. The current study attempts to do so by introducing organizational role ambiguity (ORA), operationalized as an organization’s structured communication strategy about performance expectations between work role, division, and organization, as a correlate of UA. Data on ORA, risk-taking, and organizational satisfaction were collected from over 15,000 respondents in 20 countries and data on cultural values, wealth, sources of guidance, personality, and satisfaction were extracted from published data. Results show that ORA negatively correlates with UA and intellectual autonomy values, as well as organizational satisfaction, but positively correlates with risk-taking, masculinity values, lateral (coworkers as) sources of guidance, agreeableness, and job satisfaction. Thus, ORA, a construct organizations often assess in engagement and climate surveys, appears to be a reasonable correlate of UA. The country’s cultural context of UA is reflected in the collective experience of an organization’s communication structures within a given country. These findings have implications for organization’s accessing their own, already available, ORA data to understand its implications on employee experiences, as well as for intercultural training and global research on occupational stress.     

Exploring resilience as a mediator and moderator in the relationship between cultural intelligence and sociocultural adjustment: A study of expatriates in Switzerland

Recent studies suggest that cultural intelligence (CQ) and resilience play a key role in sociocultural adjustment in expatriate populations. The current study aimed to clarify the relationships between CQ, resilience and sociocultural adjustment in a population of expatriates in Switzerland. Participants (N = 126) completed validated, self-report measures of resilience, cultural intelligence, and sociocultural adjustment and hierarchical linear regression, mediation and moderation analyses tested relationships between the study variables. Preliminary results verified findings from previous research indicating that increased resilience and CQ predict fewer sociocultural adjustment difficulties. Additional analyses showed that the CQ Skills subscale explained a significant amount of variance in sociocultural adjustment while the other subscales, metacognition and knowledge, did not. Finally, we found that resilience partially mediates the relationship between CQ and sociocultural adjustment but does not act as a moderator in this relationship. The results have theoretical implications for understanding the process of sociocultural adjustment, as well as practical implications for implementing targeted training programmes to support expatriate adjustment.     

Adolescents’ future wishes and fears in their acculturation process

In this study we aim at learning about adolescents’ future fears and wishes from different cultural origins with a view to finding implications for intervention in the furthering of their satisfaction and social integration in their acculturation process. The study sample comprised 938 secondary school students—64.4% Spanish, 19.7% South American and 12.8% African. Wishes and fears were evaluated by means of two open questions and the answers were categorized following traditional content analysis methodology. Results show that the adolescents wish for a satisfactory job, family and economic situation, and that they are concerned about aspects such as their own health and that of their family, the possibility of having a precarious job, isolation from their family of origin, and not forming a family. The findings also allow us to give differential profiles according to the cultural origin of the adolescents.     

Role of Cultural Intelligence in Acculturation: Explorations on a Physiognomic Minority Diaspora in India

The aim of this study was to analyse how cultural intelligence (CQ) influences the acculturation process and adaptive outcomes of a physiognomic minority indigenous cultural group in India. This study (N = 246) concerning the northeastern (NE) Indian diaspora in Indian cities outside the NE region. Path analysis showed that integration and assimilation predicted higher adaptation; while marginalization and separation lowered adaptation. Likewise, CQ positively predicted adaptation and also moderated the relationship between acculturation strategies and adaptation. Therefore, findings reflect the flexible facilitative role of CQ in promoting adaptation of minority groups in acculturation context.     

Proactive personality and cross-cultural adjustment: Roles of social media usage and cultural intelligence

Proactive personality has been theoretically defined as a natural disposition that determines the manner in which an individual responds to social environmental changes. However, in cross-cultural context, knowledge about the role of proactive personality and its boundary conditions in expatriate cross-cultural adjustment remains limited. To address the gaps, this study aims to investigate whether and how proactive personality accounts for variance phenomena in expatriate cross-cultural adjustment with intervention of boundary conditions. A survey was conducted in three public universities in China, and 247 informative responses were obtained for hypothesis testing analysis. Results reveal that proactive personality contributes to expatriate cross-cultural adjustment. This contribution occurs through the conduit of cultural intelligence (CQ). CQ partially mediates the relationship between proactive personality and academic adjustment but fully mediates that between proactive personality and social adjustment. Moreover, social media usage for gathering information negatively influences the relationship between proactive personality and CQ. Implications and future research directions are discussed as well.     

The cultural correlates of learning poverty: The roles of long-term orientation and power distance

Learning poverty, defined as being unable to read and understand a simple text by the end of primary school, is a critical social problem. Past studies on learning poverty have mostly focused on the role of economic and demographic factors but have seldom explored the role of culture. To address this gap, we examined whether national cultural values (i.e., power distance, individualism, masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term orientation, and indulgence) were associated with learning poverty in 45 countries. Ecological analyses indicated that among the different cultural values, long-term orientation was negatively associated with learning poverty, but power distance was positively associated with it. These associations remained robust after accounting for the roles of economic and demographic factors. These findings extend the literature on learning poverty by emphasizing the cultural correlates of learning poverty. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Does Cross-cultural Competence Matter when Going Global: Cultural Intelligence and Its Impact on Performance of International Students in Australia

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is a critical competency in the modern world. By examining 189 international students from an Australian university, this study investigates the impact of CQ and cultural exposure on intercultural adjustment and academic performance. Significant positive relationships are found between facets of CQ and Interactional Adjustment and General Adjustment, but a significant negative relationship with Academic Performance. We also demonstrate the validity of a new construct of Cultural Exposure (CE) including three dimensions (Geographical, Environmental, and Inherited) with both Geographical and Environmental dimensions producing a strong positive correlation with Academic Performance.     

Psychological distress among international students in Turkey

This study examined predictors of psychological distress in a sample of 334 international students studying at different public universities in Turkey. The standard multiple regression analysis was used to clarify the contributions of individual characteristics, interaction with Turkish students, perceived discrimination, Turkish language proficiency, perceived cultural distance, integration to social life in Turkey, and life satisfaction to psychological distress of international students. The results revealed that life satisfaction, integration to social life in Turkey, Turkish language proficiency, and length of stay in the host country (Turkey) account for 32.8% of the variance in the international students’ psychological distress levels. The study concludes that factors contributing to psychological distress of foreign students are related to some individual characteristics and personal factors. Hence, foreign students need to go through a preparation process/program in their home country. Then a guidance and orientation program needs to be provided in the host country.     

The effect of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction among immigrants: Does host national identity matter?

Overqualification is a form of person-job misfit that is common among those who reside in a foreign country. It is associated with poor work-related well-being and can inhibit full adjustment to the host society. The goal of our study is to examine the impact of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction among immigrants. Furthermore, we investigated immigrants’ host national identity as a moderator of the impact of perceived overqualification on job satisfaction and career satisfaction. We analysed longitudinal online survey data from 124 Italian and Spanish immigrants who migrated to Germany between 2000 and 2014. Regression analyses show that perceived overqualification is negatively associated with job satisfaction six months later. Furthermore, host national identity moderates the association between perceived overqualification and job satisfaction: low overqualification is beneficial for job satisfaction whereas high overqualification is a threat for job satisfaction, especially for immigrants who identify strongly with the host society. We do not find corresponding direct and moderating effects on career satisfaction. We conclude that indicators of acculturation, such as host national identity, are worth considering in order to understand the impact of person-job misfit on work-related well-being among immigrants.     

Cross-cultural influence on communication effectiveness and user interface design

The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of cultural diversity on communication effectiveness with different communication styles and to apply the results in the field of user interface design for computer-based communication systems. The scope of this study was limited to the relationship between context and verbal/nonverbal communication, and also the relationship between power distance and communication interaction. The results indicated that high context people (HCP) had better communication effectiveness in comprehending nonverbal clues than low context people (LCP), while LCP had better communication effectiveness in verbal communication than their counterparts. It was also found that high power distance people (HPDP) could not communicate as effectively as low power distance people (LPDP) during communication with interaction, but there was no significant difference between HPDP and LPDP in dealing with communication without interaction.     

Social support and cultural distance: Sojourners’ experience in China

Previous research has pinpointed that social support from host, co-national, and other international friends plays a pivotal role in successful adaptation to a new culture, yet research on this topic pertaining to China is inadequate. As such, using a cross-sectional sample of sojourners (N = 199) in major Chinese cities, the current study examines the relationship between sojourners’ self-reports of social support from the three sources and two psychological adaptation variables (i.e., anxiety and well-being) as well as the moderating effect of objective cultural distance. Regression analysis indicates that perceptions of host and international support are significant negative predictors of anxiety and positive predictors of psychological well-being. In addition, cultural distance moderated these predictive associations: host support and international support had a stronger negative association with anxiety and host support had a stronger positive association with well-being for participants whose cultural distance to China was lower compared to those whose cultural distance was higher. This study enhances our understanding of the dynamic interplay between social support and cultural distance in cross-cultural adaptation research within a Chinese cultural context.     

Immigrants and host nationals at work: Associations of co-worker relations with employee well-being

The aim of this study was to investigate how co-worker relations are associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction among immigrants and host nationals working at the same workplace. Among immigrants, we examined co-worker relations with co-culturals, host nationals, and foreign immigrants, whereas among host nationals, we focused on co-worker relations with co-nationals (i.e. co-culturals) and immigrants. The study was conducted as a survey, of which the response rate was 45%. The participants consisted of immigrant (n = 164) and host national employees (n = 186) in a transport company (in Finland), the majority (90%) of whom were men. Co-worker relations were measured with a composite score, tapping broadly positively experienced relations and their frequency as well as the desire to interact with a defined group of co-workers. The results showed that all kinds of co-worker relations were positively associated with psychological well-being and job satisfaction. However, the co-worker relations between host nationals and immigrants were more strongly associated with job satisfaction than relations between these and other co-workers. Thus, attention should be paid to fostering the development of positive intercultural co-worker relations, as this may positively impact immigrant as well as host national employee well-being; job satisfaction in particular.     

American and South Korean Engineering Students’ Communication Motives and Their Student–Instructor Communication Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was twofold. The first purpose was to compare American and South Korean engineering students’ motives (i.e., relational, functional, excuse-making, participatory, and sycophantic) for communicating with their instructors and their student–instructor communication satisfaction. The second purpose was to examine the extent to which both American and South Korean engineering students’ motives for communicating with their instructors are related to their student–instructor communication satisfaction. Undergraduate students (N = 168) recruited from public universities in the United States and South Korea participated in this study. The results of a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA), an independent sample t-tests, a series of zero-order Pearson correlational analyses, and Fisher z-tests revealed significant cultural differences and that the relationship between students’ communication motives and their student–instructor communication satisfaction largely are consistent between the two cultures.     

The impact of national culture on the increase of COVID-19: A cross-country analysis of European countries

In recent years, countries have been fighting with increasing momentum against outbreaks. This struggle requires the effective implementation of several measures that are required in medical science. However, the cultural characteristics of each society prevent these measures from being applied in the same way globally. One area in which social scientists have not applied much effort is observing the impact of countries' cultural characteristics in the fight against outbreaks. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether cultural differences among countries have an impact on their fight against outbreaks. This study uses the COVID-19 pandemic’s total cases and selected European countries’ cultural dimension scores as data. Due to the differences in the measurement units of cultural and outbreak variables, a stepwise multiple logarithmic regression analysis is preferred to select the proper regression model. The results have shown that power distance has a significant and negative effect on the increase rate of the total COVID-19 cases per million (IRTCCPM). In addition, the results have demonstrated that both individualism and indulgence have significant and positive effects on IRTCCPM, at the 95 % confidence level. However, the hypotheses concerning the impacts of masculinity, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation on the IRTCCPM are rejected at the α = 0.05 level. In light of the findings of this study, it can be asserted that countries act in harmony with their cultural characteristics in the formal or informal practices of their fight against outbreaks. The contributions of the study can be discussed in academic and practical fields.