Multi-Cultural Experiences (MCE's)

Multi-cultural Experiences (MCEs)

Experience is what a person’s been through, encounters, or lives through (Albarracin, Johnson, Zanna, & Kumkale, 2005) and consists of not only sensory cognition's, but also processes of interaction with people from different cultures (Rogoff, 2003). Multi-cultural experience (MCE) refers to the total of individual’s experiences interacting with foreign cultures or cultures within one country (Leung, Maddux, Galinsky, & Chiu, 2008) and the exposures to cultures that are different from their own (Dong, Day, & Collaco, 2008). As the experiences in multi-cultural context increases the implications in our personal, social, and occupational lives also increases, thus MCEs play a vital part in constructing one’s interest in several fields, such as cross-cultural psychology, diversity, and management research with the past and current exposures to and interactions with different cultures and people (Aytug, Kern, & Dilchert, 2018).

Among personality traits, foreign language skills, and global identity, the MCE is one of the most important antecedents of CQ (Ang, Rockstuhl, & Tan, 2015). Maddux and Galinsky (2009) found that the experience of living abroad and traveling abroad have different effects: while the experiences of traveling abroad have no significant relation to creativity, the experience of living abroad is related to creativity increasing. In the conducted study of foreign work experience and innovation (Godart, Maddux, Shipilov, & Galinsky, 2015) found out that the number of years one had work experience abroad in one’s professional career has interactive effects on innovation. Aytug, et al. (2018) identified MCEs which posit two types, multi-cultural exposure and multi-cultural interaction, and suggested to measure multi-cultural exposures and interactions separately. Multi-cultural exposures are the instances a people observe elements or part of different cultures, of which elements may include architecture, arts, media, language, and social, behavioral, spiritual, and non-verbal practices. Persons are exposed to the diverse culture in varied ways such as hearing people speak a different language or observing people from different cultures. This exposure does not embroil communication or interaction from different people’s culture (Aytug, et al., 2018). Multi-cultural interactions offer a deeper exchange and socialization among people with diverse cultures (Gochenour & Janeway, 1993) that leads to increased levels of cultural knowledge, multi-cultural competence, as well as CQ (Aytug, et al., 2018).

References

Albarracin, D., Johnson, B. T., Zanna, M. P., & Kumkale, G. T. (2005). Attitudes: Introduction and scope. In D. Albarracin, B. T. Johson, & M. P. Zanna (Eds.), The handbook of attitudes and attitude changeHillsdale (pp.3-19). NJ: Erlbaum.

Ang, S., Rockstuhl, T., & Tan, M. L. (2015). Cultural Intelligence and competencies. In International Encyclopedia of Social & Behavioral Sciences (2nd Ed.,Vol. 5). Elsevier. doi:10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.25050-2 .

Aytug, Z. G., Kern, M. C., & Dilchert, S. (2018). Multicultural experience: Development and validation of a multidimensional scale. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 65, 1-16.

Dong, Q., Day, K. D., & Collaco, C. M. (2008). Overcoming ethnocentrism through developing intercultural communication sensitivity and multiculturalism. Human Communication, 11(2), 27-38.

Gochenour, T., & Janeway, A. (1993). Seven concepts in cross-cultural interaction: A training design. In T. Gochenour (Ed.). Beyond experience: An experimental approach to cross-cultural educationYarmouth(pp.1-10). ME: Intercultural Press.

Godart, F., Maddux, W. W., Shipilov, A., & Galinsky, A. D. (2015). Fashion with a foreign flair: Professional experiences abroad facilitate the creative innovations of organizations. Academy of Management Journal, 58(1), 195-220.

Leung, A. K.-Y., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D., & Chiu, C.-Y. (2008). Multicultural experience enhances creativity: The when and how. American Psychologist, 63(3),169-181.

Maddux, W. W., & Galinsky, A. D. (2009). Cultural borders and mental barriers: The relationship between living abroad and creativity. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96(5), 1047-1061.

Rogoff, B. (2003). The cultural nature of human development. UK: Oxford University Press.