Relating Intercultural Communication Sensitivity to Conflict Management Styles,Technology Use,and Organizational Communication Satisfaction in Multinational Organizations in China

This research examines intercultural communication sensitivity in relation to other organizational communication factors in China branches of multinational corporations. We found minor differences existed between Chinese employees with overseas living experience vs. those without any overseas living experience with respect to their intercultural communication sensitivity, conflict management style, technology use, and organizational communication satisfaction. Chinese employees with a higher level of intercultural sensitivity were more satisfied with their organizational communication, tended to use control and solution-oriented conflict management styles, and used different communication technologies in organizational settings.     

Aggressive and Affiliative Humor: Relationships to Aspects of Intercultural Communication

The security theory of humor was utilized to examine two types of humor (affiliative and aggressive) in relation to intercultural communication. Participants (N?=?241) completed a survey containing measures of humor (humor orientation, humor aggressiveness) and intercultural communication (intercultural communication apprehension, ethnocentrism, emulation, intercultural willingness to communicate). Humor orientation was negatively related to intercultural communication apprehension. Humor aggressiveness was positively related to ethnocentrism and negatively associated with emulation. Implications for the theory and intercultural communication are discussed.     

Intercultural Communication Competence Scale: Invariance and Construct Validation in Portugal

ABSTRACT

This article explores the psychometric validation of an Intercultural Communication Competence (ICC) scale. Three studies were performed: (1) psychometric evidence pertaining to the scale’s reliability and factor structure and an analysis of the measurement invariance; (2) assessment of convergent and predictive validity; and (3) analyzes the association between ICC and affective and cognitive dimensions of cultural empathy. A three-factor model with eight items yielded the best fit to the data. The scale showed non-invariance between genders, but proved to be a predictor of intercultural contact. Convergent validity were demonstrated.     

Intercultural Communication Schemas of Deaf and Hearing Adults: Visuospatial Decision-Making During Deception Detection

ABSTRACT

Some cultures rely heavily on visual channels for gathering information. One specific group is the Deaf and hard of hearing community who often rely on signed languages to communicate. Language and thought are woven, therefore this study examined whether bicultural-bilingual schemas can be activated via the visual channel. A sample from a Deaf community were compared to hearing participants via a decision task whereby judgments were made regarding the veracity of a suspected liar. The results of the experiment reveal that it is possible to activate culturally appropriate schemas for decisions about veracity in a visual task during intercultural communication.     

Intercultural Friendship: Linking Communication Variables and Friendship Success

International students often complain about the lack of friendships with host nationals. This study explores the relationship between communication variables, number of friendships, and friendship satisfaction. International students at a large urban university in the United States completed a survey on willingness to communicate, communicative adaptability, English language proficiency, loneliness, and friendship with the Americans. Results show that international students rated their American friendships lower than their home- or other-culture friendships. Friendship numbers and satisfaction were significantly related to communicative adaptability, language proficiency, and loneliness. There was no significant correlation between friendship success and willingness to communicate or length of stay.     

Religious Fundamentalism and Intercultural Communication: The Relationships Among Ethnocentrism,Intercultural Communication Apprehension,Religious Fundamentalism,Homonegativity, and Tolerance for Religious Disagreements

The purpose of the current study was to examine the relationships among ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, religious fundamentalism, homonegativity, and tolerance for religious disagreements. This study found a positive relationship between religious fundamentalism with ethnocentrism and homonegativity. The study further found a negative relationship between tolerance for religious disagreement with ethnocentrism and religious fundamentalism. Lastly, homonegativity, ethnocentrism, and tolerance for religious disagreement were shown to account for approximately 17.5% of the variance in an individual's intercultural communication apprehension. However, religious fundamentalism was not shown to be related to intercultural communication apprehension.     

A First-Year Seminar Course that Supports the Transition of International Students to Higher Education and Fosters the Development of Intercultural Communication Competence

Colleges and universities in the United States and in other countries are admitting and educating an increasing number of international students. This trend creates both challenges and opportunities for modern higher education. While much of the early scholarship focused on understanding the various academic and social challenges faced by international students, both researchers and practitioners have recently shifted their focus to program development and assessment. This paper, then, examines a specialized first-year seminar course, which includes an out-of-class engagement component that allows international students to interact directly with host country peers. The course and the engagement component were designed to address the transitional academic and social needs of international students. More specifically, this is a report on a three-year study of cohorts of first-semester international students (N = 58) which examined the effectiveness of the specialized first-year seminar within a framework of intercultural communication. The results show that the program was not only a way to support students’ transition to the university, but also facilitated their development of intercultural communication competence.     

An Introduction to Intercultural Communication: Identities in a Global Community (6th Edition)

By covering underrepresented areas in the world, Al Jazeera English (AJE) can facilitate intercultural understanding among Americans. However, AJE is not widely available on television in the United States. Further, many Americans hold pre-formed suspicions of the channel. Through an online experiment, we find that pre-reception audience bias against AJE exists and correlates with prejudice against Arab Americans, limiting its conciliatory potential. However, Americans can change their views toward AJE depending on how it is covered by other media, or what we call “intermedia framing,” including both satiric soft news and hard news. An experiment finds that satiric news coverage decreases anti-Arab American prejudice and, when combined with exposure to AJE, elevates evaluations of the network.     

Negotiating Narratives of Human Trafficking: NGOs,Communication and the Power of Culture

This article draws on interviews with anti-trafficking NGO employees in Thailand to illustrate the use of narratives as a tool for communicating cultural values. Drawing on theories of modernization, culture, and liberation psychology, I assess the way anti-trafficking NGO employees construct narratives, or “stories,” about human trafficking. These narratives rely on Western values associated with modernization, the role of NGOs in development, gendered constructions of victimhood, “Othering,” and Orientalism. Analyzing these narratives, I build a theory of “culture as a space of safety:” a self-reinforcing mechanism whereby employees ritualistically retreat from the overwhelming circumstances they confront in their work.     

Learning and adaptation with regard to complementary medicine in a foreign context: Intercultural experiences of medical students from different cultural backgrounds

Little is known about challenges and transition that medical students from different cultural backgrounds face with regard to complementary medicine (CM). This paper explores such students’ experiences and perspectives of socio-cultural and academic difference with regard to CM and experiences of intercultural relations. Using a constructivist grounded theory approach, 30 in-depth qualitative interviews were conducted with medical students across 10 Australian medical schools. The data were rigorously analysed through a systematic process of coding, categorisation and theoretical development. The findings indicate that students adapted considerably to the host culture. Students with Western backgrounds integrated better socio-culturally and academically compared to students with non-Western backgrounds. Although nationality represented cultural identity, students’ construction of cultural difference was informed by their perception of diverging value systems within the specific educational environment. These values were, in turn, reflected in students’ reported behaviours, attitudes, and levels of engagement in socio-cultural and academic aspects of university life. Adaptation employed by students was evidenced largely due to their conflicting sense of responsibility towards familial culture regarding CM and focus on fitting in. While students’ tendency to gravitate towards cultural peers was evident, most students adapted to their host environment regarding CM to fit into normal intercultural encounters during medical school. In conclusion, students’ intercultural contact with regard to CM was both complex and problematic. At a time of significant diversification within the higher education student body, this paper highlights the role medical education institutions can play in fostering intercultural and academic guidance and support.     

Testing a Model of Intercultural Willingness to Communicate based on Ethnocentrism,Ambiguity Tolerance and Sensation Seeking: The Role of Learning English in Iran

The present study aimed at testing a model of intercultural willingness to communicate based on ethnocentrism, ambiguity tolerance and sensation seeking between English and non-English major university students in Iran. A significant difference was found between the two groups on ethnocentrism and the results showed that the model fit the data adequately. Ethnocentrism was the strongest predictor of intercultural willingness to communicate for both groups. Sensation seeking was a significant predictor of intercultural willingness to communicate only for the non-English major university students. Moreover, sensation seeking and ambiguity tolerance were significant predictors of ethnocentrism.     

Teaching French as a Second Language to Chinese students: Instructional staff adaptation and intercultural competence development

This case study is an analysis of second language instructors’ processes of adaptation to Chinese students at a small French University. More precisely, in this qualitative case study, it will be shown that the instructional staff's adaptation to an unfamiliar work environment and student population contributed to the development of their intercultural competence. Moreover, it will be argued that such competence was not developed to its full potential. Finally, we offer recommendations for teacher education programs at the end of the article.