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This paper aims to examine the effect of intercultural accommodation efforts on service quality perceptions among ethnic minority consumers. Specifically, the paper postulates that during an intercultural service encounter, the impact of the service provider’s language and ethnicity on the consumer’s service quality perceptions is moderated by the level of service involvement, consumer acculturation and perceived discrimination, which, in turn, influence purchase intent.

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online nationwide consumer panel of Hispanic consumers was conducted where 377 participants were randomly assigned to a series of service encounter scenarios in the banking service context to manipulate accommodation efforts (yes vs no) and the level of involvement with the service (high vs low).

When such language and ethnicity accommodations were offered, highly acculturated minority consumers regarded the service encounter less favorably than low acculturated minority consumers. Moreover, during low-involvement service encounters, intercultural accommodations positively impacted consumer’s service quality perceptions compared to situations involving high-involvement services. Also, minority consumers with perceptions of past discrimination had less favorable evaluations of the service quality than when such perceptions were nonexistent when intercultural accommodation efforts were made by the service provider.

The findings add to the sparse literature that examines the effectiveness of intercultural accommodation and focuses on the combined use of service provider’s language and ethnicity as a means to enhance service quality.

The study delivers cautions for service firms not to generalize the receptivity of intercultural accommodation efforts. Given the increasingly sizable segments of minority customers, this study offers insights for service providers to develop suitable recruitment strategies and training programs when devising effective ethnic targeting strategies.

This research is among the first to explain why the effect of target marketing is not homogenous by expanding the research on intercultural accommodations toward a new context considering service involvement levels among varied minority consumer groups.

This study presents an investigation of the communicative behaviors and strategies employed in the stimulation and management of productive and destructive conflict in culturally heterogeneous workgroups. Using communication accommodation theory (CAT), we argue that the type and course of conflict in culturally heterogeneous workgroups is impacted by the communicative behaviors and strategies employed by group members during interactions. Analysis of data from participant observations, non‐participant observations, semi‐structured interviews, and self‐report questionnaires support CAT‐based predictions and provide fresh insights into the triggers and management strategies associated with conflict in culturally heterogeneous workgroups. In particular, results indicated that the more groups used discourse management strategies, the more they experienced productive conflict. In addition, the use of explanation and checking of own and others' understanding was a major feature of productive conflict, while speech interruptions emerged as a strategy leading to potential destructive conflict. Groups where leaders emerged and assisted in reversing communication breakdowns were better able to manage their discourse, and achieved consensus on task processes. Contributions to the understanding of the triggers and the management of productive conflict in culturally heterogeneous workgroups are discussed.

This article explores the adoption of a transcultural education approach, rather than multicultural or intercultural education, and the implications this would have for educational practice. With the multiple issues associated with multicultural and intercultural education, the authors emphasize the need for a definitive definition of the term “transcultural” in the educational literature, as well as a new model of transcultural education. Addressed in the article are: (a) the contribution of transdisciplinary teaming to the definition and practice of transcultural education; (b) the meaning of “trans” in the term, transcultural; (c) a discussion of culture and individuality related to education; and (d) possible conclusions to facilitate dialogue regarding the future of transcultural education. Twelve vignettes are included to provide real world examples of the need for a paradigm of transcultural education.

The purpose of this paper is to examine identity intersectionalities of age, ethnicity, and gender among US professional women of color working in upper management as they challenge the glass ceiling in order to change organizations from the inside out.

Featured are narratives of 36 midlife‐aged, middle‐class African‐American, Asian‐American, and Hispanic women who have built careers in mediated message industries. Feminism and Foucauldianism provide theoretical underpinning.

The findings illuminate how midlife‐aged women of color paradoxically resist and accept master narratives of “less than” in striving to change organizations and achieve their maximum potential. Organizational glass ceilings remain impenetrable, but women of color are optimistic that benefits of diverse upper‐level managements ultimately will be embraced. Moreover, overlapping public and private spheres continue to further complicate career advancement.

Method‐inherent limitations include recognizing that narratives are not generalizable but serve as a point of departure for future study. Implications for theory building are offered, as well as ongoing research suggestions – such as probing intra‐group differences and expanding dialog to include other unique identity groups.

Of key import for public policy decision making are research participants' voices – how, as beneficiaries of socio‐political movements and legislation spanning nearly five decades, they still seek to negotiate organizational hierarchies and balance public and private work spheres.

Heretofore, little scholarly attention has focused on midlife‐aged women of color and glass ceiling barriers in conjunction with monitoring organizational change. This exploratory study was designed to address the gap; encouraging policymakers and organizational leaders to consider these women's unique identities and experiences.

This paper aims to investigate if perceived cultural distance (PCD) negatively affects service quality and customer satisfaction through customers’ social judgements of the service providers’ warmth and competence in intercultural service encounters (ICSE), and if this negative effect can be mitigated through customer participation (CP).

A 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design with an online consumer panel was conducted using a series of intercultural service encounter scenarios (in the weight loss service context) to manipulate CP (high vs low) and pictures of service providers to induce PCD (high vs low).

As hypothesized, in the context of ICSE, PCD negatively impacts customers’ social judgements of the service providers’ warmth and competence, which in turn influence service quality and customer satisfaction. However, the negative impact of PCD is alleviated when the level of CP is high.

Using a single service context (weight loss services) may restrict the generalizability of findings. Future research may explore other service contexts.

To improve customers’ experience, managers in service firms with multicultural customers may create more engagement opportunities by designing the service delivery process in ways in which more CP and involvement is allowed.

This research is among the first to highlight the importance of consumers’ social judgements about culturally dissimilar service providers, which at baseline come with disadvantages but that can be altered through marketing actions (e.g. enhanced CP).

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact that the level of individuals' intercultural competencies has on their satisfaction, trust and affective commitment and assessment of their work team.

An intercultural competencies classification system is developed in which the cognitive, affective and behavioural intercultural competencies predicted to impact upon individuals' responses toward, and assessments of, their work team are identified. The results of quantitative survey research providing support for the classification system are subsequently described.

Competencies identified as being related to individuals' responses toward, and assessments of, their work team include cognitive complexity, goal orientation, dissimilarity openness, tolerance for ambiguity and emotion, and conflict management skills.

The research provides sound evidence for the important role that intercultural competence plays in facilitating positive individual level outcomes which it is theorised will lead to positive team level outcomes.

The key contribution of the research is the development of an intercultural competencies classification system which ties together in a single but multifaceted framework the intercultural competencies required for employees working in culturally diverse teams.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the journal entries of study abroad students from a college of business that participated in four separate nine-day study abroad programs to identify whether the development of intercultural maturity is possible in a short-term study abroad program and if learning and development differ based on race/cultural background.

This study used content analysis of student journals. The journal entries of 33 students from four different short-term study abroad trips served as the data from which a qualitative content analysis using nvivo was conducted.

Development of intercultural maturity can, in fact, occur from a short-term (10-day) study abroad program. Student development progressed through the first two levels of the Intercultural Maturity Framework, with multicultural students progressing further. All students achieved first and second levels of the Developmental Trajectory of Intercultural Maturity on the King and Baxter Magolda (2005) framework in all three areas, including cognitive, intrapersonal and interpersonal.

The author realizes the limitations of one form of data, the journal, and thus proposes for the future both pre-travel questions to encourage further critical thinking and learning and additional methods of obtaining data.

This study suggests that it might be advantageous to re-design the experience, whereby the students are guided with particular questions before or at the start of the study abroad program, to propel them forward in the process of critical reflection and development of intercultural maturity.

This study specifically applies the framework of King and Baxter Magolda’s (2005) Intercultural Maturity framework to examine the extent to which intercultural maturity of business students can be developed within the constraints of a short-term (nine-day) study abroad program. It also adds the dimension of comparing multicultural student development to non-multicultural student development.

There are many studies regarding the value of gaining cultural awareness, but limited empirical evidence has been shared on programs that use integrated learning and capacity building interventions to specifically build cultural competence in aspiring undergraduate leaders. This qualitative case study examined the effects of interventions designed to build intercultural competence in first-year honors students participating in a leadership development program using co-curricular activities, undergraduate research, and a short-term education abroad. Data collected from two cohorts who completed the first year of the program revealed students’ perceptions of their short-term education abroad experience’s impact on their intercultural competence and leadership development. The study demonstrates the value of integrated leadership and intercultural competence development among undergraduate students.

Responding to findings of psychological discomfort impeding interracial/interethnic attitude and skill development, the purpose of this paper is to investigate group-level factors as possible antecedents to individuals’ comfort in interracial/interethnic interactions. Among individuals experiencing diversity during a key developmental stage in life, college students, the study inquires whether group practices that foster a sense of belonging and inclusion among all members differentiate comfortable from uncomfortable interracial/interethnic interactions. As part of the analysis, the construct interracial/interethnic comfort is developed and tested as a measure of interactions that are experienced with ease and confidence.

Scale development methods and structural equation modeling were used to analyze survey data from 360 members of a voluntary service organization at 50 US colleges.

The structural equation analyses indicate that the group practices – shared superordinate purpose, a welcoming climate for diverse members, and practices for structuring interactions among all group members – have significant and important effects on interracial/interethnic comfort, which was found to be a reliable construct. The relationship between each of the group practices and individuals’ interracial/interethnic comfort was either totally or partially mediated by the individuals’ sense of belonging, a strong form of inclusion.

The results indicate group practices that possess the capacity to contribute to students’ interracial/interethnic attitude and skill development by creating solidarity and comfort in their interactions with diverse others. Institutions can make efforts to further individuals’ cultural development by stimulating the use of these practices in campus groups.

This study identifies concepts for understanding and addressing the known, problematic phenomenon of psychological discomfort in settings of diversity. These constructs offer new directions for research on diversity climate by focussing on relational practices at the group level that can move diversity beyond numerical representation to strong inclusion and close relationships.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the impact of American culture-oriented values, Chinese culture-oriented values and self-improvement values on luxury value perception through acculturation by examining an acculturated sample (Chinese living in the USA), a host cultural sample (Caucasian-American) and a home cultural sample (Mainland Chinese).

In order to examine the acculturative changes of Chinese living in the USA in terms of the influence of American and Chinese culture-oriented values and self-improvement values on their luxury value perception, data were collected via three online samples: host (American), home cultural (Chinese) and acculturated (Chinese living in the USA). Effects of acculturation were tested via comparisons between acculturated to host and home cultural samples.

Compared to that of Mainland Chinese and Caucasian-Americans, luxury value perception of Chinese living in the USA is jointly influenced by both American and Chinese culture-oriented values. The influence of cultural values on luxury value perception of Chinese living in the USA is not strengthened by their wish to integrate into the American culture or to maintain their Chinese culture. Nevertheless, Chinese living in the USA show more significant self-improvement (standing out) and conformity (fitting in) motives in luxury value perception when they wish to integrate into the mainstream culture.

The authors surveyed acculturated sample, host and home cultural samples to test the bidimensional acculturation model (Berry, 1997) in the context of luxury consumption. Although the conceptual model is not fully supported, this research broadens current understanding of the effect of acculturation on luxury value perception.