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1 – 10 of over 7000George Puia and Joseph Ofori‐Dankwa
There is an established link between national cultural differences and documented variations in technological innovations across countries. To move beyond a narrow emphasis on…
Abstract
Purpose
There is an established link between national cultural differences and documented variations in technological innovations across countries. To move beyond a narrow emphasis on national cultures, scholars have suggested using within‐country diversity to compensate for known limitations in national culture measures. Given that ethno‐linguistic diversity is a known source of cultural variation, this paper specifically aims to explore the relationship between culture, ethno‐linguistic diversity and national innovativeness.
Design/methodology/approach
The researchers used publicly available data on patents and trademarks in a multivariate regression context to study the effects of national culture and within‐country diversity on national levels of innovativeness.
Findings
The research found that culture and ethno‐linguistic diversity are independently positively associated with national innovation. More importantly, cultural and intra‐cultural variation measures when taken together account for significantly greater variance in levels of national innovation than does national culture when measured separately.
Research limitations/implications
While this study points to the importance of ethno‐linguistic diversity in explaining national levels of innovativeness, there are other measures of within‐country diversity to be explored.
Practical implications
If national culture were the sole factor in innovativeness, then companies would be limited by their host cultural legacies; since within‐country diversity is also associated with innovation, it provides entrepreneurs, government policy makers and executives with important options for increasing innovativeness.
Originality/value
While previous studies pointed to the potential link between ethno‐linguistic diversity and innovation, prior research has generally not taken this variable into account.
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The purpose of this study is to explore the link between aggregate production efficiency and the extent of linguistic clustering in Indonesia.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the link between aggregate production efficiency and the extent of linguistic clustering in Indonesia.
Design/methodology/approach
The author draws on the stochastic frontier model and applies it to the data on Indonesian provinces to compute the effects of various determinants on these provinces' aggregate production efficiency. The key determinant is the spatial index of linguistic clustering that the author believes has never been applied before in this context.
Findings
Linguistic clustering is an important determinant of aggregate production efficiency. Linguistic diversity is positively associated with productive efficiency if members of a specific linguistic group are not clustered beyond a certain level.
Originality/value
To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that links the spatial index of linguistic clustering (because of Massey and Danton) to production efficiency. In other words, the contribution of this study is to introduce a geographical dimension to the mainstream analysis of the association between ethnic diversity and economic performance.
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Cassandra E. DiRienzo, Jayoti Das and John Burbridge
In today's global economy, a country's level of competitiveness has emerged as an important policy tool for business leaders and the impact of many economic and institutional…
Abstract
Purpose
In today's global economy, a country's level of competitiveness has emerged as an important policy tool for business leaders and the impact of many economic and institutional “hard” factors on competitiveness have been studied. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that diversity, a “soft” factor, has on a country's level of competitiveness.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 102 countries, a multiple regression analysis is performed in which the relationship between a country's competitiveness, as proxied by the global competitiveness index, and diversity, as proxied by ethnic, linguistic, and religious diversity, are tested while controlling for other factors known to affect competitiveness. Further, a cluster analysis is performed in an effort to illuminate global patterns in competitiveness.
Findings
The results indicate that greater levels of ethnic diversity negatively and significantly affect a country's competitiveness, but greater levels of linguistic diversity positively and significantly affect competitiveness while religious diversity has no effect.
Research limitations/implications
The reasons behind for the analysis results still need further research. For example, why do greater levels of linguistic diversity positively affect country competitiveness?
Practical implications
The IMF, World Bank, and other investors of capital need to understand whether diversity will help or hinder aid and loan programs and corporations need to consider diversity when conducting global business and foreign investment.
Originality/value
This study is the first to examine the relationship between diversity and country‐level competitiveness and has value to global business managers and investors.
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Post‐secondary educational organizations are currently some of the most diverse settings to be found. However, few educational studies have dealt with staff diversity and hardly…
Abstract
Purpose
Post‐secondary educational organizations are currently some of the most diverse settings to be found. However, few educational studies have dealt with staff diversity and hardly any has looked outside the USA. The purpose of this paper is to present a study of members of international university departments in Denmark. The authors set out to investigate the relationship between different types of staff diversity and openness to diversity in terms of linguistic, visible, value, and informational heterogeneity.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses responses from 489 staff members from diverse university departments to a self‐report electronic survey.
Findings
It was found that diversity‐related internationalization (cultural and linguistic) was generally positively related to favorable diversity attitudes. Inherent demographic diversity (age and gender), on the other hand, was unrelated or negatively associated with positive diversity attitudes.
Originality/value
Few studies deal with the role of staff diversity and no prior studies the authors know of have examined the link between diversity types and openness to diversity.
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Understanding linguistic profiling and its substantial consequences on employee career development is essential in diverse workplaces. This study utilizes Levinson’s eras and…
Abstract
Purpose
Understanding linguistic profiling and its substantial consequences on employee career development is essential in diverse workplaces. This study utilizes Levinson’s eras and career development theories to analyze the complicated relationship between linguistic profiling and biases, which hamper employee career development.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used an interpretive methodology and conducted thematic data analysis. It documented lessons learned from diverse viewpoints through semi-structured interviews with 19 participants conducted in November and December 2022.
Findings
The study demonstrates that linguistic discrimination occurs in diverse workplaces. After data exploration, four intriguing themes appeared. The first theme was related to employees who were discriminated against because of various languages. This shows how often language choice affects employees. The second theme examined how linguistic profiling intersected with marginalized groups, increasing discrimination. The third theme, linguistic profiling and career development showed that bias had a huge influence on career progression. The fourth theme emphasizes organizational policies for preventing language discrimination, promoting career growth and inclusive organizations.
Originality/value
This study advances the understanding of linguistic profiling and career development in a multilingual society. In addition, it furthers discourse and provides ways to minimize biases, creating a more inclusive workplace environment.
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The purpose of this study is to contribute to the field of diversity studies with novel insights on how language diversity and communication frequency influence dissimilarity…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to contribute to the field of diversity studies with novel insights on how language diversity and communication frequency influence dissimilarity attitudes.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors examine language diversity and communication frequency as group‐level antecedents for positive dissimilarity attitudes by use of questionnaire responses from 489 members of academic culturally diverse departments.
Findings
The results showed that communication frequency has strong positive relationships with three variables depicting positive dissimilarity attitudes, namely openness to linguistic, visible and informational diversity. Contradicting our predictions, language diversity had positive associations with all variables portraying positive dissimilarity attitudes. The implications of these findings are discussed in detail.
Originality/value
Few prior studies have dealt with the relations between language, communication and dissimilarity attitudes.
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Maja Stojanović and Petra A. Robinson
The purpose of this paper is to explore issues pertaining to monolingual ideology in the United States and the challenges in terms of career identity and development for…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore issues pertaining to monolingual ideology in the United States and the challenges in terms of career identity and development for multilingual individuals.
Design/methodology/approach
This conceptual paper provides a discussion of the relevant literature pertaining to linguistic diversity, language ideologies, career identity and career development, and offers a critical conceptual framework for understanding career development in linguistically diverse, multilingual contexts.
Findings
Based on a critical review of literature, this paper proposes a conceptual framework which can be used to address linguistic issues that may otherwise encourage discrimination and inequity in the workplace.
Originality/value
This paper addresses the gap in career development literature by proposing a critical conceptual framework that integrates language as an important element of one’s career identity.
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Emily Machado, Rebecca Woodard, Andrea Vaughan and Rick Coppola
This study examines how writing teachers manage linguistic ideological dilemmas (LIDs) around grammar instruction and highlights productive strategies employed by one teacher in…
Abstract
This study examines how writing teachers manage linguistic ideological dilemmas (LIDs) around grammar instruction and highlights productive strategies employed by one teacher in an instructional unit on poetry. We conducted semi-structured interviews with nine elementary and middle-school teachers to better understand how they conceptualized and enacted writing pedagogies in urban classrooms. Then, we documented the teaching practices of one teacher during a 9-week case study. We describe three LIDs expressed by the teachers we interviewed: (1) a perception of greater linguistic flexibility in speech than in writing; (2) a sense that attention to grammar in feedback can enhance and/or inhibit written communication; and (3) apprehension about whether grammar instruction empowers or marginalizes linguistically minoritized students. We also highlight three productive strategies for teaching grammar while valuing linguistic diversity employed by one teacher: (1) selecting mentor texts that showcase a range of grammars; (2) modeling code-meshing practices; and (3) privileging alternative grammars while grading written work. We describe how teachers might take up pedagogical practices that support linguistic diversity, such as evaluating written assignments in more flexible ways, engaging in contrastive analysis, and teaching students to resist and rewrite existing language rules.
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The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of knowledge about the links – metaphorical and real – between cultural and biological diversity.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the current state of knowledge about the links – metaphorical and real – between cultural and biological diversity.
Design/methodology/approach
By way of approach, the paper focuses on language and music cultures, two areas of intangible cultural heritage whose diversity has come under threat in recent decades.
Findings
The paper suggests some ways in which recent advances in the fields of ecolinguistics, biolinguistic diversity, and music sustainability continue to further knowledge of the links between cultural diversity and biodiversity.
Practical implications
Metaphorical parallels between biodiversity and cultural diversity (such as the interconnectedness of the various forms of intangible cultural heritage, as in a biological ecosystem) may, to some extent, be able to inform the development of models for supporting intangible cultural heritage, such as language and music. Moreover, the very real interconnections between these two kinds of “diversities” holds implications for cultural heritage management, since efforts to safeguard cultural diversity will be impacted by the successes and failures of efforts to protect biodiversity, and vice versa.
Originality/value
For this reason, the issues explored in this review hold implications for policy‐makers, governments, non‐governmental organisations, culture‐bearers themselves, and other stakeholders in the viability and diversity of cultural heritage.
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Sunyoung Park and Shinhee Jeong
The purpose of this study is to review how international female faculty experience linguistic challenges and bias in their US university careers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to review how international female faculty experience linguistic challenges and bias in their US university careers.
Design/methodology/approach
By reviewing related literature, the authors explore the career challenges of international female faculty including hiring, promotion and tenure and leadership opportunities from a linguistic profiling perspective.
Findings
International female faculty have relatively few hiring opportunities, specifically when institutions and fields openly accept linguistic profiling and bias and are less likely to hire non-native English-speaking international faculty. In the promotion and tenure process, international female faculty have struggled with standard academic English criteria and poor teaching evaluations from students because of the faculty’s different English usage such as word choice, grammar and pragmatics. In terms of leadership opportunities, international female professors have faced linguistic bias that non-native English faculty members are not competent, credible, intelligent or skilled because they speak accented English.
Originality/value
This study can help researchers and career development practitioners by adding linguistic profiling specific diversity and inclusion perspectives to existing literature. The findings expand the perspectives and practices related to the career challenges of international female faculty due to linguistic profiling.
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