Sojourner Adaptation Research Articles

Cross-Cultural Communication and Culture Learning in the Process of Sociocultural Adaptation of Sojourners in Host Societies

Cross-Cultural Communication and Culture Learning in the Process of Sociocultural Adaptation of Sojourners in Host Societies

Personality, behavioral engagement, and psychological adaptation of high school students abroad: A longitudinal perspective on between- and within-person dynamics

International educational mobility is a life event that confronts sojourners with many challenges, such as adapting to a new living environment abroad. Whether these cultural adaptation processes are successful is contingent upon different factors. In the present study, we focused on the role of personality as well as host- and home-cultural behavioral engagement in the psychological adaptation of high school students during an academic year abroad. To that end, we analyzed data from the first four waves of the project Mobility and Acculturation Experiences of Students (MAPS) ( N = 1299 students in a year abroad) using a cross-lagged panel model (CLPM) and a random intercept cross-lagged panel model (RI-CLPM) to address these associations at the interpersonal and intrapersonal level. The analyses revealed the complex interplay between personality, host- and home-cultural behavioral engagement, and adaptation at both the interpersonal and intrapersonal levels of analysis. Moreover, host-cultural behavioral engagement also mediated the predictive effects of personality traits on the psychological adaptation of sojourners in the CLPM. Theoretical implications for personality and acculturation research and practical inferences for supporting students studying abroad are discussed.

Ethnic Stereotype Formation and Its Impact on Sojourner Adaptation: A Case of "Belt and Road" Chinese Migrant Workers in Montenegro.

Ethnic stereotypes are cognitive markers that are formed and modified because of intercultural contact with a new cultural group. There is now much empirical evidence that explicates how stereotypes of ethnic groups can impact individuals’ acculturation experiences. However, what is unknown is how previously nonexistent ethnic beliefs are formed as a result of contact with the local culture. One hundred and seventy-four (N = 174) overseas Chinese construction workers were contacted through the Chinese Consulate in Montenegro and agreed to participate in the present study. The online questionnaire asked workers to describe Montenegrin majority members in terms of five characteristics. These traits formed the stereotype markers that were classified as positive, neutral, or negative. Sojourners also answered questions that measured perceived cultural distance, social exclusion, knowledge of Montenegrin culture, feelings of social exclusion, and their sociocultural adaptation. Results show that both positive and negative stereotypes are correlated with less social exclusion and better socio-cultural adaptation. Perceived cultural distance, knowledge of host culture and length of stay was mediated by stereotypes on adaptation outcomes. Interestingly longer sojourn did not lessen the type of stereotype, nor did it reduce cultural distance. Contribution to the stereotype literature and practical understanding of how Chinese sojourners see majority members will be discussed.

The Neglected C of Intercultural Relations. Cross-Cultural Adaptation Shapes Sojourner Representations of Locals

We investigated, by means of the Reverse Correlation Task (RCT), visual representations of the culturally dominating group of local people held by sojourners as a function of their degree of cross-cultural adaptation. In three studies, using three different methods (reduced RCT, full RCT, conceptual replication) with three independent samples of sojourners and seven independent samples of Portuguese and US-American raters, we gathered clear evidence that poor adaptation goes along with more negative representations of locals. This indicates that sojourner adaptation is reflected, at a social-cognitive level, in the valence of outgroup representations.

Coping with perceived discrimination: A longitudinal study of sojourners in China

The current research examines cross-cultural adaptation of sojourners by focusing on an understudied population -- international students in China – and how they coped with perceived discrimination. It had two overall aims: 1) to test whether secondary coping would be effective in reducing the negative effects of perceived discrimination, based on research on cultural fit and goodness of fit; 2) to further explore the moderating role of host culture orientation in the effectiveness of secondary coping. A 90-day longitudinal study was conducted on first- and second-year international students in China (N = 130) via questionnaires assessing perceived discrimination, coping strategies (primary and secondary coping), and adaptation outcomes (sociocultural adaptation, psychological adaptation, and perceived stress). As expected, for sociocultural adaptation over time, a three-way interaction was found (host orientation × perceived discrimination × secondary coping). Low levels of secondary coping and high host orientation exacerbated the negative effects of perceived discrimination. No three-way interaction was found regarding psychological adaptation or perceived stress over time; instead, there were significant two-way interactions between coping and perceived discrimination. High levels of secondary coping reduced the negative effects of perceived discrimination on perceived stress over time, whereas high levels of primary coping buffered the negative effects on psychological adaptation over time. As a whole, we found some evidence supportive of both cultural fit and goodness of fit as well as contradictory evidence. We provide possible explanations for the contradictory findings and discuss the limitations of this study and the complexity of effective coping during sojourner adaptation.

An Intercultural Management Perspective of Foreign Student’s Adaptation in Chinese Universities: A Case Study of China Three Gorges University

Globalization, the desire to access quality education and better opportunities abroad as well as the need to develop one’s capacities and many other factors have caused increased migration of international students and teachers into Chinese universities. China has recorded over a 67% increase in higher education enrolment between 2011 and 2017. This increased level of student migration in China has brought an unprecedented number of challenges especially in transitioning into the cultural settings in China. As a result, Chinese universities, in addition to their various obligations and roles in ensuring quality teaching and learning, have to engage in intercultural management to help foreigners’ transition seamlessly into the cultural landscape of China. This study examines intercultural adaptation of sojourners from an intercultural management perspective. Using a mixed method approach, specifically an explanatory mixed method design, a sample of 140 respondents was investigated regarding their cultural adaptation to a Chinese university. The positive and negative aspects of intercultural management as it relates to the university used in the case study were also explored. Findings from the study were discussed in depth and recommendations for a holistic intercultural management system were made.

A Tight Spot: How Personality Moderates the Impact of Social Norms on Sojourner Adaptation

How do you navigate the norms of your new culture when living abroad? Taking an interactionist perspective, we examined how contextual factors and personality traits jointly affect sojourners’ adaptation to the host-country culture. We hypothesized that tightness (strong, rigidly imposed norms) of the host culture would be associated with lower levels of adaptation and that tightness of the home culture would be associated with higher levels of adaptation. Further, we proposed that the impact of tightness should be dependent on personality traits associated with navigating social norms (agreeableness, conscientiousness, and honesty-humility). We analyzed longitudinal data from intercultural exchange students (N = 889) traveling from and to 23 different countries. Multilevel modeling showed that sojourners living in a tighter culture had poorer adaptation than those in a looser culture. In contrast, sojourners originating from a tighter culture showed better adaptation. The negative effect of cultural tightness was moderated by agreeableness and honesty-humility but not conscientiousness.

Protective or harmful? Exploring the ambivalent role of social identification as a moderator of intergroup stress in sojourners

Living outside one’s home country may be stressful, and having strong social ties should help deal with this stress. However, social ties may be protective or harmful depending on whether the social group they evoke belongs to the host- or the home country context. The current study examines how social identification with different groups may either buffer or aggravate the negative effects of two stressors (perceived discrimination and symbolic threat) on sojourner adaptation. Two hundred and twenty international students sojourning in nine different countries responded to an online questionnaire. As expected, adaptation was negatively predicted by both stressors. Moreover, high identification with the group of international students attenuated the negative effects of perceived discrimination on psychological adaptation, while home country identification aggravated the negative effects of symbolic threat on sociocultural adaptation.

Sociocultural Adaptation of U.S. Education Abroad Students in Greece: The Effects of Program Duration and Intervention

When students who participate in education abroad (EA) programs are first exposed to a foreign culture, they undergo several psychological, behavioral, and cognitive adjustments. Upon arrival to the host country, they are confronted with a variety of problems as they adjust to the new surroundings. These could range from language barriers and homesickness to an inability to participate in social interactions and depression. Research on sociocultural adaptation and adjustment has produced several theories, but for the purpose of this study, the sociocultural adaptation theory, as it has been proposed by Ward and Kennedy (1999), will be used. This article presents a study, which attempts to address the issue of what actually constitutes a sojourner adaptation by developing the construct of sociocultural adaptation.

Tourists' strategies: An acculturation approach

Acculturation theory has been widely used to understand and explain migrant and sojourner adaptation. However, it has yet to be examined in a tourist context. We extended the literature by evaluating the applicability of Berry's (1997) bidimensional acculturation model to a sample of 668 recent and prospective international travelers from China (n=205), Germany (n=201), and the United States (n=262). Our results suggested that the acculturation model can be extended to tourist contexts and used for segmentation purposes. Specifically, tourists' acculturation strategies were associated with their preferences for home culture maintenance and host culture immersion, as well as behavioral, holiday, and activity preferences. Ethnocentrism and uncertainty avoidance were also found to vary as a function of tourists' acculturation strategy.

In a cultural No Man’s Land – or, how long does culture shock last?

This essay is an attempt to combine theories of sojourner adaptation with the qualitative results of my field work among Scottish immigrants in Copenhagen. I argue that theories of acculturation often presuppose a limited time-frame; that the usefulness of Lysgaard’s acculturation model may be questioned; and that companies lose valuable intercultural competence by recalling sojourners before they have completed their process of integration. Learning from practice, I argue that sojourners will change as a result of their stationing overseas; that the intercultural skills obtained by employees during their sojourn represent a valuable resource for international business; and that companies have an obligation to assist sojourners upon their return to their home culture.

Examining the role of language attitudes and motivation on the sociocultural adjustment and the job performance of sojourners in Spain

This research examines the interrelationships of a number of variables relevant to the functioning of individuals making cross-cultural transitions, and the relationship of these variables to indices of sociocultural adaptation and job performance. The study examined 127 British university students who worked as English instructors for a short-term intensive English as a foreign language program, known as Enjoy English, which takes place in Spain. The British instructors were assessed initially during the training period and again at the end of their 4-week teaching assignment. The instructors completed a personal profile on their demographic characteristics, along with a questionnaire composed of measures assessing various affective attributes related to the language and culture of Spain, reasons for accepting employment in Spain, contact with Spanish speakers, job-related attitudes, perceptions regarding differences between the cultures of Spain and Britain, and sociocultural adaptation. At the end of the program the supervisors, who are Spanish teachers of English ( n=49), were asked to assess the British instructors on measures of job performance (i.e., teacher effectiveness). The results provide evidence suggesting that previous experiences with the culture and communicative competence can facilitate the successful sociocultural adaptation of sojourners to foreign cultural environments, but that this is not necessarily indicative of effective job performance. These results revealed a number of important relationships relevant for individuals who are employed abroad as foreign language instructors, for others planning to travel abroad and take up temporary employment and/or those faced with the task of training and selecting potential employees.

Research, mission statements, and international student advising offices

Four major lines of research on sojourner adaptation are reviewed and their influence on the development of mission statements in international student advising offices in American universities are posited. It is suggested that two lines of research are historically important in the sense that inferences derived from research on the “problems” of foreign student adaptation provided a basis for the establishment of international student advising offices whereas research on culture shock, stages of adjustment, and cross-cultural counseling led to a significant expansion of the mission of these “newly created” departments to include a host of counseling activities and more “psychologically” based orientation programs. The latter (more recent) lines of research are important because they provide empirical support for including in the mission statements of international student advising offices the notion of culture learning and the important role communication plays in facilitating adaptation. The paper concludes by discussing the training implications that derive from these four lines of research.

The Course of Sojourner Adaptation: A New Test of the U-Curve Hypothesis

The well-known U-curve hypothesis, which describes the course of adjustment of sojourners abroad, has received surprisingly little empirical support. Part of the reason for this may be the inadequate designs of studies that have been set up to test it. In this study a more adequate longitudinal design, using experimental and control groups of university students, was created to assess the hypothesis. This test does not confirm the hypothesis. The course of well-being of the experimental group in France does not differ significantly from that of the control group at home. The study ends with some ruminations on the future usefulness of the U-curve hypothesis.