Investigating the impact of personality and early life experiences on intercultural interaction in internationalised universities

Harrison, Neil

Abstract

Qualitative studies from a range of nations suggest that students studying in their own country exhibit a range of responses towards the international students with whom they share social and academic spaces, although the tendency is towards passive avoidance. Little work has yet been focused on understanding why students in similar situations react differently to the cultural diversity of the contemporary university. This paper reports the findings of a study of 755 young second year undergraduates from three universities in the UK. The participants completed an online questionnaire containing measures of ethnocentrism and 'cultural intelligence', as well as an inventory of personality traits and original questions about their early life cultural experiences. The study finds that both ethnocentrism and cultural intelligence were predicted by agreeableness and openness, as well as a multicultural upbringing, foreign language ability and an international orientation. Gender was also a predictor for ethnocentrism. © 2011 Elsevier Ltd.

Citation

Harrison, N. (2012). Investigating the impact of personality and early life experiences on intercultural interaction in internationalised universities. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 36(2), 224-237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.007

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Mar 1, 2012
• Deposit Date: Dec 20, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 1, 2016
• Journal: International Journal of Intercultural Relations
• Print ISSN: 0147-1767
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 36
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 224-237
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.007
• Keywords: intercultural interaction, ethnocentrism, cultural intelligence, higher education, internationalisation, multiculturalism, personality, early life experiences, university, international
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/964795
• Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2011.03.007
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Published online before print: 4th May 2011