Bridging Cultural Divides and Managing Diversity

Abstract

In the current age of globalization, more and more people work and live as immigrants or expatriates, away from their home culture. The present symposium investigates the mechanisms through which culture influences organizationally relevant behaviors, and strategies that can be used to bridge cultural divides and help people move across cultures. The first paper identifies culturally divergent mindsets – beliefs about whether exerting willpower is depleting vs. energizing – which explains cultural differences in ego-depletion (prevalent in Western cultures) vs. reverse ego-depletion (prevalent in Asian cultures). The second paper identifies a culturally similar mindset–the norm of not confronting expressions of prejudice in the workplace – which explains why people around the world are unwilling to confront prejudice even if they personally believe that prejudice should be eradicated. The third paper examines a mindset – wise reasoning – which helps groups that are in conflict to understand each other's perspectives and move toward resolving the conflict. The fourth paper examines a novel mindset – polyculturalism – that helps people behaviorally adapt themselves to the norms of a cultural or organizational setting, and thus bridge cultural divides more easily. The fifth paper identifies a new construct – hostalgia – the longing for one's previous host country, which predicts employees' well-being and job satisfaction once they are back in their home country.