Multicultural Business Environment Research Articles

Emotional and cultural intelligences: a comparative analysis between the United States of America and Romania

Abstract Cultural intelligence (CQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ) represent key competencies of multicultural leadership in the new normal global business environment. This paper aims to present a comparative quantitative study concerning emotional and cultural intelligences in USA and Romania, backed by a brief geo-linked bibliometric literature review. The bibliometric analysis is performed with VOSviewer for the works focusing on these two variables published in USA and, respectively, in Romania. Inspired by the findings of this comparative analysis, it is performed a quantitative research based on 604 questionnaires distributed to managers in USA and in Romania, and on statistical processing using SPSS software. The statistical results show that both CQ and EQ constitute significant vectors in developing multicultural leadership and organizational performance in a multicultural business environment for both USA and Romania. The comparative study reveals a higher level of CQ and EQ in the Romanian business environment than in USA. The difference could be explained by the focus on rationality and profit maximization in the American business education. The contribution of the paper comes from these findings and they can help researchers and practitioners to stimulate their efforts in improving CQ and EQ competences.

The Interrelation of Politeness, Culture, and Speech Acts in Multilingual Corporate Communication

This article examines the relationship between politeness, culture, and speech acts in multilingual corporate communication. It emphasizes the role of second language acquisition (SLA) practices in teaching politeness strategies, with a focus on explicit instruction, immersion programs, and authentic language practice. The article also offers suggestions to enhance communication in such environments, using Luxembourg as an example of a multicultural business environment and highlighting the importance of understanding cultural norms and expectations surrounding politeness. By examining the interplay between these factors, this study aims to contribute to improved communication practices in multilingual corporate settings.

INTERNET AND CROSS-CULTURAL COMMUNICATION TO GENERATION Z

Generation Z can be regarded as a generation that since they were born have grown up with the internet. The digital generation's reliance on information and communication technologies in both personal and professional affairs may be at an all-time high. Because they are "technologically proficient," they have some competitive advantages over previous generations. As a result, Gen Zers are prepared and motivated to work in a multicultural business environment, contributing to the advancement of globalization and interconnection. Without a doubt, in today's environment, the transformation of the global workforce is the most globally oriented. With globalization and technology continuing to have an impact, Gen Zers' way of thinking supports cross-cultural social engagement and communication, making bridge leadership skills and strategies increasingly more crucial for CEOs of large and small businesses.

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

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.

Investigating the Role of Cultural Awareness in A Multicultural Business Environment: A Case Study Based on Turkish and British Markets

This research aims to understand the role of cultural awareness in a multicultural business environment. 24 managers were interviewed. 10 of them are non-Turkish managers who run British companies in Turkey and 14 of them are non-British managers who run Turkish companies in the UK. A predefined questionnaire was used to conduct interviews with open-ended questions designed to research cultural awareness indicators, derived from the analysed literature, and cumulated under the 4 main spheres: 1) multiple perspective abilities, 2) culture reading skills, 3) intercultural communication development and 4) adapting cultural flexibility. The answers of the study’s subjects were analysed through the indicators defining cultural awareness and therefore lead to conclusions related to the understanding and coping with a cross-cultural context in the business environment, aspects of cultural adaptation, as well as linked strategies of management. Results show that companies tend to rely on their managers’ knowledge and professional background in coping with issues related to a multicultural environment. Furthermore, most entities follow home-country practices on the host country market or prefer the use of one-size-for-all strategies while attempting to adapt their operations locally.

Investigating the Role of Cultural Awareness In A Multicultural Business Environment: A Case Study Based on Turkish And British Markets

Investigating the Role of Cultural Awareness In A Multicultural Business Environment: A Case Study Based on Turkish And British Markets

Analysis of the Export Potential of Small and Medium Enterprises in the Republic of Serbia

The long-term stagnation of Serbia's exports is a limiting factor for further economic growth. Therefore, increasing exports is seen as a development necessity. The trend of international networking and multicultural business environment represents a new type of requirement for the management of Serbian companies, both at the national and local level. Their main goal is to contribute to a more efficient integration of the domestic economy into global trade and production flows. In this way, exports become one of the most important determinants of successful and sustainable economic development. Only 30% of companies in the tradable sector of the Serbian economy are active exporters, while the remaining 70% of companies are oriented exclusively to doing business in the country. Although most small and medium-sized companies in the tradable sector are exporters, a relatively small number of micro-enterprises have managed to expand their business abroad, which has had a significant impact on the relatively low share of exporters in the total number of companies in Serbia. In general, exporters are more successful and dynamic, as well as twice as productive, as non-exporting companies. The main goal of this paper is to identify the sector of small, medium enterprises and entrepreneurs (SMEs) with development potentials to increase exports and thus create the conditions for these potentials to be used to a greater extent than before. In this way, SMEs can be helped to increase their competitiveness in the international market. This will enable SMEs to make and make a greater contribution to the development of the domestic economy, as well as to broader economic and social priorities. In addition, this paper should indicate which sectors have obvious market potential but at the same time difficulties in achieving their goals and fully realizing that potential. The results of this research should help to design various actions whose implementation would provide adequate support to the identified sectors while minimizing the constraints faced by these sectors.

Перспективи крос-культурної бізнес-взаємодії в контексті європейської інтеграції України

The research is aimed at studying and analyzing the attitude of the Ukrainian generation Z to potential cooperation with partners from the countries of the European Union. The article identifies and analyzes the priority of choosing specific countries for cooperation, as well as the motives of such a choice. To verify the hypotheses formulated in the course of research, empirical data collection was carried out by conducting an online survey using the survio.com. 403 respondents took part in the survey: 97 boys (24.1%) and 306 girls (75.9%). The respondents were students of Kyiv National Economic University named after Vadym Hetman (n = 130), Lviv National University named after Ivan Franko (n = 108), Kharkiv National Economic University named after S. Kuznets (n = 165). The results of the research showed that the vast majority of respondents are positive about cooperation with partners from the European Union countries. The research displayed that Ukrainian students are most interested in cooperation with partners from Germany, Sweden, Austria, France and Italy. It is worth noting that the countries that took the two highest positions in the overall ranking (Germany and Sweden), as well as France, which shared the overall third place with Austria, were in the top 5 according to the survey results in each of the three cities where it was conducted, i.e.: Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv. The respondents who have no experience of cross-cultural interaction also expressed a desire to interact with partners from the EU countries. At the same time, the top 5 countries that are interesting for potential interaction, according to these respondents, completely coincide with the overall top five. Among the main motives for choosing countries priority for business interaction, the respondents defined the following: «General positive impression of the country», «High level of economic development of this country», «Reliability of partners from this country», and «High probability of profit from interaction with partners from this country». Ukrainian youth are interested in cooperation with business partners from the countries of the European Union, which is extremely important in view of the European integration of our country. Among the countries that students have identified as priorities for business interaction are both lower-context Germany, Sweden and Austria, and higher-context France and Italy. This once again demonstrates the importance of professional preparation for cross-cultural interaction and the acquisition by Ukrainian students of the competencies of doing business in a global multicultural business environment.

Teaching Dialogue and Polylogue to Non-Linguistic Students: Competence-Based Approach

Competence-based approach to the use of practice-oriented technologies and the creation of an innovative learning environment is the current trend of Russian higher education. The task of developing graduates’ communicative competence for the implementation of effective corporate communication and labor interaction in a multicultural business environment is still relevant. Being obligatory components of modern professional activity, dialogue and polylogue in English provide information exchange, promote joint decision-making, effective interaction and creative cooperation between specialists of different nationalities as well. Mastering the correct strategy in foreign language communication in the business world makes it possible to overcome language and communication barriers. It has a positive effect on building trust in multinational teams, on which the performance of the entire company depends. The authors analyze a number of difficulties associated with the teaching of these types of communication in the classroom. The article examines the foreign and domestic experience of teaching dialogue and polylogue and describes innovative methods of training students for professional communication. The authors of the article investigate the readiness of students for foreign language communication in professional discourse and describe the practical experience of teaching dialogue and polylogue to non-linguistic students using alternative methods simulating real communicative situations in business communication. It is concluded that the competence-based approach is effective in developing the communicative competence of non-linguistic students in the classroom bilingualism.

Making The Connection: Cross-cultural Management Course and Cultural Intelligence

Purpose - The purpose of the present paper is to examine the impact of Cross-cultural management course on the four primary factors of cultural intelligence (CQ) - Metacognitive CQ, Cognitive CQ, Motivational CQ, and Behavioral CQ and their inter-correlation. Design/Methodology/Approach - This paper is based on questionnaires on two separate occasions that were three months apart. Findings - The empirical findings show that all four aspects of CQ increase during Cross-cultural management courses with a parallel increase of correlations amongst the four CQ factors. Research Implications - As the world economy has become substantially interconnected for recent decades largely due to the advancement of transportation systems and communication networks, an increasing number of companies have begun to expand their business overseas beyond domestic markets and actively operate across national borders. These companies, which are often referred to as multinational corporations (MNCs) in literature, are likely to rely heavily on expatriates to run their foreign operations. Accordingly, there has been a growing recognition about CQ as the key predictor of expatriate success and one of the main selection criteria for international assignments. Taken together, the importance of CQ becomes more apparent than it has ever been before in today’s multicultural business environment. Notwithstanding such emerging interests, still little attention has been devoted to understanding the development of CQ. More specifically, the question of how Cross-cultural management courses contribute to the enhancement of CQ in a balanced way has not been answered. Furthermore, the relationship between CQ development and correlational changes in CQ factors has not yet been extensively studied. In this sense, this paper provides a more accurate interpretation of the effects of Cross-cultural courses on CQ development particularly in terms of changes in the degree of relatedness among CQ dimensions.

RELEARNING HOW TO DRIVE

AbstractThe author notes that one trait that successful leaders have in common is the ability to save and honor face for others. “Saving Face” is a universal concept, beyond its origins in China, and it is a key factor in leadership for building positive relationships, motivating and rewarding others. Leaders can navigate through a new or unfamiliar situation and still manage to save and protect face; an ability the author calls, “Relearning how to drive.” For instance, working in a new environment is a lot like driving in a foreign country for the first time. Go on autopilot too quickly can lead to a loss of face, whether it's a new team or a new country you're working in. A detailed corporate example is provided about a videoconference with managers from a factory in Dongguan, China, illustrating a concept the author refers to as The Cultural Iceberg. The BUILD model is also outlined, with five keys that are crucial building blocks to forming strong, productive business relationships: Benevolence and Accountability, Understanding, Interacting, Learning, and Delivery. Leaders can view complex issues in a multicultural business environment from four different perspectives: first person, second person, meta position, and helicopter.

Exploring the applicability of SERVPERF model in Indian two-wheeler industry: a CFA approach

For over the years, after-sales service (ASS) has assumed its importance in an automotive industry. Although, an adequate number of scales and model sexist to measure ASS quality, yet extant literature provides evidences in support of two established and well known models/scales viz. SERVQUAL and SERVPERF. But, researchers have raised concerns related to its applicability in a multi-cultural business environment like India. Thus, this study attempts to examine the applicability of original SERVPERF model in Indian two-wheeler industry. Combinations of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques have been used to understand the item structure, dimensionality and psychometric properties of the scale. Results in this study fail to support the item structure of original SERVPERF model as proposed by Cronin and Taylor (1992). We strongly suppose that this variation is context specific and less generic as originally contended. These results suggest that relying service quality assessment on the original SERVPERF items can be misleading in Indian context. As such, context-specific 18-items are therefore needed to assist Indian automobile companies in their service quality improvement programs. If this fit is achieved, the general welfare of consumers' vis-à-vis service quality may be enhanced.

A study of the attitude of generation z to cross-cultural interaction in business

Background and Purpose: In a digitally globalized world cross-cultural interaction in social and business environment has become more widespread than ever before. The purpose of this paper is to explore the attitude of Generation Z representatives to different aspects of cross-cultural interaction.Design/Methodology/Approach: We used an online questionnaire to collect data for our study. A sample of 324 young adults from three countries: Germany (n=113/34.9%), Romania (n=107/33.0%) and Ukraine (n=104/32.1%) participated in the online survey. The sample consists of university students aged less than 23 years to match the criteria of being representatives of Generation Z. Different statistical tools were used to check the hypotheses.Results: The results of the study indicate that Generation Z representatives consider cross-cultural communication skills as highly important both in their private and business life. The main motivation factors to work in a multicultural business environment have been identified as well as major barriers for effective cross-cultural interaction.Conclusion: This paper illustrates that Gen Zers are willing to work in a multicultural business environment; moreover it can give them additional motivation. This trend along with ongoing processes of globalization and digitalization fosters further interconnection of countries and regions of the world, making cross-cultural communication and cross-cultural management techniques even more important.

Teamwork Soft Skill Development In Facing The Globalization

The globalization has impacted to creating the multicultural business environments that tend to make some handicaps in establishing an effective team in the working area. Teamwork is one of the crucial soft skills that professionals must have in contributing to the succession of a business in the globalization era. This study aims to explore the evidence of the learning process as a contribution to developing the teamwork soft skill for the students as the agents of change for future. The lecturer must play an important role in facilitating the learning process in order to achieve the target. To collect the data, the researhers execute the research by using classroom observation, distributing the questionnaires to the students and interviewing the students and lecturers. The data will be analyzed by using descriptive qualitative analysis. The results show that the students are enthusiastic in developing their teamwork soft skill through implementing the discussion group and finalizing the project group assignment in order to achieve the high scores of assessments. This implies that the students must possess the teamwork soft skill in order to develop an effective team working in facing the multicultural business environment as impacts of the globalization era.

Strategic approach to managing human factors risk in aircraft maintenance organization: risk mapping

Purpose Aviation has multi-cultural business environment in all aspects as operational and management. Managing aviation requires high awareness on human factor risk which includes organizational behavior-related topics. The greatest risk to an enterprise’s ability to achieve its strategic goals and objectives is the human factor. Both organizational behavior and corporate culture behavior with social psychology are the most vital aspects of management and strategy in terms of human resources. Related risks, including organizational behavior and culture, have the potential to directly impact on both business performance and corporate sustainability. Therefore, in this paper, the most prominent risks were determined in accordance with social psychology, and after identification of human factor-based risks, these have prioritized and prepared risk mapping with fresh approach. For this reason, this study aims to develop risk mapping model for human factors that takes into account interrelations among risk factors three dimensional based new approach. This approach includes both identification of human factor based risks, prioritization them and setting risk mapping according to corporate based qualifications via tailoring risk list. Developed risk map in this paper will help to manage corporate risks to achieve improved performance and sustainability. Design/methodology/approach This new organizational behavior- and culture-focused risk mapping model developed in this study has the potential to make significant contribution to the management of the human factor for modern management and strategy. In enterprise risk management system, risk mapping is both strong and effective strategic methodology to manage ergonomics issue with strategic approach. Human factor is both determinative and also strategic element to both continuity and performance of business operations with safely and sound. In view of management and strategy, vitally, the human factor determines the outcome in both every business and every decision-making. Findings It is assumed that, if managers manage human risk you may get advantages to achieving corporate strategies in timely manner. Aviation is sensitive sector for its ingredients: airports, airlines, air traffic management, aircraft maintenance, pilotage and ground handling. Aim of this paper is to present risk management approach to optimize human performance while minimizing both failures and errors by aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). This model may apply all human factors in other departments of aviation such as pilots and traffic controllers. AMT is key component of aircraft maintenance. Thus, errors made by AMTs will cause aircraft accidents or incidents or near miss incidents. In this study, new taxonomy model for human risk factors in aircraft maintenance organizations has been designed, and also new qualitative risk assessment as three dimensions is carried out by considering the factors affecting the AMT’s error obtained from extensive literature review and expert opinions in the field of aviation. Human error risks are first categorized into two main groups and sub three groups and then prioritized using the risk matrix via triple dimension as probability, severity and interrelations ratio between risks. Practical implications Risk mapping is established to decide which risk management option they will apply for managers when they will look at this map. Managers may use risk map to both identify their managerial priorities and share sources to managing risks, and make decisions on risk handling options. This new model may be a useful new tool to manage ergonomic human factor-based risks in developing strategy in aviation business management. In addition, this paper will contribute to department of management and strategy and related literature. Originality/value This study has originality via new modeling of risk matrix. In this study, dimension of risk analysis has been improved as three dimensions. This study has new approach and new assessment of risk with likelihood (probability), impact (severity) and interrelations ratio. This new model may be a useful new tool to both assess and prioritize mapping of ergonomic-based risks in business management. In addition, this research will contribute to aviation management and strategy literature and also enterprise risk management literature.

Muslim customer’s shopping experiences in multicultural retail environment

PurposeThis study aims to understand better the impact of intercultural communication, social environment and personality on customer satisfaction and post-purchase stage in retailing from Muslim customers’ perspective. In this endeavour, this study illustrates the unique context of intercultural communication to highlight several improvements contributing towards the advancement of intercultural communication literature.Design/methodology/approachThis research adopted a survey approach where 450 questionnaires were obtained among selected grocery retailers in Klang Valley, Malaysia. The measurement of the constructs and their interrelationships were examined based on partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM).FindingsThe findings partially validated the proposed framework with statistically significant relationships among all constructs. Furthermore, it exposed additional insights into some practical and conceptual solutions for addressing intercultural communication of religiously and culturally diverse service encounters in the Malaysian grocery retail industry. These contributions postulated an impetus for future research in various service settings.Originality/valueBased on the theories, this study assessed the role of the social environment and personality of grocery retail customers on intercultural communication competence (ICC). It also examined the impacts of ICC on inter-role congruence and interaction comfort. It is anticipated that by filling this knowledge gap, the research assisted in strengthening retail communication strategies, which require intercultural communication adjustments in a multicultural business environment. ICC is expected to improve the retail industry’s competitiveness when it positively influences inter-role congruence and interaction comfort among customers.

Exploring the Applicability of SERVPERF Model in Indian Two-wheeler Industry: A CFA Approach

For over the years, after-sales service (ASS) has assumed its importance in an automotive industry. Although, an adequate number of scales and model sexist to measure ASS quality, yet extant literature provides evidences in support of two established and well known models/scales viz. SERVQUAL and SERVPERF. But, researchers have raised concerns related to its applicability in a multi-cultural business environment like India. Thus, this study attempts to examine the applicability of original SERVPERF model in Indian two-wheeler industry. Combinations of exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) techniques have been used to understand the item structure, dimensionality and psychometric properties of the scale. Results in this study fail to support the item structure of original SERVPERF model as proposed by Cronin and Taylor (1992). We strongly suppose that this variation is context specific and less generic as originally contended. These results suggest that relying service quality assessment on the original SERVPERF items can be misleading in Indian context. As such, context-specific 18-items are therefore needed to assist Indian automobile companies in their service quality improvement programs. If this fit is achieved, the general welfare of consumers' vis-a-vis service quality may be enhanced.

Managing organizational communications in the multicultural environment

The study is aimed at analyzing the issues of managing organizational communications in the multicultural business context and revealing the main difficulties in providing effective cross-cultural communications at enterprises in terms of organization and staff development. Methodology: the research can be defined as executing an investigation to acquire additional knowledge on the issue of managing organizational communications in the multicultural environment. In the study, a combination of critical analysis, synthesis and comparison was applied as the basic research principles. The subject matter of this paper is organizational communications in multi-national business environment. The relevance of the research is determined by the need to increase the effectiveness of cross-cultural organizational communications at domestic enterprises in order to provide their development and successful functioning in the multicultural environment. Currently, cross-cultural business communications are given much importance, since they require more thorough planning and strict control, compared to internal communications. Under such conditions, the success of interaction depends on reaching an agreement on the rules and methods of communication acceptable to representatives of various cultures. The most important issue in the study of cross-cultural professional communication is research of its effectiveness dependence on the level of intercultural competence of communicants. Intercultural competence, including the knowledge and skills, refers to most problematic aspects of managing communications of companies operating in the multicultural environment. Adaptation of management to the conditions of the environment can result not only in gaining congruence in the various cultures the organization operate in, but also in increasing the communications effectiveness to the extent ensuring performance efficiency at the cross-cultural level. In today’s multicultural business environment companies frequently encounter cultural differences, which can impede effective performance and successful achievement of organizational goals. Increased globalization of business processes has set the task not only to correctly identify differences in the national cultures, but also to adequately use them to overcome the intercultural difficulties while establishing and developing relations with foreign partners. Optimizing cross-cultural professional communications and increasing the intercultural competence of personnel becomes essential to the organization’s performance effectiveness. Ensuring effectiveness of the organization’s performance in a multicultural environment is closely related to exploring the ways of increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian enterprises globally. The present research contributes to this area by offering valuable insights into cross-cultural communications in organizations with a multicultural environment and the ways of optimizing communications management. JEL classification: M10, M12, M14, M19

Factors of Intercultural Communication Competence in Multicultural Business Environment

Factors of Intercultural Communication Competence in Multicultural Business Environment

Marketing information system and risk reduction in managing a company on foreign markets

Motivation: The need to develop marketing information systems results from the generally accepted need act according to marketing concept. When defined as a specific type of management information, marketing information refers to any kind of data that can be used in the process of marketing management in order to attenuate the uncertainty of decisions undertaken in the context of strategic marketing and operational marketing. The dynamic character of market processes and phenomena causes that decision-making always entails a certain dose of risk. Risk reduction is possible, for instance, by means of deploying relevant marketing information. One may, therefore, say that a role of information in a decision-making process could be perceived in terms of both uncertainty reduction and rendering undertaken decisions a privilege of correctness understood a priori. Aim: Any expansion beyond the scope of domestic market and searching for competitive advantages in the diversified international business environments are necessitated by taking decisions which involve greater risk than routine decisions based on experiences derived from the corporation’s domestic market. Likewise, decision-making process require a more profound informational support when they refer to international markets. By placing an emphasis on the sub-system of marketing research undertaken in a multicultural business environment, this paper aims to categorize and provide an in-depth insight into theoretical bases of marketing information systems with regard to companies functioning on foreign markets. The text elaborates upon the role of information in marketing management as well as upon selected approaches to the formation of marketing information systems. Moreover, the significance of international marketing research and its role in the process of corporate internationalization are explained. Likewise, basic forms of organization with regard to international marketing research are also characterized and explained from a perspective of involved spatial variables. Results: Globalization processes and the increase in the internationalization of enterprises pave the way for the development of marketing information systems which are utilized by contemporary business ventures seeking to internationalize their operations. Hence, one may postulate that the development of conceptualizations referring to international and global marketing is a motivating factor leading to the increase in the significance of well-constructed systems of marketing information with a special emphasis placed on the subsystem of marketing research. At this point, one has to bear in mind the international marketing research cannot be treated simply as an extension of domestic studies. When investigating international business environment, one is in a position to take a plethora of specific methodological problems into account at all stages of research procedures. The fundamental problem of international marketing research, which may be conceived as a context for further research, is equivalence of studies on diverse foreign markets and diverse cultures.