The moderation effect of economic, social and cultural status on mediating role of adaptability and intercultural sensitivity in the relationship between self-efficacy and attitudes towards immigrants in Türkiye

Abstract

AbstractThis study was conducted to explore whether and how 15-year-old students’ economic, social and cultural status (ESCS), which is the indicator of the socio-economic status, moderate the mediating role of adaptability and intercultural sensitivity in the link between self-efficacy and attitudes towards immigrants in Türkiye. The study aimed to answer several research questions, including whether the intercultural sensitivity and adaptability mediate the relationship between self-efficacy and attitudes towards immigrants, and whether the students’ level of the ESCS moderates these effects. The study utilized data from PISA conducted in 2018 and involved 6890 participants from 186 schools in Türkiye. Missing values and outliers in the data set were removed, and data of 6569 15-year-old students were analyzed. Before Conditional Process Analysis, regression assumptions were checked and no problems were observed. The Conditional Process Analysis was conducted to determine the direct and indirect effects of students’ self-efficacy on their attitudes towards immigrants through the intercultural sensitivity and adaptability with the condition that no mediator causally influences another. The study found that self-efficacy was a significant predictor of the intercultural sensitivity, adaptability, and attitudes towards immigrants. The results of the mediation analyses showed that both the intercultural sensitivity and adaptability partially mediated the relationship between the self-efficacy and attitudes towards immigrants. Notably, the indirect effect through the intercultural sensitivity was larger than that of through adaptability, indicating that intercultural sensitivity plays a stronger mediating role in this relationship. The conditional effects of the self-efficacy on intercultural sensitivity, adaptability and attitudes towards immigrants varied depending on the level of the ESCS. The conditional direct effect of the self-efficacy on attitudes towards immigrants was significant for all levels of the ESCS, with the effect being strongest for individuals with relatively low ESCS and weakest for individuals with relatively high ESCS. The results also showed that students’ ESCS moderated the indirect effect of the self-efficacy on attitudes towards immigrants through the intercultural sensitivity and adaptability. This means that the relationship between self-efficacy and attitudes towards immigrants was not only mediated by intercultural sensitivity and adaptability, but also influenced by the level of the ESCS. Therefore, findings of the study suggest that the relationship between self-efficacy, the ESCS, intercultural sensitivity, adaptability, and attitudes towards immigrants is complex and multifaceted, and that it may depend on various contextual and individual factors.