Showing papers in "Journal of Intercultural Communication Research in 2006"
TL;DR: This paper investigated a Chinese student organization on a US campus and analyzed the qualitative data collected via multiple methods, finding that culture shock is contextually based and a student organization can play an instrumental role in helping students to cope with culture shock and gain intercultural competence by providing social support.
Abstract: Previous research has explored common dimensions of culture shock across groups of international students, examined factors influencing intercultural adjustment of individual sojourners, and in the meantime, suggested that communicating with same culture members is minimally helpful for intercultural adjustment. By investigating a Chinese student organization on a US campus and analyzing the qualitative data collected via multiple methods, the researcher found that (a) culture shock is contextually based; (b) a student organization can play an instrumental role in helping students to cope with culture shock and gain intercultural competence by providing social support; and (c) communicating with same culture members can help intercultural adjustment. Implications for international student orientation, study abroad programs, and community-based help programs for international students are discussed.
101 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors uncover the strategies/activities that shape the construction of relational identity through analyzing the turning points occurring during the process of intercultural friendship and reveal that seven types of activities were identified: (1) positivities/providing assistance; (2) rituals, activities, rules and roles; (3) self-disclosure; (4) networking; (5) exploring cultures and languages; (6) emphasizing similarities and exploring differences; and (7) conflict/conflict management.
Abstract: This research aims to uncover the strategies/activities that shape the construction of relational identity through analyzing the turning points occurring during the process of intercultural friendship. Forty-five interviews were conducted with members in 15 intercultural friendship dyads. The results reveal that seven types of activities were identified: (1) positivities/providing assistance; (2) rituals, activities, rules, and roles; (3) self-disclosure; (4) networking; (5) exploring cultures and languages; (6) emphasizing similarities and exploring differences; and (7) conflict/conflict management. The strategies of exploring cultures and languages and of conflict/conflict management were thoroughly discussed to advance our understanding of the development and maintenance in intercultural friendship.
75 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a factor-analytic study was conducted to identify the underlying dimensions of listening concepts using a sample of N'='358 students and found that four factors need to be taken into account as listening concepts are mapped and analyzed.
Abstract: Listening is a cognitive process that is perceived behaviorally, and past listening research has focused on perceptions of listening behaviors. This study shifts the focus to the perceptions of listening cognitions. In a cognitive model of listening, listening concepts are assumed to determine listening behavior, the process, and the outcome. In this context, it is of interest to develop a diagnostic instrument to describe the composition of the listening concept. This factor-analytic study seeks to identify the underlying dimensions of listening concepts using a sample of N = 358 students. Results suggest that four factors need to be taken into account as listening concepts are mapped and analyzed. In a subsequent study comparing a US and a German student sample, it could be shown that listening conceptualization is culture-driven. Implications for research and practice of intercultural oral communication are discussed.
69 citations
TL;DR: This article found that large-PD culture members are more likely to use cooperative, indirect, and direct communication strategies to manage face threats than their small-PD counterparts, which corresponded with Hofstede's (1980, 2001) grand theory of cultural dimensions.
Abstract: This study utilized Hofstede's (2001) study that tested whether Hofstede's power distance (PD) dimension of culture is an important predictor for understanding cross-cultural facework. It investigated how cultural groups differing in their level of PD negotiate strategic responses (i.e., cooperative, indirect, or direct) to a face-threatening situation on the individual level. Respondents from six cultures—Japan, Hong Kong, Israel, Chile, Sweden, and the United States—completed questionnaires. Multivariate multiple regression results from an individual-level analysis show that large-PD culture members are more likely to use cooperative, indirect, and direct communication strategies to manage face threats than their small-PD counterparts. The cooperative and indirect facework findings in this study corresponded with Hofstede (1980, 2001), thereby adding support for Hofstede's (1980, 2001) grand theory of cultural dimensions.
68 citations
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship among ethnocentrism, intercultural communication apprehension, religious fundamentalism, homonegativity, and tolerance for religious disagreements, and found a positive relationship between religious fundamentalisms with ethnocentricism and homone gativity.
Abstract: 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.
51 citations
TL;DR: This study examined the relationship between the frequency of backchannel responses and listener recall scores in inter- and intra-cultural conversations to provide support for the Communication Accommodation theory.
Abstract: This study examined the relationship between the frequency of backchannel responses and listener recall scores in inter- and intra-cultural conversations. The nature of the study was a simulated physician–patient interaction. Participants were 40 Canadians and 40 Chinese who formed 40 dyads in four experimental conditions: Canadian physician/Canadian patient, Chinese physician/Chinese patient, Chinese physician/Canadian patient, and Canadian physician/Chinese patient. All conversations were video-taped and micro-analyzed. The data generated three intriguing findings. (1) There were significant positive correlations between backchannel responses and listener recall scores in the two intra-cultural groups, indicating that backchannel responses facilitated content communication. (2) There were significant negative correlations between backchannel responses and listener recall scores in the two inter-cultural groups, indicating that backchannel responses might have served as misleading feedback and caused mis...
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a model about the relationship among perceived officer accommodation, trust in the police, and reported voluntary compliance from civilians was proposed. But the model was partially supported and culturally-sensitive.
Abstract: Research in the American West, China, and Taiwan has shown that officers’ communication accommodative practices (and attributed trust in them) can be more potent predictors of satisfaction with the police than are the sociodemographic characteristics of those judging. With Black and White respondents, this study continues this line of work in Louisiana and South Africa and tests a new model about the relationships among perceived officer accommodation, trust in the police, and reported voluntary compliance from civilians. In addition to an array of differences that emerged between nations and ethnicities, officer accommodativeness indirectly predicted civilian compliance through trust. The hypothesized model was partially supported and culturally-sensitive.
34 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the security theory of humor was used to examine two types of humor (affiliative and aggressive) in relation to intercultural communication and found that humor aggressiveness was positively related to ethnocentrism and negatively associated with emulation.
Abstract: 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.
31 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined national culture differences between US American and Chinese participants regarding face need concerns and apology intention, based on positive and negative face needs (Brown & Levinson, 1987) and concerns for self-face and other-face (Ting-Toomey, 2005).
Abstract: The current study examined national culture differences between US American and Chinese participants (N = 317) regarding face need concerns and apology intention, based on positive and negative face needs (Brown & Levinson, 1987) and concerns for self-face and other-face (Ting-Toomey, 2005). Participants read vignettes that varied in relationship types (in-group vs. out-group members) and situation types (negative face vs. positive face threatening) and responded to scales measuring realism of the vignettes, intention to apologize, and five types of face need concerns. The findings showed that Chinese participants, compared to US Americans, had stronger intentions to apologize when their acts threatened the other person's positive face, while US American participants, compared to Chinese, had stronger intentions to apologize when their acts threatened the other's negative face. Other findings and implications thereof are discussed.
27 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how a community responds to external pressures to adapt culturally to a dominant cultural/political paradigm and demonstrate that when a minority group is pressured to linguistically, politically, culturally, religiously, and economically adapt to the dominant paradigm, the minority community will respond by closing itself from the dominant culture.
Abstract: This article examines how a community responds to external pressures to adapt culturally to a dominant cultural/political paradigm. Interviews were conducted in Montreal, Canada in 2003 and in France in 2005. In Montreal interviews were conducted among Chinese shopkeepers residing in Montreal's Chinatown, or Quartier Chinois. In France interviews were conducted with Muslims in various ummahs, or Muslim communities in France. The results of the interviews demonstrate that when a minority group is pressured to linguistically, politically, culturally, religiously, and economically adapt to a dominant paradigm that the minority community will respond by closing itself from the dominant culture.
17 citations
TL;DR: For instance, the authors found that Thais will display higher rhetorical reflector traits in short-term relationships than in longterm relationships, and that rhetorical sensitivity in long-term relationship was higher than in shortterm relationships.
Abstract: Rhetorical sensitivity theory may provide a foundation to define intercultural communication effectiveness. This study, part of a systematic program of research, seeks to clarify the Thai communication behaviors associated with intercultural communication effectiveness. The fundamental interaction consciousness Thais exhibit, a condition compatible with rhetorical sensitivity, makes Thailand a laboratory for intercultural communication study. This study clarifies previous findings with respect to rhetorical sensitivity and willingness to communicate. The relatively low initial Thai willingness to communicate may be characteristic of rhetorical reflection employed early in a relationship to collect information upon which to build rhetorical sensitivity. Therefore, the study involves two hypotheses: Thais will display higher rhetorical reflector traits in short-term relationships than in long-term relationships; and, Thais will display higher rhetorical sensitivity in long-term relationships than in short-t...
TL;DR: In this paper, a content analytic scheme was developed to assess if these strategies were applied to the Asian and AAPI populations, based on prior tobacco document research citing the use of identity-based marketing strategies.
Abstract: Previous research has substantiated the targeting of various demographic subgroups by the tobacco industry through marketing practices. However, relatively little research has examined targeting of Asians and Pacific Islanders. Based on prior tobacco document research citing the use of identity-based marketing strategies, a content analytic scheme was developed to assess if these strategies were applied to the Asian and AAPI populations. The study was grounded in social identity theory and optimal distinctiveness theory paradigms in order to develop a coherent analytic framework. Keyword searches of documents were conducted and a random sample of the documents of interest was drawn. These data suggest that the tobacco industry targeted Asians and Pacific Islanders in the United States and abroad via interpersonal and commercial communication tactics. These strategies were carefully orchestrated and employed as a result of sophisticated analyses of the social identities and value systems of the source cult...
TL;DR: In this article, a 10-item measurement of third culture based on equality, commonality, and transcendence is proposed. But the measurement scale is unreliable and functions as a single dimension instead of as three subdimensions.
Abstract: This study explores the concept of “third culture,” which has not been tested by quantified measures since it was introduced. This study develops the 10-item measurement of third culture based on three dimensions—equality, commonality, and transcendence. Two hundred and fifteen international married individuals from 42 countries participated in a self-administered email survey. The findings indicated that the new scale is reliable and functions as a single dimension instead of as three subdimensions. Suggestions for future study as well as several implications on theory and methodology are discussed, drawing on the experience of this study.
TL;DR: This article examined how the methods of inquiry used to gather information from Japanese college students about their family problems shape the reported problems, and found that participants in the indirect method discussed unexpected family problems significantly more and identified not having families problems significantly less than those in the direct question method.
Abstract: Family problems are ubiquitous, consequential, and experienced by families around the world. The current study examines how the methods of inquiry used to gather information from Japanese college students about their family problems shape the reported problems. Fifty-five students completed a survey through a direct question protocol and 20 participants answered indirect in-depth interviews with a cultural agent. Participant themes for perceptions of family problems were distinguished between the two groups. Participants in the indirect method discussed unexpected family problems significantly more and identified not having family problems significantly less than those in the direct question method.
TL;DR: In this paper, a study was conducted to elicit college students' knowledge and perceptions about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), attitudes and practices regarding condom use, and information about what educational and prevention materials that they think would be most effective for their peers.
Abstract: The purpose of this study was to elicit college students’ knowledge and perceptions about sexually transmitted infections (STIs), attitudes and practices regarding condom use, and information about what educational and prevention materials that they think would be most effective for their peers. As part of a larger study, data was collected using focus groups and questionnaires. While American and Malaysian college students in the US participated in the focus groups, the open-ended questionnaire was emailed to college students recruited in Malaysia, Singapore, and England. Participatory communication was used as the theoretical framework to generate information and message concepts necessary for the design of effective health education and promotion materials. This study revealed that college students, regardless of nationality, should be informed and educated of the STIs problem on a gradual basis through various means and communication channels.