Impact Of Cultural Diversity Research Articles

Impact of Cultural Diversity on Western Balkan Countries’ Performance

In 2005 the relations of EU and Western Balkan countries were passed from “External Relations” to “Enlargement” policy. As WB countries make steps forward in the future membership of the EU, the diversity in society within the WB is expected to further increase. The aim of this paper is to find out the relationship between cultural diversity and ethnic fractionalization from one side and governance, competitiveness and human development from the other side. The paper opted to explore the ethnic diversity within the Western Balkan countries based on the latest data of census for each country and on the Distance Adjusted Ethno-Linguistic Fractionalization Index proposed by Kolo (2012). Furthermore, it compared the economic performance of these countries with the indicators of the ethnic diversity. Even though the literature argues that cultural diversity has negative impact on countries’ performance, the study finds out that highly homogenous societies in WB are no more prone to good governance, global competitiveness and human development than highly heterogeneous societies within the region. In other words, countries with lower fractionalization index (such as Kosovo and Serbia) do not show a significantly higher performance than countries with higher fractionalization index (such as Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina). To sum up, the influence of regional geographic distance seems to be much more significant compared to cultural diversity because the economic capacity and performance of WB countries are found to be positive but still modest. The Western Balkan countries are having a considerable mixture of ethnicities, languages and religions. These varieties can push this group of countries to have a consensus among them in the economic aspects or to increase the gap among each other.

The relevance of cultural diversity on safety culture: a CIRS data analysis to identify problem areas and competency requirements of professionals in healthcare institutions.

Aim: The society and consequently also the health system have become increasingly culturally diverse which applies to both – patients and professionals. Studies indicate an influence of the ethnicity on the care context. With regard to this, considerably more knowledge is available regarding diversity among patients than among professionals, for example considering the effect of cultural diversity in teams. The impact of cultural diversity on patient safety has barely been investigated which means that potential effects as well as required measures and competencies cannot currently be specified. As part of the project “Gestaltungskompetenz als Innovator für hochzuverlässige Organisationen im Gesundheitssystem” (abbreviation: GIO, “Gestaltungskompetenz as an Innovator for High Reliability Organisations in the Healthcare System”) these questions are investigated in the context of a case study. Therefore, a CIRS data analysis was carried out to identify specific problem areas to derive competencies for the safe handling of cultural diversity between employees. On this basis and adjusted to the target group, an interactive learning management system will be developed for the advanced training of professionals. Method: For the topic of cultural diversity, an analysis of the patient safety cases reported in CIRSmedical (Critical Incident Reporting System) was carried out followed by a qualitative summarising content analysis. The systematic search in CIRS was based on previously defined search terms as well as inclusion and exclusion criteria.Results: 45 cases were included in the analysis. The results can be classed into two categories: “(Unsuccessful) communication” and “Unsuccessful adaptation to patient needs”. Cultural diversity was not usually named as a primary or explicit cause but usually a combination of several factors was given as the reason for the occurrence of an undesirable event.Conclusion: The analysis of CIRS data identified concrete challenges resulting from the intercultural composition of teams and in the care context. The approaches for improvement should include both, organisational and personnel measures. In case of the latter, it is essential that competency requirements are identified resulting in suited offers for the competence development in the course of initial and professional development training for medical and nursing staff in ethnically diverse teams.

Impact of cultural diversity on local labor markets. Evidence from Greece's “age of mass migration”

AbstractThis paper analyzes how the interaction of ethnicities and cultures impacts on productivity and employment on Greek local labor markets, within the 20‐year interval between 1991 and 2011. We compute two alternative proxies for cultural diversity, namely the fractionalization and the polarization index, using information on 118 countries of origin. We also account for the potential endogenous allocation of individuals across local labor markets by employing a “shift‐share” instrument, exploiting the fact that networks play an important role in the settlement patterns of recent migrants. Our identification strategy indicates that the contribution of diversity in terms of birthplace is positive, at least up to a certain point. This finding appears to be robust and not driven by the inclusion of further controls, outliers, spatial autocorrelation, and selection on unobservables. Interestingly, we find that ethnic heterogeneity helps employment and productivity by promoting sectoral diversity.

The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Economic Development in Saudi Arabia – Empirical Study

Ideas and beliefs play an important role in guiding human behavior. As culture has a clear impact on community development, intellectual change or cultural change will rebuild Saudi society.
 
 For this purpose, our study dealt with a presentation of the various previous studies that clarified the role of cultures in the development of society and whether change and diversity have a clear role in development.
 
 The study was based on a survey of a group of questions to members of the community where the questionnaire was distributed to the University community to take different views of gender. The study also focused on determining the role of cultural diversity and emerging from some old customs to achieve sustainable development which is represented in three main dimensions of economic development, social development and finally political development. Assumptions were analyzed using multiple regressions.

The Impact of Cultural Diversity on Mosques in Malaysia

According to Malaysia Town and Country Planning Guideline and Standards (2002), two major considerations related to mosque usage and management are sufficient areas for both building and adjacent open space. As a sacred place for prostration to Almighty God, individually or in groups, mosque architecture has evolved considerably, from very simple designs and functions to more sophisticated forms and layouts. In Malaysia, various races have significantly influenced mosque design and function. The present work describes this evolution in terms of well-known mosques via qualitative observations and documentation, from earliest to latest architectural developments. Our findings demonstrate that architectural evolution and/or transformation did not alter the mosque’s main function from an Islamic perspective. Nonetheless, designs and structure did benefit usage, to include the attraction of tourists.

Cultural diversity and export sophistication

By extending the Hausmann et al., (2007)'s theoretical model involving cost discovery, we show that cultural diversity affects export sophistication by increasing the degree of heterogeneity in the economy. Specifically, cultural diversity pushes the technology frontier of the economy outwards, which improves export sophistication level. Our theoretical results suggest that cultural diversity also increases the growth rate of export sophistication by improving the economy's ability to operate closer to its technology frontier. We use panel data that covers 85 countries over the 1995–2014 period to empirically evaluate our theoretical predictions. Pooled and random effects regression results show that cultural diversity and the degree of export sophistication are positively related and this association is statistically significant. However, fixed effects estimation results show that the impact of cultural diversity on growth rate of export sophistication is statistically insignificant. Finally, we find that the impact of cultural diversity on export sophistication does not vary significantly on an annual basis. However, over longer periods, this effect increases in size.

The Impact of Cultural Diversity on the Academic Performance: A Study on Turkish Universities

<p>Universities as science production centers are institutions that bring diverse information together. It is noteworthy that no longer these institutions have more international and heterogeneous structures. Qualified foreign academicians with the educational culture of a different country get universities stronger with these differences and knowledge, and improve the universities’ academic performance. Considering this idea in this research the effect of the number of foreign academicians to the academic performance of universities is investigated. For this purpose, the effect and correlation between performance rates of 130 universities of Turkey and the number of the foreign academicians, which is evaluated by University Ranking by Academic Performance Research Laboratory (URAP), have been revealed with correlation and regression analysis. As a consequence, a positive and weak relationship was determined between the number of foreign academicians and performance. Also the number of the foreign instructors affects the performance of the universities positively.</p>

Impact of Cultural Diversity in Inter Professional Practice and Patient Centred Care

Impact of Cultural Diversity in Inter Professional Practice and Patient Centred Care

“Diz-me como jogas e te direis quem és...”: estilos de jogar futebol em Pasolini, Freyre e DaMatta

The aim of this paper is to present a reflection about some of the most important theories explaining the styles of playing football and their correlations with national identities. Therefore, it selected the conceptions of three renowned intellectuals: Gilberto Freyre, Roberto Da Matta and Pier Paolo Pasolini. Their theories were elaborated starting from dualisms, respectively: Apollonian versus Dionysian style; art football versus strength football; football in poetry versus football in prose. Although guided by different arguments, the three authors point to the same thesis: that there are many different styles of playing and they were naturally built, especially under the impact of cultural diversity among the countries of South America and Europe. Keywords: football (soccer), Gilberto Freyre, Roberto DaMatta, Pier Paolo Pasolini.

Does Cultural Diversity of Migrant Employees Affect Innovation?

Increasing international labor migration has important effects on the workforce composition of firms in all migrant-receiving countries. The consequences of these changes for firm performance have attracted growing attention in recent years. In this paper, we focus explicitly on the impact of cultural diversity among migrant employees on the innovativeness of firms. We briefly synthesize empirical evidence from a range of contexts across Europe, North America, and New Zealand. We then utilize two unique and harmonized linked employer–employee datasets to provide comparative microeconometric evidence for Germany and the Netherlands. Our panel datasets contain detailed information on the generation of new products and services, determinants of innovation success, and the composition of employment in establishments of firms over the period 1999 to 2006. We find that innovation in both countries is predominantly determined by establishment size and industry. Moreover, obstacles encountered and organizational changes faced by firms drive innovation too. With respect to the composition of employment, the presence of high-skilled staff is most important. Cultural diversity of employees has a positive partial correlation with product innovation. The size and statistical significance of this effect depends on the econometric model specification and the country considered. We conclude from the literature synthesis and the new comparative evidence that cultural diversity of employees can make a positive, but modest and context dependent, contribution to innovation.

Cross-cultural leadership for global construction projects

This study is based on a construction project successfully undertaken by an Italian company in a multi-cultural environment in Swaziland. The main objective was to explore the impact of cultural diversity on construction project management by investigating possible correlations between cultural differences of employees and leadership behaviours exhibited by managers. A total of 66 employees from Swaziland, 23 from Mozambique, and seven managers from Italy participated in the study undertaken in 2008. The survey instruments used were Hofstede’s Values Survey Module to measure cultural differences, and Bass and Avolio’s multifactor leadership questionnaire to determine leadership styles exhibited by managers. The results show significant cultural differences among employees, and managers exhibited both transformational and transactional leadership behaviours. Correlation coefficients between employees’ cultural factors and managers’ leadership styles were calculated by linear regression, and the results show that there are both positive and negative relationships. This implies that managers used ‘flexible leadership styles’ to cope with the cross-cultural environment. Despite the cultural differences found, the project was delivered on time and within budget. The conclusion drawn from the study is that project managers can adopt ‘flexible leadership styles’ to leverage the sustainable competitive advantages embedded in cultural diversity.

Impact of cultural diversity on wages, evidence from panel data

This paper combines individual data from the British Household Panel Survey and yearly population estimates for England to analyse the impact that cultural diversity has on individual wages. Do people living in more diverse areas earn higher wages after controlling for other observable and unobservable characteristics? The results show that cultural diversity is positively associated with wages, but only when cross-section data are used, while panel data estimations show no impact of diversity. Since natives with comparatively higher skills – and wages – tend to self-select into more diverse areas, cross-section analyses may produce upwardly biassed results.

Report on the impact of cultural diversity in simulation for nursing students engaged in immersion experiences in global settings

Nursing students in the US are under increasing pressure to be equipped with appropriate knowledge and skills to meet an increasingly diverse American population. In order to meet this challenge, The American Association of Colleges of Nursing has charged nursing educators to incorporate cultural competence into nursing curriculums. Simulation scenarios focusing on assessment, including communication with clients from diverse cultures is a method to help students begin to practice safe nursing in a controlled environment. Nursing students in a baccalaureate program in the Midwest participated in scenarios designed to heighten their awareness of clues in the environment in order to interact with clients from different cultural backgrounds. The scenarios provided artifacts such as items of clothing, prayer rug, and statues that were consistent with specific cultures and helped direct the students to identify the need for an interpreter. Eighteen senior level students in the BSN program enrolled in an elective as part of an immersion experience in countries outside of the US. These students gained a better appreciation of the importance of obtaining culturally appropriate assessments in order to provide culturally competent care as evidenced by comments in their reflective journals.

Cultural and family contexts for help seeking among clients with cannabis, other drug and mental health issues

The impact of coexisting cannabis use and mental health issues is well documented and the challenges extend to accessing adequate health care. This research investigates the family and cultural contexts for help seeking among clients of specialist mental health or drug and alcohol services experiencing these coexisting issues. Qualitative in-depth interviews were conducted with clients of either mental health or drug and alcohol services in Sydney and Wollongong. Clients interviewed had coexisting mental health and cannabis use issues, and came from a range of culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Workers from these services were also interviewed. Key themes from client interviews included cultural background being deeply embedded in the context of family, the negative reactions of some family members towards their mental health issues and drug use, being displaced from family, and services not adequately engaging with family and strengths drawn from one's culture during challenging times. Among clients, it was found that the impact of cultural diversity on the experience of accessing health services was as diverse as the attachment and subjective experiences of culture itself. There is some way to go in building clear and navigable pathways to treatment for people with cannabis use and mental health issues, particularly as these pathways relate to cultural inclusiveness.

Optometrists' perspectives on cross‐cultural encounters in clinical practice: a pilot study

Background: There is growing awareness that cultural background influences health beliefs and practices and can impact on the patient–practitioner encounter. However, in relation to optometry there is little known about the implications of cultural diversity for clinical decision‐making and how optometrists address culturally based understandings of health. This pilot study examines how culturally based differences in health practices and beliefs impact on patient–optometrist interactions and how optometrists negotiate and manage these differences.Methods: Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 10 optometrists. A qualitative analysis was undertaken regarding the optometrists' experiences of cultural diversity and how these impact their decision‐making and clinical interactions.Results: Emergent themes were:1 Culture can influence and impact on patient–optometrist clinical encounters.2 Culturally based differences in health practices and beliefs can have a negative impact on clinical encounters.3 Culturally based differences, beliefs and values (related to eye health) can be difficult to negotiate.4 Optometrists might benefit from additional training and strategies to deal with culturally based differences in health beliefs and practices.Conclusions: This pilot study provides data about some of the issues that arise as a result of cultural differences between patients and health care practitioners. The findings from this study contribute to an understanding of the impact of cultural diversity and might assist the development of training and further research in the area.

The end(s) of national cultures? Cultural policy in the face of diversity

This paper analyses the impact of cultural diversity on cultural policies through an international overview of case studies and reflections. Cultural diversity is generally perceived as a threat toward national cultures. However, this paper argues that (1) there exist substantial national differences in the way in which diversity is perceived and integrated as a policy paradigm; and (2) cultural diversity can be used as an instrument for reconfiguring cultural policies, regardless of the governmental level in question. The authors discuss whether cultural policies of diversity exist and what they are. They also examine the practical consequences of the emergence of a new paradigm concerning the redefinition and implementation of cultural policies within a triple context: the plurality of the territorial configurations of diversity, the simultaneous coexistence of several levels of understanding this issue, and the economic dimensions of cultural diversity.

Cross‐cultural group performance

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the assumption that the impact of cultural diversity on knowledge creating capability is consequent to associated differences in knowledge and perspectives, and suggests that these knowledge differences produce their effect by triggering deliberative, collaborative behaviours.Design/methodology/approachTo investigate the impact of intervening variables on diversity's impact in teams, the paper assesses whether cognitive heterogeneity operates as a mediating variable between cultural diversity and knowledge creation, and whether debate operates as a second stage mediator. The paper utilises a survey‐based, quantitative approach and collects data from 98 teams, which is analysed using causal steps approach.FindingsThe results provide support for the assumed impact of cognitive heterogeneity and also support the existence of sequential mediation pathway, with debate operating as a second stage mediator between cognitive heterogeneity and knowledge creation.Originality/valueThe paper advances the research on diversity, cross‐cultural team dynamics and knowledge creation in two main ways. First, it investigates the role of team cognitions in the creation of new ideas by cross‐cultural teams. This responds to calls to understand the factors impacting on the performance of diverse teams (Ayoko and Hartel). Second, it incorporates deliberative team processes into the model as a second‐stage mediator, which responds to calls to understand the role of process variables in team knowledge creation efforts (Drach‐Zahavy and Somech).

The International Committee of the Red Widget? The Diversity Debate and International Humanitarian Law

This article asserts there has been a lack of attention to the impact of cultural diversity within the field of international humanitarian law. Discussions surrounding culture in international humanitarian law have nearly always avoided the central issue of cultural particularism. This has been so in relation to the debate surrounding the emblem, in general surveys of humanitarian law, and in discussions of the laws of war in distinct legal and cultural traditions. The emblems debate, in particular, signals the elusiveness of rigid universality within international humanitarian law. Five elements are suggested to explain the resistance of humanitarian law to contagion by the cultural relativism debate in human rights: the nature of human rights, the distinct normative frameworks of human rights and humanitarian law, the unified conventional basis of humanitarian law, the very broad participation in the humanitarian regime, and the unique role of the International Committee of the Red Cross. While these reasons might explain the fact that the relativism debate in human rights did not readily transfer to humanitarian law, they offer no substantive basis for immunity for humanitarian law to the challenges posed by cultural diversity. Ultimately, the article proposes a legal pluralist approach that recognizes the role of actors in the cultural process of norm-creation. Given the continued violation of the laws of war, the author suggests a need to open the door to cultural diversity in order to generate greater compliance. Without cultural legitimacy, there is a danger that humanitarian law aspires to self-defeating universalism.

The good and the bad: the impact of diversity management on co-operative relationships

This paper explores the consequences of cultural diversity on co-operative relationships. It postulates two different modes of co-operation: ‘community based co-operation’, based on the need to belong, and ‘complementary co-operation’, which seeks to harness strategic resources. These modes are combined with six dimensions of cultural diversity to create a cross-analysis framework. This framework forms the basis of our analysis of the interaction between cultural diversity and co-operation. Counter-intuitively, the study of France Telecom Mobile and Orange UK's integration team suggests that cultural diversity has little influence on issues of identity involved in co-operation. However, it reveals a strong link between cultural diversity and strategic rationale. The findings suggest that cultural diversity should not be understood as differences between stable sets of values and norms, but rather as a way to explain inter-individual difficulties. We then propose factors that are likely to influence the impact of cultural diversity.

The International Committee of the Red Widget? The Diversity Debate and International Humanitarian Law

This article asserts there has been a lack of attention to the impact of cultural diversity within the field of international humanitarian law. Discussions surrounding culture in international humanitarian law have nearly always avoided the central issue of cultural particularism. This has been so in relation to the debate surrounding the emblem, in general surveys of humanitarian law, and in discussions of the laws of war in distinct legal and cultural traditions. The emblems debate, in particular, signals the elusiveness of rigid universality within international humanitarian law. Five elements are suggested to explain the resistance of humanitarian law to contagion by the cultural relativism debate in human rights: the nature of human rights, the distinct normative frameworks of human rights and humanitarian law, the unified conventional basis of humanitarian law, the very broad participation in the humanitarian regime, and the unique role of the International Committee of the Red Cross. While these reasons might explain the fact that the relativism debate in human rights did not readily transfer to humanitarian law, they offer no substantive basis for immunity for humanitarian law to the challenges posed by cultural diversity. Ultimately, the article proposes a legal pluralist approach that recognizes the role of actors in the cultural process of norm-creation. Given the continued violation of the laws of war, the author suggests a need to open the door to cultural diversity in order to generate greater compliance. Without cultural legitimacy, there is a danger that humanitarian law aspires to self-defeating universalism.