A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Fritz, Wolfgang; Möllenberg, Antje; Chen, Guo-Ming Working Paper Measuring intercultural sensitivity in different cultural context Arbeitspapier, No. 00/11 Provided in Cooperation with: Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institute of Marketing Suggested Citation: Fritz, Wolfgang; Möllenberg, Antje; Chen, Guo-Ming (2000) : Measuring intercultural sensitivity in different cultural context, Arbeitspapier, No. 00/11, ISBN 3933628334, Technische Universität Braunschweig, Institut für Marketing, Braunschweig This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/54780 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. 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Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available under an Open gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. www.econstor.eu Wolfgang Fritz/Antje Möllenberg/Guo-Ming Chen Measuring Intercultural Sensitivity in Different Cultural Context AP-Nr. 00/11 Technische Universität Braunschweig Braunschweig 2000 ISBN 3-933628-33-4 Diese Studie wurde gefördert durch Mittel der Professor-Otto-Beis- heim-Stiftung, München (Projekt „Interkulturelle Kompetenz“). Measuring Intercultural Sensitivity in Different Cultural Context Wolfgang Fritz Antje Möllenberg TU Braunschweig Institut für Wirtschaftswissenschaften Abt. Betriebswirtschaftlehre, insb. Marketing Abt-Jerusalem-Str. 4 D-38106 Braunschweig Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] Tel: 0049-531-391-3202 Guo-Ming Chen [Correspondent] Department of Communication Studies University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI 02881 Email: [email protected] Tel: 401-874-4731 Wolfgang Fritz is professor of Marketing at the Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany, and at the University of Vienna, Austria. Antje Möllenberg is instructor of Marketing at the Technical University of Braunschweig. Guo-Ming Chen is professor of Communication Studies at the University of Rhode Island. This study was supported by the Professor-Otto-Beisheim-Stiftung, Munich, Germany. Abstract As a main dimension of intercultural communication competence, intercultural sensitivity has increasingly gained attention in research in different disciplines. In the United States, Chen and Starosta have developed an instrument, comprising 5 factors with 24 items, for measuring intercultural sensitivity. In this study, we tested Chen and Starosta’s instrument in a German sample by using confirmatory fac- tor analysis. Overall, the results showed that the instrument holds satisfactorily. Although the results also suggested that the operatio- nalization of the concepts in Chen and Starosta’s study can be further improved, the instrument as a whole is a valid one through which a culture-free scale for measuring intercultural sensitivity can be developed. 1 Measuring Intercultural Sensitivity in Different Cultural Context The trend towards globalization and internationalization has increased the importance of being competent in communicating with people of different cultural backgrounds. This includes the necessity to negotiate effectively in the setting of international business transaction. The trend leads to a growing need for executives and managers to learn how to act appropriately and successfully in a culturally diverse environment. However, research shows that the demand is still not sufficiently met in business world (Fritz & Möllenberg, 1999; Fritz, Möllenberg, & Werner, 1999). One of the reasons for this is the lack of cross-cultural comparison studies by which the validity of the research results can be tested interculturally. Among studies in this line of research, Chen and Starosta’s (1996) model of intercultural communication competence gains much attent- ion. The model is comprised of three conceptual dimensions of inter- cultural communication competence, including intercultural aware- ness, intercultural sensitivity, and intercultural adroitness. Based on this conceptual model, Chen and Starosta (2000) further explicated the nature and components of intercultural sensitivity and developed an instrument to measure the concept. Because the study was restricted to USAmerican sample, the purpose of the present study was then to test the instrument in a different cultural context. Review of Literature Research on intercultural communication competence has mainly attempted to produce models based on individual traits that relate individual attitudes and skills to some measure of interculturally successful behaviors, such as intercultural adaptation, appropriateness, and effectiveness of the interaction. For example, Gudykunst, Wise- man, and Hammer (1977), Hammer, Gudykunst, and Wiseman (1978), Abe and Wiseman (1983), Wiseman and Abe (1984), Hammer (1987, 1989), and Wiseman, Hammer, and Nishida (1989) basically 2 employed the cross-cultural attitude approach to discriminate between cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions of intercultural commu- nication competence. From this perspective intercultural communi- cation competence was conceptualized as the ability of individuals to develop a positive attitude towards the foreign culture. In contrast, Ruben (1976, 1977, 1987), Ruben and Kealey (1979), Ha- wes and Kealey (1981), and Kealey (1989) followed the behavioral skills approach that emphasizes individual behaviors and skills in the process of intercultural interaction. The authors argued that behavioral effectiveness is the core criterion of intercultural communication and identified seven skills that account for interculturally competent be- havior, including display of respect, interaction posture, orientation to knowledge, empathy, self-oriented role behavior, interaction manage- ment, and tolerance for ambiguity. In addition, more recent approaches towards the study of intercultural communication competence took other components into considerat- ion. For example, Dinges and Lieberman (1989), Parker and McEvoy (1993), and Hammer, Nishida, and Wiseman (1996) argued that the situation of the context of interaction affects the degree of intercultural communication competence. Moreover, Spitzberg and Cupach (1984, 1989), Imahori and Lanigan (1989), and Spitzberg (1997) pointed out that traits and behavioral skills of one’s counterpart are equally im- portant in the measurement of intercultural communication compet- ence. Taken together, as Fritz, Möllenberg, and Werner (1999) argued, integrating different approaches and developing reliable and valid measures of intercultural communication competence is the foremost task for future studies in this line of research. Chen and Starosta’s Model Chen (1990) and Chen and Starosta (1996) criticized the previous stu- dies on intercultural communication competence as suffering from conceptual ambiguity. The authors indicated that scholars did not discriminate clearly the concept of communication competence and its related constructs. This conceptual confusion has led to difficulties 3 especially in the evaluation of intercultural trainings and in the meas- urement of intercultural communication competence (Chen & Staro- sta, 2000). Thus, more research on these particular constructs and their relation to competence is necessary before valid and reliable measures of intercultural communication competence can be developed. Chen and Starosta (1996) developed a model of intercultural commu- nication competence that integrates features of both cross-cultural attitude and behavioral skills models. According to the authors, inter- cultural communication competence is comprised of three dimensions: intercultural awareness, intercultural sensitivity, and intercultural adroitness. Each of these dimensions contains a set of components. Intercultural awareness is the cognitive dimension of intercultural communication competence that refers to a person’s ability to under- stand similarities and differences of others’ cultures. The dimension includes two components: self-awareness and cultural awareness. Intercultural sensitivity is the affective dimension of intercultural communication competence that refers to the emotional desire of a person to acknowledge, appreciate, and accept cultural differences. The dimension includes six components: self-esteem, self-monitoring, empathy, open-mindedness, nonjudgmental, and social relaxation. Intercultural adroitness is the behavioral dimension of intercultural communication competence that refers to an individual’s ability to reach communication goals while interacting with people from other cultures. The dimension contains four components: message skills, appropriate self-disclosure, behavioral