Effects Of Linguistic Diversity Research Articles

The Impact of Communication Language on Entrepreneurship in Cameroon

The objective of this study was to analyze the effects of linguistic diversity on entrepreneurship in Cameroon. More specifically, it was a question of analysing the effects of linguistic diversity first on entrepreneurial intention, then on business creation, and finally on the sustainability of the businesses created. To achieve these objectives, the authors used data from a survey of 504 individuals in the cities of Douala and Yaoundé conducted by the Laboratory of Research in Fundamental and Applied Economics (LAREFA) of the University of Dschang and using the binary probit, recursive bivariate probit, and tobit models; it was found that 1) bilingual individuals have a lower entrepreneurial intention than their monolingual counterparts; however, the fact that the individual masters several languages facilitates the transition from intention to action; 2) if linguistic diversity is varied from zero to low or medium level, then the duration of the enterprise will increase by 25 months.

Do birds singing the same song flock together? A mixed-method study on language as a tool for changing social homophily in primary schools in Flanders (Belgium)

The characteristics of a school’s pupil population determine the boundaries within which friendships can grow at school, as pupils tend to develop friendships with others that are similar to them. This is an example of social homophily. Since language is an indicator of social status and identity, we aim at finding out whether it is a basis for social homophily. This study investigates what the effects of linguistic diversity on same-language friendships are for both multilingual pupils and pupils from Dutch-only homes and whether tolerant practices towards multilingualism impact friendship patterns. To get a deeper understanding of the context in which friendships develop, we examine pupils’ perception of the language hierarchies in their school as well. We use a mixed-method design. The quantitative data analyzed in this article originate from a teacher and pupil survey in 67 primary schools in three highly diverse regions in Flanders during the 2012–2013 school year. The qualitative data have been gathered in two focus groups in which 24 pupils of the same school participated. Stepwise multilevel modeling showed that for multilingual pupils, a negative effect of tolerant practices towards multilingualism on same-language friendships existed, while linguistic diversity was of lesser importance. For pupils from Dutch-only homes, linguistic diversity had a negative effect on the number of same-language friendships and tolerance did not matter for friendship patterns. The insignificant effect of tolerance in pupils from Dutch-only homes can be explained by the strong dominance of Dutch, which the qualitative analysis also revealed.

Linguistic diversity and English language use in multicultural organizations: is there a moderating effect of the age of organizational members?

Two great human resource management challenges face organizations in many parts of the world. The workforce is aging leaving fewer young people to take over. At the same time, globalization leads to a pressure for internationalization with great consequences for internal collaboration in many organizations. Accordingly, the link between employee age and language use is of increasing importance. In this study, we report on the findings of a survey using responses from 489 members of Danish multicultural organizations. We studied the effect of linguistic diversity on English language communication as well as the moderating effect of respondents' age. We found linguistic diversity to have positive associations with the two English language communication variables. We also found age to moderate the relationship between linguistic diversity and perceived use of English language by management. Since organizational language use and language management are an understudied topic, the results could have important theoretical and practical implications.