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1 – 10 of 308This study aims to integrate entrepreneurship theories and acculturation perspectives into a unified lens to understand opportunity development by transnational entrepreneurs…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to integrate entrepreneurship theories and acculturation perspectives into a unified lens to understand opportunity development by transnational entrepreneurs (TNEs).
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a conceptual method, considering how acculturation strategies of TNEs influence cross-cultural arbitrage.
Findings
We develop six propositions that define how acculturation strategies relate to different levels of cultural embeddedness of transnational entrepreneurs and ultimately influence the process by which the entrepreneur engages in cross-cultural arbitrage.
Originality/value
We are one of the first to integrate the sociology of immigrants with entrepreneurship to better understand how TNEs engage in cross-cultural arbitrage.
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Dorothy Ai-wan Yen, Benedetta Cappellini, Jane Denise Hendy and Ming-Yao Jen
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social…
Abstract
Purpose
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe challenges to ethnic minorities in the UK. While the experiences of migrants are both complex and varied depending on individuals' social class, race, cultural proximity to the host country and acculturation levels, more in-depth studies are necessary to fully understand how COVID-19 affects specific migrant groups and their health. Taiwanese migrants were selected because they are an understudied group. Also, there were widespread differences in pandemic management between the UK and Taiwan, making this group an ideal case for understanding how their acculturation journey can be disrupted by a crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative data were collected at two different time points, at the start of the UK pandemic (March/April 2020) and six months on (October/November 2020), to explore migrant coping experiences over time. Theoretically, the authors apply acculturation theory through the lens of coping, while discussing health-consumption practices, as empirical evidence.
Findings
Before the outbreak of the pandemic, participants worked hard to achieve high levels of integration in the UK. The pandemic changed this; participants faced unexpected changes in the UK’s sociocultural structures. They were forced to exercise the layered and complex “coping with coping” in a hostile host environment that signalled their new marginalised status. They faced impossible choices, from catching a life-threatening disease to being seen as overly cautious. Such experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society.
Research limitations/implications
It is important to note that the Taiwanese sample recruited through Facebook community groups is biased and has a high level of homogeneity. These participants were well-integrated, middle-class migrants who were highly educated, relatively resourceful and active on social media. More studies are needed to fully understand the impact on well-being and acculturation of migrants from different cultural, contextual and social backgrounds. This being the case, the authors can speculate that migrants with less resource are likely to have found the pandemic experience even more challenging. More studies are needed to fully understand migrant experience from different backgrounds.
Practical implications
Public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. In particular, this paper has shown how separation, especially if embraced temporarily, is not necessarily a negative outcome to be corrected with specific policies. It can be strategically adopted by migrants as a way of defending their health and well-being from an increasingly hostile environment. Migrants' home country experience provides vicarious learning opportunities to acquire good practices. Their voices should be encouraged rather than in favour of a surprising orthodox and rather singular approach in the discussion of public health management.
Social implications
The paper has clear public health policy implications. Firstly, public health policymakers are advised to dedicate more resources to understand migrants' experiences in the host country. Acknowledging migrants' voice is a critical first step to contribute to the development of a fair and inclusive society. Secondly, to retain skilful migrants and avoid a future brain-drain, policymakers are advised to advance existing infrastructure to provide more incentives to support and retain migrant talents in the post-pandemic recovery phase.
Originality/value
This paper reveals how a group of previously well-integrated migrants had to exercise “coping with coping” during the COVID crisis. This experience, over time, challenged their integration to the host country, resulting in a loss of faith in the UK’s health system, consequently increasing separation from the host culture and society. It contributes to the understanding of acculturation by showing how a such crisis can significantly disrupt migrants' acculturation journey, challenging them to re-acculturate and reconsider their identity stance. It shows how separation was indeed a good option for migrants for protecting their well-being from a newly hostile host environment.
Rahma Ben Salem and Salma Damak Ayadi
This study aims to explain why some countries have quickly embraced IFRS standards while others have partially adopted IFRS and others have been resisting using a model borrowed…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explain why some countries have quickly embraced IFRS standards while others have partially adopted IFRS and others have been resisting using a model borrowed from social psychology that appeals to cultural differences.
Design/methodology/approach
After selecting a sample of 30 countries, the data were analyzed through hierarchical cluster analysis. The results indicate that the sampled countries are classified into seven categories according to the degree of application of international standards. The ordinal regression is used to identify cultural and institutional factors that influence the adoption of IFRS.
Findings
The findings show that interpersonal communication promotes the application of international standards while open-mindedness, ethnocentrism and knowledge of the host culture prevent the transition to a strategy of adoption. The authors have also found out an empirical support for the two institutional isomorphic pressures (coercive and mimetic) on the adoption of IFRS at the national level. While the opening to the international economy encourages countries to set a strategy of adoption, civil liberties and political rights, taxation and innovation impede such adoption.
Practical implications
The study contributes to a better understanding of the factors influencing the implementation of IFRS. It provides to institutional theorists, accounting scholars and policymakers a cultural and institutional model for effective IFRS adoption conditions: promote intercultural interactions; master IFRS does not automatically mean applying them; encourage openness to the global economy; review the taxation system and accounting education programs and especially; and allow some flexibility for standard setters. This study can also assist regulators to verify their policies for the enforcement of IFRS. This paper will also be useful for future research studying the links between human behavior and the choice of new accounting standards through acculturation theory.
Originality/value
Through the acculturation theory, five new cultural dimensions developed by Ben Salem et al. (2019) are used for the first time to define the choice of accounting systems developed to international standards. This study empirically verified the predictive validity of these dimensions on the adoption of IFRS. Previous research have been based on the relationship between culture and disclosure using mainly the Hofstede dimensions. There is, therefore, a shortage of studies analyzing the culture and adoption of IFRS in individual countries. This study provides a cultural and institutional model of IFRS implementation conditions. Similarly, the research included taxation, which is not addressed by previous research, and their relevance in explaining the recourse to IFRS standards is confirmed.
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Yung-Lien Lai, Fei Luo, Chia-Cheng Kang and Tzu-Ying Lo
While a substantial amount of research has been conducted in western societies exploring public attitudes toward police (ATP) among immigrants in recent decades, the question of…
Abstract
Purpose
While a substantial amount of research has been conducted in western societies exploring public attitudes toward police (ATP) among immigrants in recent decades, the question of how recently arrived immigrants view the police in Asian societies has been largely overlooked. This study aims to explore Southeast Asian immigrants' ATP in Taiwan and how assimilation, discrimination, affirmation, procedural justice, bifocal lenses and contact experiences – viewed simultaneously – impact their perceptions.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling methods, a total of 579 completed survey responses were collected in Taiwan with a response rate of 89%. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to examine key factors that impact immigrants' attitudes toward the Taiwanese police.
Findings
The findings suggest that procedural justice and assimilation are two robust and direct predictors of immigrants' attitudes toward Taiwanese police. Immigrants from Southeast Asian countries who perceive that they have been treated fairly by Taiwan police tended to report more positive ATP. Likewise, higher levels of assimilation boosted confidence in the police. In addition, both nationality and marital status had a significant impact on perceptions of the police.
Originality/value
This pioneering study examines immigrants' ATP among four groups of Southeast Asians in Taiwan —namely, immigrants from Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines. The use of SEM strengthens the robustness of the findings derived from this study.
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Harun Sesen, Senay Sahil Ertan and Gözde Inal Cavlan
The aim of this research is to investigate the association between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting in the context of immigrants. Drawing on the cross-cultural…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this research is to investigate the association between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting in the context of immigrants. Drawing on the cross-cultural adaptation theory, the study tests the moderating role that acculturation plays in this relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from a total of 226 immigrants living in Northern Cyprus. In the initial survey, data were collected on perceived overqualification and acculturation, which was followed by the measurement of leisure crafting. Data analysis was performed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Perceived overqualification asserts a significantly positive impact on leisure crafting. Assuming that acculturation plays a moderating role, the research shows that the positive effect that perceived overqualification has on leisure crafting is increased in cases where positive acculturation is elevated as opposed to reduced.
Research limitations/implications
The study results were based on self-reported surveys and data were limited to overqualified immigrant groups in Northern Cyprus.
Practical implications
The study provides significant practical implications for management teams. They can design managerial interventions to increase the acculturation of immigrants, which may in turn reduce the perceived overqualification and increase the positive impact of leisure crafting. Also, the government needs to implement policies targeted at immigrants in order to help them rapidly adapt to the host society.
Originality/value
This research will be a pioneering attempt to explore the positive relationship between perceived overqualification and leisure crafting. The results suggest actions that can be taken to promote leisure crafting behaviors through the use of acculturation to enhance organizational commitment, belongingness to the host society, and well-being in overqualified immigrants.
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Reza Ashari Nasution, So Won Jeong, Byoungho Ellie Jin, Jae-Eun Chung, Heesoon Yang, Robert Jeyakumar Nathan and Devi Arnita
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the acculturation caused by the Korean wave among Indonesian Muslim consumers, especially in the food and cosmetic sectors, based on religious grounds.
Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected through focus group interviews with 20 Muslim respondents in Indonesia.
Findings
The findings specifically highlighted that Muslim consumers’ acceptance of Korean products varied. Muslim consumers’ acceptance was influenced by similarities and differences in values between Islamic and Korean cultures. Consumers categorised into each acculturation mode (assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation) showed different behavioural patterns in Korean product acceptance. This study proposes that global products can be optimised through specific and targeted marketing campaigns for different types of Muslim consumers with products that comply with their religious values.
Originality/value
Few studies have explored the importance of religious values (e.g. righteousness, compassion and respect for others) with respect to the acceptance of foreign products in the acculturation context. Additionally, how values from other cultures reconcile with the Indonesian Muslims’ affinity for Korean culture has been limitedly studied. This study aims to fill these gaps by identifying the role of religious factors in the acceptance of global products by taking the example of Indonesian Muslim consumers and Korean products.
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Mario Gonzalez-Fuentes, Jonathan Ross Gilbert, Robert F. Scherer and Carlos Iglesias-Fernandez
A pronounced rise in postpandemic immigration is creating consumption opportunities and challenges for countries worldwide. Past research has shown that immigrant homeownership…
Abstract
Purpose
A pronounced rise in postpandemic immigration is creating consumption opportunities and challenges for countries worldwide. Past research has shown that immigrant homeownership indicates advanced consumer acculturation. However, critical factors which differentiate immigrant decisions to purchase a home remain underexplored. This study aims to examine the importance of different identity resources in determining homeownership gaps between immigrant groups in Spain during a dynamic decade.
Design/methodology/approach
A mixed methods research design with triangulation was used. First, the critical “historical research method” is used to empirically assess 15,465 household-level microdata files from the National Immigrant Survey of Spain. Second, the analysis is corroborated through informant interviews, an evaluation of digital news archives and other historical traces such as relevant advertisements in Spain from 2000 to 2009.
Findings
Results provided an account of immigrant homeownership whereby foreign-born consumers leveraged resources to promote social identities aligned with an advanced level of acculturation through housing investment during this period. Furthermore, marketing focused on specific targets of ethnic minority consumers coupled with government policies to promote immigrant homeownership reinforced the “Spanish Dream” as a new paradigm for housing market integration.
Originality/value
Spain provides an unprecedented historical context to explain marketing-related phenomena due to a perfect storm of immigration, job availability and integration supports. Contrary to popular wisdom, immigrant consumer homeownership gaps are not solely a result of differences in income and economic mobility, but rather an advanced acculturation outcome driven by personal and social investments in resources that lead to consumer identities.
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Ilkay Yorganci and Mahtab Sadrimovahed
The aim of this study is to understand the acculturation experiences of international students in order to maximize their academic and social experiences which, in turn, can…
Abstract
Purpose
The aim of this study is to understand the acculturation experiences of international students in order to maximize their academic and social experiences which, in turn, can facilitate the development of sustainable educational tourism in the host country.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative methodology and semi-structured interview techniques, 40 international postgraduate tourism students from the Global South were interviewed.
Findings
The findings in this study demonstrated that the main problems faced by these students are inadequate funds and language difficulties.
Originality/value
This study highlighted the fact that although the number of international students is growing all over the world, for most of the students from poorer parts of the world, being an international student is fraught with difficulties. It also demonstrated that although acculturation stress is a serious concern, lack of adequate funding assumes greater importance for students from a poor background.
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Developing a sense of belonging among immigrant youth in multicultural contexts has attracted significant attention from scholars during the last few decades. Studies have already…
Abstract
Purpose
Developing a sense of belonging among immigrant youth in multicultural contexts has attracted significant attention from scholars during the last few decades. Studies have already underscored how various educational factors hinder or facilitate students’ sense of belonging to the school or the larger society. Although most students in Hong Kong schools are ethnic Chinese, a significant number of non-Chinese children make students diversity an essential aspect of schooling. The study investigated how schools can develop a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong.
Design/methodology/approach
As the education system in Hong Kong lacks a multicultural education policy, how can schools help develop a sense of belonging to the school and the larger society among young ethnic minority people? To answer this question, this paper consolidates the two sets of data originally gathered for two research projects. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with nine secondary school teachers (Chinese and non-Chinese) and 15 students (non-Chinese) and analysed thematically.
Findings
The thematic analysis of the qualitative data identified several challenges and opportunities for developing ethnic minority students’ sense of belonging in Hong Kong.
Research limitations/implications
Researchers in comparative education can further explore how multicultural education and inclusive education approach together can help ensure inclusive and equitable quality education for all and cater to students' diverse learning needs across the education systems.
Practical implications
Given that the aims of multicultural education and inclusive education resonate with each other, schools can focus on the Whole School Approach to developing a sense of belonging among ethnic minority youth in Hong Kong. However, policymakers and practitioners may need to adopt a multifaceted perspective on inclusive education that strives to ensure equitable quality education for all.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the existing body of scholarship on multicultural education and inclusive education. The study findings underscore the importance of an interdisciplinary research framework in education and advocate an integrative approach to supporting students with diverse learning needs in multicultural contexts.
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