Global mindset as a predictor of life satisfaction of non-Western multicultural individuals: The mediational role of self-efficacy

Abstract

The social and economic processes of the 21st century, related to globalisation, have provoked an increase in the number of multicultural individuals, the children of expatriates on overseas posts. Further, a rise of multicultural societies, like one of the United Arab Emirates without a dominant cultural frame can also be observed. These spur the necessity to seek mechanisms supporting cross-cultural individuals’ functioning in an increasingly globalised world. Global mindset, a notion rooted in international leadership studies, has been an evidenced predictor of achievement in a multicultural business environment. Furthermore, self-efficacy has demonstrated a positive impact on organisational and personal success and enhanced self-concept. In the present study, we combine these two variables in one model to explain the mechanism of the global mindset’s impact on life satisfaction for international students of Asian origin (N=277) with self-efficacy as a mediator of such a relationship. Our model explained 30% of the variance in life satisfaction with the mediational analysis supporting self-efficacy as a mediator in a positive effect of global mindset on well-being. Our study, therefore, fed into a better understanding of the mechanism of global mindset enhancing the impact on the life satisfaction of cross-cultural individuals and hence contributed to the postmodern psychological knowledge. Accounting for the dynamic characters of self-efficacy and global mindset, we further set a new field of exploration for possible interventions targeting international students’ flourishing.