Cognitive Schemas of Multicultural and Multilingual Employees

Abstract

This study explores multicultural and multilingual individuals as two employee groups that gain increased importance for globally operating organizations. Companies have recognized the valuable resources these employees bring to their cross-cultural and cross-lingual ventures. As such, this study investigates their cognitive schemas as an important resource for outcomes in the workplace. Cognitive schemas are organized knowledge structures and influence individuals’ thinking, behaviour, emotions and how information is interpreted. Based on the analysis of 154 semi-structured interviews, we develop a framework of multicultural and multilingual schemas within individuals. Our inductive theory building concluded that their schemas are developed through external influences and internal dealings and consist of unique compositions of cultural and language elements. The schemas highlight the importance to consider varying degrees of knowledge in their multiple cultures and languages, specifically related to the professional and private contexts. In addition, they further our understanding about the individual agency in developing the schemas. We propose a shift toward acknowledging the existence of a multicultural schema and a multilingual schema within individuals as opposed to multiple cultural and language schemas.