Advertisement

Double-Edges of Acculturation from the n-Culturals’ Lens

  • Andre A. PekertiEmail author
Chapter
First Online:
Part of the Springer Series in Emerging Cultural Perspectives in Work, Organizational, and Personnel Studies book series (SSCOW)

Abstract

Being multicultural has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages emanate from the multiple cultural experiences gained and skills developed from these experiences. The disadvantages mostly originate from challenges faced in the process of developing multicultural skills, adjustment processes, and some exogenous factors that are beyond the multiculturals’ control. In this chapter, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of being multicultural. Due to n-Culturals’ capacity and ability identify with, internalize and maintain saliences of more than two cultures, n-Culturals are presented as the extreme end of the multiculturalism continuum with additional capabilities of maintaining simultaneous multicultural identities and saliences of multicultural frameworks.

Keywords

Bi-cultural Boundary spanning Challenges Cognitive complexity Inclusion Identities Managing Multi-cultural Multicultural skills n-Cultural Optimal Distinctiveness Theory Rejection Social Identity Theory Salience Strategy Switching 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Aldrich, H., & Herker, D. (1977). Boundary spanning roles and organization structure. Academy of Management Review, 2, 217–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Arnett, J. J. (2002). The psychology of globalization. American Psychologist, 57(10), 774–738.PubMedPubMedCentralGoogle Scholar
  3. Au, K. Y., & Fukuda, J. (2002). Boundary spanning behaviors of expatriates. Journal of World Business, 37, 285–296.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Bandura, A. (1977). Social learning theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
  5. Benet-Martínez, V. (2012). Multiculturalism: Cultural social and personality processes. In K. Deaux & M. Snyder (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of personality and social psychology (pp. 623–648). New York NY: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  6. Benet-Martínez, V., & Haritatos, J. (2005). Bicultural identity integration (BII): Components and psychosocial antecedents. Journal of Personality, 73(4), 1015–1050.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Benet-Martínez, V., Lee, F., & Leu, J. (2006). Biculturalism and cognitive complexity; Expertise in cultural representations. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 1–23.Google Scholar
  8. Berry, J. W. (1990). The psychology of acculturation: Understanding individuals moving between cultures. In R. Brislin (Ed.), Cross-cultural research and methodology series: Applied cross-cultural psychology, 14 (pp. 232–252). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  9. Berry, J. W. (2005). Acculturation: Living successfully in two cultures. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 29, 697–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Berry, J. W. (2006). Stress perspectives on acculturation. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 43–57). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Berry, J. W., & Annis, R. C. (1974). Acculturative stress: The role of ecology, culture and differentiation. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 5, 382–406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Berry, J. W., Kim, U., Minde, T., & Mok, D. (1987). Comparative studies of acculturative stress. International Migration Review, 21, 491–511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Berry, J. W., & Sam, D. L. (1997). Acculturation and adaptation. In J. W. Berry, M. H. Segall, & C. Kagitcibasi (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Social behavior and applications (2nd ed., Vol. 3, pp. 291–326). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.Google Scholar
  14. Blazejewski, S. (2012). Betwixt or beyond the lines of conflict? Biculturalism as situated identity in multinational corporations. Critical Perspectives on International Business, 8(2), 111–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Bochner (1981). The social psychology of cultural mediation. In S. Bochner (Ed.), The mediating person (pp. 6–36). Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Co.Google Scholar
  16. Brannen, M. Y. (2004). When Mickey loses face: Recontextualization, semantic fit, and the semiotics of foreignness. Academy of Management Review, 29(4), 593–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Brannen, M. Y., & Thomas, D. C. (2010). Bicultural individuals in organizations: Implications and opportunity. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 10(1), 5–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  18. Brewer, M. B. (1991). The social self: On being the same and different at the same time. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 17, 475–482.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Burke, P. J. (1991). Identity processes and social stress. American Sociological Review, 56(6), 836–849.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Butler, C. L., Zander, L., Mockaitis, A., & Sutton, C. (2012). The global leader as boundary spanner, bridge maker and blender. Industrial and Organizational Psychology: Perspectives on science and practice, 5(2), 240–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Caliguiri, P. M. (1997). Assessing expatriate success: Beyond just “being there”. In Z. Aycan (Ed.), New approaches to employee management (Vol. 4, pp. 117–140). New York, NY: Elsevier Science/JAI Press.Google Scholar
  22. Carbaugh, D. (1996). Situating selves: The communication of social identities in American scenes. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
  23. Clement, R., Noels, K. A., & Deneault, B. (2001). Interethnic contact, identity, and psychological adjustment: The mediating and moderating roles of communication. Journal of Social Issues, 57, 559–577.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Constant, A. F., & Zimmermann, K. F. (2008). Measuring ethnic identity and its impact on economic behavior. Journal of the European Economic Association, 6(2–3), 424–433.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Crocker, J., Major, B., & Steele, C. (1999). Social stigma. In D. Gilbert, S. Fiske, & G. Lindsey (Eds.), The Handbook of social psychology (4th ed., Vol. 2, pp. 357–411). Boston: McGraw Hall.Google Scholar
  26. Cruz, J. L., & Blancero, D. M. (2017). Latina/o professionals’ career success: Bridging the corporate American divide. Journal of Career Development, 44(6), 485–501.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Downie, M., Koestner, R., ElGeledi, S., & Cree, K. (2004). The impact of cultural internalization and integration on well-being among tricultural individuals. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 30, 305–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Ellemers, N., Spears, R., & Doosje, B. (2002). Self and social identity. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 161–186.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  29. Fisher, A. T., & Sohn, C. C. (1999). Aspiration to community: Community responses to rejection. Journal of Community Psychology, 27(6), 715–725.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Fiske, S. T., Kinder, D. R., & Larter, M. W. (1983). The novice and the expert: Knowledge-based strategies in political cognition. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 19, 381–400.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Fiske, A. P., & Tetlock, P. E. (1997). Taboo trade-offs: Reactions to transactions that transgress spheres of justice. Political Psychology, 18, 255–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Flavell, J. H. (1979). Metacognition and cognitive monitoring: A new area of cognitive developmental inquiry. American Psychologist, 34, 906–911. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Fletcher, G. J. O., Rosanowski, J., Rhodes, G., & Lange, C. (1992). Accuracy and speed of causal processing: Experts versus novices in social judgment. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 28, 320–338.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  34. Germain, E. R. (2004). Culture or race? Phenotype and cultural identity development in minority Australian adolescents. Australian Psychologist, 39(2), 134–142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Harvey, M., Milorad, M., Novicevic, M., Buckley, R., & Fung, H. (2005). Reducing inpatriates manager’ ‘Liability of Foreignness’ by addressing stigmatization and stereotype threats. Journal of World Business, 40(3), 267–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Harvey, M., Treadway, D. C., & Heames, J. T. (2007). The occurrence of bullying in global organizations: A model and issues associated with social/emotional contagion. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 37(11), 2576–2599.Google Scholar
  37. Hong, H.-J. (2010). Bicultural competence and its impact on team effectiveness. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 10, 93–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Hong, Y., Wan, C., No, S., & Chiu, C. (2007). Multicultural identities. In S. Kitayama & D. Cohen (Eds.), Handbook of cultural psychology (pp. 323–345). New York, NY: Guilford.Google Scholar
  39. Hong, Y.-Y., Morris, M. W., Chiu, C. -Y., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2000). Multicultural minds: A dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist, 55, 709–720.Google Scholar
  40. Kreiner, G. E., Hollensbe, E. C., & Sheep, M. L. (2006). On the edge of identity: boundary dynamics at the interface of individual and organizational identities. Human Relations, 59(10), 1315–1341.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  41. Lakshman, C. (2013). Biculturalism and attributional complexity: Cross-cultural leadership effectiveness. Journal of International Business Studies, 44, 922–940.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Liebkind, K. (2006). Ethnic identity and acculturation. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 78–96). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. McGuire, W. J., McGuire, C. V., Child, P., & Fujioka, T. (1978). Salience of ethnicity in the spontaneous self-concept as a function of one’s ethnic distinctiveness in the social environment. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(5), 511–520.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Molinsky, A. (2007). Cross-cultural code switching: The psychological challenges of adapting behavior in foreign cultural interactions. Academy of Management Review, 32(2), 622–640.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Nesdale, D. (2002). Acculturation attitudes and the ethnic and host-country identification of immigrants. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 32(7), 1488–1507.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  46. Nesdale, D., & Mak, A. S. (2000). Immigrant acculturation attitudes and host country identification. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 10, 483–495.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  47. Nguyen, A. M. D., & Benet-Martínez, V. (2007). Biculturalism unpacked: Components, individual differences, measurement, and outcomes. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 101–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Oppedal, B. (2006). Development and acculturation. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 97–112). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  49. Pekerti, A. A. (2008). The interdependent family-centric career: Career perspective of the overseas Chinese in Indonesia. Career Development Quarterly, 56, 362–377.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Pekerti, A. A., & Thomas, D. C. (2016). n-Culturals: modeling the multicultural identity. Cross Cultural and Strategic Management, 23(1), 101–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  51. Penn, D. L., Sanna, L. J., & Roberts, D. L. (2008). Social cognition in schizophrenia: An overview. Schizophrenia Bulletin, 34(3), 408–411.PubMedPubMedCentralCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Pettigrew, T. F., Tropp, L., Wagner, U., & Christ, O. (2011). Recent advances in intergroup contact theory. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35, 271–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Phinney, J., Ferguson, D., & Tate, J. (1997). Intergroup attitudes among ethnic minority adolescents: A causal model. Child Development, 68, 955–969.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Roccas, S., & Brewer, M. B. (2002). Social identity complexity. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6(2), 88–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Rosenthal, D., Ranieri, N., & Klimidis, S. (1996). Vietnamese adolescents in Australia: Relationships between perceptions of self and parental values, intergenerational conflict, and gender dissatisfaction. International Journal of Psychology, 31(2), 81–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Rudmin, F. (2003). Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Review of General Psychology, 7(1), 3–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. Rudmin, F. (2009). Constructs, measurements and models of acculturation and acculturative stress. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 33, 106–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  58. Sam, D. L., & Berry, J. W. (1995). Acculturative stress among young immigrants in Norway. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 36, 10–21.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  59. Schwartz, S. H. (2014). Rethinking the concept and measurement of societal culture in light of empirical findings. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(1), 5–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Snauwaert, B., Soenens, B., Vanbeselaere, N., & Boen, F. (2003). When integration does not necessarily imply integration: Different conceptualizations of acculturation orientations lead to different classifications. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 34(2), 231–239.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  61. Sparrow, L. M. (2000). Beyond multicultural man: Complexities of identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 24(2), 173–201.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Spurgeon, A., Jackson, C. A., & Beach, J. R. (2001). The life events inventory: Re-scaling based on occupational sample. Occupational Medicine, 51(4), 287–293.PubMedCrossRefGoogle Scholar
  63. Stryker, S. (1980). Symbolic interactionism: A social structural version. Menlo Park, CA: The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company.Google Scholar
  64. Tadmor, C. T., & Tetlock, P. E. (2006). Biculturalism: A model of the effects of second-culture exposure on acculturation and integrative complexity. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37(2), 173–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. Tadmor, C. T., Tetlock, P. E., & Peng, K. (2009). Acculturation strategies and integrative complexity: The cognitive implications of biculturalism. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(1), 105–139.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  66. Tajfel, H. (1981). Human groups and social categories: Studies in social psychology. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
  67. Thomas, D. C. (1994). The boundary-spanning role of expatriates in the multinational corporation. Advances in International Comparative Management, 9, 145–170.Google Scholar
  68. Thomas, D, C., Brannen, M. Y., & Garcia, D. (2010). Bicultural individuals and intercultural effectiveness. European Journal of Cross-Cultural Competence and Management, 1(4), 315–333.Google Scholar
  69. Thomas, D. C., Elron, E., Stahl, G., Ekelund, B. Z., Ravlin, E. C., Cerdin, J.-L., et al. (2008). Cultural intelligence: Domain and assessment. International Journal of Cross-Cultural Management, 8(2), 123–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Thomas, D. C., Liao, Y., Aycan, Z., Cerdin, J,-L., Pekerti, A. A., Ravlin, E. C., et al. (2016). Cultural intelligence: A theory-based short form measure. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(9), 1099–1118.  https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.67. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  71. van Acker, K., & Vanbeselaere, N. (2011). Bringing together acculturation theory and intergroup contact theory: Predictors of Flemings’ expectations of Turks’ acculturation behavior. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 35, 334–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  72. van Laer, K., & Janssens, M. (2011). Ethnic minority professionals’ experiences with subtle discrimination in the workplace. Human Relations, 64(9), 1203–1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  73. Verkuyten, M., & Pouliasi, K. (2006). Biculturalism and group identification: The mediating role of identification in cultural frame switching. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 37, 312–326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  74. Vora, D., Kostova, T., & Roth, K. (2007). Roles of subsidiary managers in multinational corporations: The effect of dual organizational identification. Management International Review, 47(4), 595–620.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Ward, C. (2008). Thinking outside the Berry boxes: New perspectives on identity, acculturation and intercultural relations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 32, 105–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. Ward, C., Bochner, S., & Furnham, A. (2001). The psychology of culture shock. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  77. Ward, C., & Kennedy, A. (1999). The measurement of sociocultural adaptation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 23, 659–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  78. Ward, C., & Leong, C.-H. (2006). Intercultural relations in plural societies. In D. L. Sam & J. W. Berry (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of acculturation psychology (pp. 484–503). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  79. Ward, C., & Kus, L. (2012). Back to and beyond Berry’s basics: The conceptualization, operationalization and classification of acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(4), 471–485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. Yagi, N., & Kleinberg, J. (2011). Boundary work: An interpretive ethnographic perspective on negotiating and leveraging cross-cultural identity. Journal of International Business Studies, 42, 629–653.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  81. Yagmurlu, B., & Sanson, A. (2009). Acculturation and parenting among Turkish mothers in Australia. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40(3), 361–380.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Zheng, X., Sang, D., & Wang, L. (2004). Acculturation and subjective well-being of Chinese students in Australia. Journal of Happiness Studies, 5, 57–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.UQ Business SchoolThe University of QueenslandBrisbaneAustralia

Personalised recommendations

Cite chapter

Buy options