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INTERCULTURAL
SERVICE
ENCOUNTERS
Cross-cultural
Interactions
and Service Quality

Piyush Sharma
Intercultural Service Encounters
 Piyush Sharma

Intercultural Service
Encounters
Cross-cultural Interactions
and Service Quality
Piyush Sharma
School of Marketing
Curtin University
Bentley, Australia

ISBN 978-3-319-91940-9 ISBN 978-3-319-91941-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91941-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018945492

© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether
the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse
of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and
transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by
similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt
from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this
book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the
authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein
or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to
jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Cover illustration: Pattern adapted from an Indian cotton print produced in the 19th century

Printed on acid-free paper

This Palgrave Pivot imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing
AG part of Springer Nature
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
 Contents

1 Introduction 1

2 Literature Review and Theoretical Background 15

3 Intercultural Service Encounters 29

4 Research Directions and Implications 75

Index 97

v
 List of Figures

Fig. 3.1 Original ICSE conceptual framework (adapted from

Sharma et al. 2009) 42
Fig. 3.2 Extended ICSE conceptual framework (adapted from
Sharma et al. 2012b) 53
Fig. 3.3 Cultural attributions framework (adapted from Tam et al.
2014) 54
Fig. 3.4 a Service role framework (adapted from Sharma et al. 2015).
b Service outcome framework (adapted from Sharma et al.
2015) 56
Fig. 3.5 ICSE dual framework (adapted from
Sharma and Zhan 2015) 58
Fig. 3.6 ICSE attributions framework (adapted from Tam et al. 2016) 59
Fig. 3.7 PCO framework (adapted from Sharma et al. 2016) 60
Fig. 3.8 Service climate model (adapted from Fung et al. 2017) 62
Fig. 3.9 Service employees acculturation model (adapted from Gaur
et al. 2017) 63

vii
 1
Introduction

Abstract With the recent rise in globalization, there is a rapid increase

in the numbers of immigrants, migrant workers, international students,
foreign tourists, and businesspeople, who are either living in or trave-
ling to countries other than where they were born. As a result, service
employees and customers from different cultural backgrounds are now
interacting each other more frequently, giving rise to the phenomenon
known as intercultural service encounters (ICSE). This chapter begins
with a description of the latest demographic trends associated with the
growth of multicultural societies around the world, followed by a brief
review of academic research on ICSE encounters. The author then
identifies some important research gaps in this literature and concludes
by outlining the approach used in this Palgrave Pivot.

Keywords Cultural diversity · Globalization · Immigrant

Intercultural service encounter · Migration · Multicultural · Tourism

© The Author(s) 2019 1

P. Sharma, Intercultural Service Encounters,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91941-6_1
2   P. Sharma

Introduction
With a rapid rise in the globalization of the world’s economy in the
last few decades, the number of people traveling to other countries for
business, education, employment, migration, and tourism has grown
exponentially (Fung et al. 2017; Gaur et al. 2017; Sharma et al. 2018;
Sharma et al. 2016; Tam et al. 2016). For example, there were 258
million international migrants around the world by the end of 2017,
accounting for 3.4% of the world’s population compared to 2.9% in
1990, which represents a huge increase of 105 million (i.e., 69%) in
the number of international migrants between 1990 and 2017 (United
Nations 2017). At the same time, the number of international tourists
reached a record 1.322 billion in 2017, which generated more than
US$1.5 trillion in total revenues, employed directly or indirectly one
in ten people around the world, and contributed 10% of global GDP,
7% of the world’s total exports, and a staggering 30% of total services
exports (UNWTO 2018). If we add the number of people traveling
overseas for education, employment, and business to the above figures,
it is possible that at any given point of time, almost 2 billion people
are in a country different from the one they were born in, accounts for
almost one-fourth of the world’s population.
The above astonishing figure clearly shows how so many countries
around the world (especially the developed economies) are increas-
ingly becoming much more culturally and ethnically diverse, which
incidentally has always been the case in many large multicultural and
multiethnic emerging economies, such as India, Brazil, and Indonesia.
According to a recent report (Euromonitor International 2015), strong
migration flows into many developed economies combined with higher
birth rates among their ethnic minority populations have resulted in an
unprecedented rise in the levels of ethnic, cultural, and religious diver-
sity in these countries. Euromonitor International (2015) report reveals
some startling figures about the growing cultural diversity in the devel-
oped markets. For example, the USA has the highest number of for-
eign-born residents among developed markets with over 22 million in
2013, followed by Australia and Germany with 8 million foreign-born
residents each.
 1 Introduction    
3

Most of the growth in the number of foreign-born residents in the

USA is from higher birth rates among naturalized or second-generation
Hispanics. However, Asians have recently crossed Hispanics as the larg-
est group of new immigrants coming into the USA, possibly as a result
of increased border security clamping down on illegal immigration from
Mexico. Asian immigrant communities are also growing strongly in
countries such as Australia, which has now become the most culturally
diverse nation in the world, with foreign-born residents accounting for
31% of its total population and a net migration rate of 9.8 per 1000
population in 2013. Switzerland is closely behind with 23% of its pop-
ulation being foreign-born. Similar trends are observed in the immigra-
tion flows in Europe, with the number of foreign citizens shooting up
between 2008 and 2013 by 51% in Italy and 24% in the UK, which
has resulted in extremely adverse public opinion and public protests
against immigration in these countries (Euromonitor International
2015).
According to a report by United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR 2017), there were 17.2 million refugees under its
jurisdiction at the end of 2016, with about 30% of these (5.2 million)
present in the developed countries in Europe and North America. These
refugees fled from persecution, conflict, violence, or human rights vio-
lations in their countries and most of them still live in abject poverty
in their host countries with an uncertain future. However, in a stark
contrast to these refugees, poverty rates among the regular migrants
are declining in most developed countries with a rise in their educa-
tion and income levels, leading to significant changes in their lifestyles
and shopping behaviors with an increase in their purchasing power
(Euromonitor International 2015). For example, Asian-Americans are
the best educated and highest income ethnic group in the USA, while
higher levels of education among African-American consumers have led
to increases in their household incomes, with 44% of them now earn-
ing US$50,000 or more and 23% earning more than US$75,000 per
annum. Similarly, trends are observed in Europe. For example, an aver-
age British Indian man now has a higher income than his white coun-
terpart in the UK, while the spending power of the black and minority
ethnic (BME) community has ballooned from just £32 million in
4   P. Sharma

2001 to £300 billion in 2011 (Euromonitor International 2015). In

Germany, Turkish consumers spend about €2.3 billion on consumer
goods every year, while Polish immigrants are now the best educated
minority community in Germany with two-thirds of them having sec-
ondary or higher education.
In another major trend, there is a significant rise in religious diversity
in most developed countries as a result of continuous immigration from
the Middle East, Africa, and other troubled parts of the world and the
relatively higher birth rates among these immigrants compared to that
for the citizens in their host countries. For example, there is a significant
rise in the number of Muslims throughout Europe, North America,
and Australasia regions, with 51 million Muslims in Europe alone, fol-
lowed by another 7 million in North America. Muslims now account
for about 7% of the population in France and over 5% in Austria,
Germany, Greece, Netherlands, and Switzerland. All these demographic
changes present a wide range of new opportunities to marketers and are
resulting in a strategic shift from the traditional ‘ethnic’ marketing that
focused on the immigrant communities and ethnic minorities alone, to
‘multicultural’ marketing that targets consumer in the majority commu-
nities as they begin to embrace the diverse range of products and ser-
vices (e.g., food, clothes, entertainment, education) in these increasingly
multicultural marketplaces (Euromonitor International 2015).

Research Background
All these large-scale demographic changes are also leading to a corre-
sponding increase in the number of interactions among people from
different cultures as international travelers and immigrants navigate
their everyday lives by learning about and adjusting to the sociocultural
environments in their new host cultures (Kim 2015; van Oudenhoven
and Benet-Martínez 2015; Yu and Lee 2014). A similar process is expe-
rienced by the people in the host cultures because they too have to learn
about and adjust to these ‘guests’ in their countries, who not only look
and talk differently from them but also seem to have a diverse range of
personal and social values and behavioral norms (Liu and Morris 2014).
 1 Introduction    
5

Although intercultural interactions allow people to experience and learn

about other cultures, these could also poses a huge challenge for them,
especially if they do not know much about other cultures or if they are
not willing to learn and accept cultural differences and adapt their own
behavior through either acculturation (Berry 1974, 2005) or cross-cul-
tural adjustment (Ward and Kennedy 2001; Ward and Rana-Deuba
2000), based on if they are permanent migrants or temporary visitors,
respectively.
Past research on intercultural interactions began by looking at the
challenges in the process of cross-cultural adjustment for the sojourners
(Brein and David 1971) and international managers (Janssens 1995),
and the role played by intercultural communication (Condon and
Yousef 1975; Samovar, Porter and Jain 1981) in facilitating this pro-
cess. Subsequent studies identified several antecedents that either act as
barriers to the process of cross-cultural adjustment and effective inter-
cultural communications, such as psychological privilege and ethnocen-
trism (Thomas 1996) or promote intercultural interactions in contrast,
such as intercultural competence (Lustig and Koester 2006) and will-
ingness to communicate (Lu and Hsu 2008). More recent studies have
begun exploring the outcomes of intercultural interactions, such as their
impact on workplace performance (Sanchez-Burks et al. 2009), coop-
eration and competition (Matsumoto and Hwang 2011), and the for-
mation of cultural identities (Liu and Morris 2014). Past research on
intercultural interactions shows that these are often associated with
ethnocultural identity conflict (Leong and Ward 2000; Ward 2008),
misattributions, communication gaps, stereotyping, ethnocentrism,
prejudice, and discrimination (Stening 1979) as well as intolerance,
confrontation, and even violence toward ethnic minorities (Johnson
et al. 2013).
Notwithstanding the above negative associations, intercultural inter-
actions are now being increasingly recognized as inevitable and almost
ubiquitous features of a rapidly globalizing world and an increasingly
diverse and multicultural global marketplace (Demangeot et al. 2015;
Tam et al. 2014); there is a growing realization that academic research-
ers and international services marketers need to understand the chal-
lenges posed by the cultural, ethnic, national, and socioeconomic
6   P. Sharma

differences between customers and service employees, because

these could drive the differences in their expectations, perceptions,
and evaluations of intercultural service encounters (ICSEs), which
involve customers and employees from diverse cultural backgrounds
(Chuapetcharasopon 2014; Sharma et al. 2015, 2017; Sharma and
Zhan 2015).
Customers and service employees from diverse cultures have sig-
nificantly different attitudes and expectations about their roles in ser-
vice encounters, which in turn affect how they interact and evaluate
each other’s performance when they are involved in ICSE encounters
(Mattila 1999; Raajpoot 2004; Stauss and Mang 1999). Past research
on ICSE encounters has explored the roles of a wide variety of variables
albeit mostly from the customers’ point of view, such as culture shock
(Stauss and Mang 1999), perceived discrimination (Barker and Härtel
2004), cross-cultural interaction comfort (Paswan and Ganesh 2005),
consumer ethnocentrism (Javalgi and Martin 2007; Sharma et al. 2005;
Sharma and Zhan 2015; Ueltschy et al. 2007), and ethnic/cultural dis-
similarity (Etgar and Fuchs 2011). Others explore customer reactions to
service failure and recovery (de Matos et al. 2011), employees’ accultur-
ation (Poulis et al. 2013), ethnic accents (Tombs and Rao Hill 2014);
and attentiveness (Lee 2015) in ICSE encounters.
Customers are also shown to indulge in some amount of cultural
or national stereotyping when choosing a service provider, showing
a clear preference for those from similar cultural, ethnic or national
background as theirs (Hopkins et al. 2005; Javalgi and Martin 2007;
Rizal et al. 2016; Ueltschy et al. 2007). Interestingly, customers from
minority cultures also report being discriminated against by the service
employees from the majority culture, and these feelings have negative
effects on their perceived service quality and overall customer satisfac-
tion (Barker and Härtel 2004). However, other researchers suggest that
some ethnic customers may be less experienced or may have communi-
cation difficulties in dealing with the service employees from other cul-
tures, which may prompt them to blame their cultural differences with
the service employee for poor service (Bendapudi and Berry 1997).
 1 Introduction    
7

Research Gaps
In contrast to such rich literature on the customers’ view of ICSE
encounters, there are only a few studies that examine these from service
employees’ perspective, and these show evidence for behavioral biases
in the employees’ responses (Martin and Adams 1999; McCormick
and Kinloch 1986), challenges faced by service providers in terms of
stress, emotion, and coping (Wang and Mattila 2010), and a need for
greater emotional labor and surface acting coupled with higher lev-
els of inter-group anxiety for the frontline service people involved in
ICSE encounters (Chuapetcharasopon 2014). Thus, there is clearly
not enough knowledge about the employees’ point of view about ICSE
encounters, and hence, managers in service businesses that cater to cul-
turally diverse customers (e.g., hospitality, tourism, travel) may not even
realize that some of their employees may not be prepared to deal with
(or be capable of dealing with) customers who have significantly differ-
ent cultural background than them in terms of language, religion, val-
ues, and social norms, which in turn would drive the differences in their
service expectations, perceptions, and evaluations.
Recent studies address the above research gap using diverse theoret-
ical perspectives to explore the effects of perceived cultural distance,
interaction comfort, and inter-role congruence (Sharma et al. 2009,
2012) as well as communication and cultural barriers (Kenesei and Stier
2017) on perceived service quality and satisfaction for both customers
and employees. Others aim to provide deeper insights into the sociopsy-
chological process underlying these ICSE encounters via the mediating
role of cultural attributions (Tam et al. 2014, 2016) and the moderat-
ing roles of service outcomes (failure vs. success) and service roles (cus-
tomers vs. employees) (Sharma et al. 2015), consumer ethnocentrism
and intercultural competence (Sharma and Zhan 2015), personal cul-
tural orientations (Sharma et al. 2016; Tam et al. 2016) and customer
participation (Ang et al. 2018). More recent studies explore the effects
of service climate on the performance of service employees in multi-
cultural settings (Fung et al. 2017) and frontline service employees’
8   P. Sharma

acculturation behaviors on customer satisfaction and commitment in

ICSE encounters (Gaur et al. 2017).
Another stream of research explores the strategies that can be or have
been used by service organizations to help prepare their frontline ser-
vice employees to manage ICSE encounters more effectively, such as
diversity training (Ferdman and Brody 1996; Roberson et al. 2001) or
intercultural training (Hopkins et al. 2005; Sophonsiri and O’Mahony
2012), while others highlight the importance of intercultural compe-
tence for service providers (Chiu and Hong 2005; Demangeot et al.
2013; Hammer et al. 1996; Lustig and Koester 2003; Lustig and
Koester 2006; Molinsky et al. 2005; Sharma and Zhan 2015; Tam et al.
2014; van Oudenhoven and Benet-Martínez 2015). Finally, a few stud-
ies focus specifically on the role of intercultural communication (Ihtiyar
and Ahmad 2015; Kowner 2002; Lu and Hsu 2008; Pekerti and
Thomas 2003; Wang et al. 2015; Yu et al. 2001) in improving service
quality and customer satisfaction.

Conclusion
From the above brief review of the changing demographic trends in
many major developed economies and the current academic research
on intercultural interactions, it is clear that ICSE encounters present
several challenges as well as opportunities for international services mar-
keters. However, despite this growing literature on the antecedents and
outcomes of ICSE encounters as well as the strategies being used or
developed by service organizations to manage these more effectively,
there are still many research gaps and unanswered questions. In this
Palgrave Pivot, the author reviews and synthesizes the large body of
research on intercultural interactions in general and ICSE encounters
in particular, to identify several important research gaps and open ques-
tions, to discuss their implications for international services marketers
as well as academic researchers, and to offer some useful directions for
future research.
 1 Introduction    
9

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 1 Introduction    
13

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 2
Literature Review and Theoretical
Background

Abstract This chapter begins with a review of the broad literature on

intercultural interactions and cross-cultural adjustment process, focus-
ing on the challenges faced by people in intercultural communication
and the development of intercultural competence (and similar con-
structs such as intercultural sensitivity, intercultural effectiveness, and
even cultural intelligence) that helps people deal with the challenges
faced by them in the process of intercultural interactions. Next, the
author describes four theories of intercultural perceptions and behav-
iors that have been used to study and explain intercultural interactions,
namely ‘similarity-attraction paradigm’, ‘social identity theory’, ‘role
theory’, and ‘attribution theory’. Each of these theoretical perspectives
is briefly explained and illustrated using examples from current body of
knowledge.

Keywords Attribution · Cross-cultural adjustment · Intercultural

competence · Role theory · Similarity-attraction paradigm
Social identity

© The Author(s) 2019 15

P. Sharma, Intercultural Service Encounters,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91941-6_2
16   P. Sharma

Intercultural Interactions and Cross-cultural

Adjustment
Past research on intercultural interactions (interactions between
people from different cultures) explores the experiences of ethnic
minorities, immigrants, and sojourners using diverse theoretical per-
spectives, such as acculturation, defined as the process by which ethnic
minorities are able to integrate into the host or mainstream culture or
the culture changes that result from continuous contact between two
distinct cultural groups (Berry 1974, 2005), cross-cultural adjustment
(Ward and Kennedy 2001; Ward and Rana-Deuba 2000), and ethno-
cultural identity conflict (Leong and Ward 2000; Ward 2008). Cross-
cultural contact (contact between people from different cultures) is
generally associated with problems such as communication gaps, stere-
otyping, ethnocentrism, misattributions, prejudice, discrimination, and
cultural distance (Stening 1979), mainly due to significant differences
in the values, attitudes, beliefs, expectations, and social norms between
people with diverse cultural backgrounds.
Triandis (1972, p. 3) explains the main reason for the development of
these differences as ‘subjective culture’, ‘a cultural group’s characteristic
way of perceiving its social environment’, which makes every cultural
group develop differently from other cultural groups. Therefore, inter-
cultural interactions have an increased possibility of individuals being
unable to make isomorphic (corresponding or similar in form) attri-
butions about the causes and intentions behind each other’s behaviors
(Triandis 1977). Thus, people in different cultures have quite different
construals of the self and others and their interdependence on each
other (Markus and Kitayama 1991). These construals can influence
and in many cases determine the very nature of individual experience,
including cognition, emotion, and motivation. In addition, cultural dif-
ferences in cognitive (thinking and problem-solving) styles may further
complicate the problems associated with the similarity or dissimilarity
in beliefs, attitudes, and values between people from different cultures.
Thus, cultural identity and distance between different cultures seem to
have significant effects on the process of psychological and sociocultural
 2 Literature Review and Theoretical Background    
17

adjustment (Searle and Ward 1990; Ward 2008) and acculturation

(Poulis et al. 2013) for people facing intercultural interactions.
Bennett’s (1986) six-stage developmental model of intercultural sensitiv-
ity provides useful insights by showing that people generally move through
six stages as they experience cultural differences and develop intercultural
competence: (1) denial (ignore cultural differences and feel isolated);
(2) defense (perceive cultural differences as a threat to their worldview);
(3) minimize (accept superficial differences but maintain the assumption
that people are basically the same); (4) accept (recognize the existence and
viability of different cultural norms); (5) adapt (learn enough about other
cultures to intentionally shift their frame of reference and modify their
behavior to fit different social norms); and (6) integrate (reconcile cultural
differences and forge a multicultural identity). Thus, people can develop
intercultural sensitivity and go through the processes of cultural adapta-
tion and integration by actively engaging with people from other cultures,
when they are faced with cultural differences. A failure to engage with
other cultures may have adverse consequences, such as intolerance, con-
frontation, and even violence toward culturally distant people, especially
those from visible ethnic minorities (Johnson et al. 2013).

Intercultural Communication
Cultural differences may often result in negative reactions, such as
threats and defensive behavior, because of the manner in which these
differences are communicated, with ‘open-minded ness and non-­
evaluativeness’ seen as facilitating attitudes in their expression (Broome
1981). With rising levels of cultural and ethnic diversity in most devel-
oped economies, it is becoming extremely important to carefully study
and understand the process of intercultural communication and the
ability of people from diverse cultural backgrounds to communicate
effectively and appropriately with each other in the rapidly globaliz-
ing world (Chen and Starosta 1996). To do this successfully, people
need to assume and negotiate multiple identities in terms of culture,
race, ethnicity, gender, and religion, to survive in today’s interdepend-
ent and interconnected world, which in turn requires a functional and
18   P. Sharma

theoretical transformation of the study of intercultural communication

competence. Hence, it is not surprising that a number of studies show
proper communication (verbal and nonverbal) as key to the success of
intercultural interactions (Chen and Starosta 1996; Condon and Yousef
1975; Dodd 1998; Kenesei and Stier 2017; Lustig and Koester 2003,
2006; Samovar et al. 1981).
Past research on intercultural communication explains the cross-­
cultural differences in communication styles and behaviors by arguing
that the way people communicate and behave is the logical extensions
of the social values and norms they have internalized from their own
cultures (Pekerti and Thomas 2003). Hence, quite expectedly, cul-
ture-based rules and norms influence the styles, conventions, and prac-
tices of how people use languages to communicate with others. Several
theoretical perspectives are used to describe the dimensions along which
cultures may vary with each other in terms of their communication
styles, such as the way in which verbal and nonverbal cues are used.
For example, effective verbal communication is supposed to be explicit
and unambiguous in the West with people expected to say exactly
what they mean (Gallois and Callan 1997), while in other cultures
(e.g., Indonesia) communication tends to be relatively more ‘inexact,
ambiguous, and implicit’ (Pekerti and Thomas 2003).
These two communication styles reflect the bipolar typology referred
to as ‘high vs. low context’ (Hall 1976). In low-context cultures, the
message is mostly conveyed by the spoken words, whereas in high-­
context cultures, a significant part of the message is implicit and the
spoken words only convey a very small part of the message. In the lat-
ter case, the receivers are expected to fill in the gaps based on their past
knowledge about the person sending the message and the context in
which the message is communicated, such as the social status of the
other people who are present and the place where the conversation
is taking place. In this context, Pekerti and Thomas (2003) highlight
two other related aspects of cultural variability that support the bipolar
dimensions proposed by Hall (1976). For example, abstractive versus
associative dimensions of culture influence how people manipulate and
process information, with effective communication relying on a fac-
tual-inductive approach in abstractive cultures and on the amount of
common meaning that people share in associative cultures, in contrast.
 2 Literature Review and Theoretical Background    
19

Similarly, two primary functions served by communication may also

lead to differences in cross-cultural communication styles, namely
functional (reducing uncertainty in the communication of the mes-
sage) and relational (helping build familiarity and affiliation among
speakers).
In view of the adverse impact of the relatively lower levels of role
clarity and inter-role congruence in intercultural interactions coupled
with the challenges posed by cross-cultural differences in communica-
tion styles and content, researchers have identified intercultural com-
petence as an important individual characteristic that could have both
direct and indirect effects on the process and the outcomes of inter-
cultural service encounters (Chen and Starosta 1996; Chiu and Hong
2005; Hammer et al. 1978; Lustig and Koester 2003, 2006; Molinsky
et al. 2005; Ruben and Kealey 1979; Ward and Kennedy 1994). The
next section describes the concept of intercultural competence and
similar ideas explored in past research on intercultural interactions and
cross-cultural adjustment.

Intercultural Competence
Intercultural competence is defined as the ability to think and act in
appropriate ways with people from other cultures, and it is identified
as a focal variable in the process by which people engage in intercul-
tural interactions (Friedman and Antal 2005). Intercultural competence
is similar to other constructs, such as (a) intercultural effectiveness,
defined as the ability to have effective intercultural communication
(Cui and Awa 1992; Hammer et al. 1978); (b) intercultural sensitiv-
ity, defined as the ability to discriminate and experience relevant cul-
tural differences (Bhawuk and Brislin 1992; Hammer et al. 2003); and
(c) cultural intelligence, the ability to gather, interpret, and act upon
different cues to function effectively across different cultural settings
(Earley and Ang 2003). Individuals with higher levels of intercultural
competence tend to exhibit a greater ability to learn different languages
and more interest in knowing about other cultures, besides being able
to communicate more effectively, and a greater willingness to adapt and
integrate with other cultures (Redmond 2000).
20   P. Sharma

Early research on intercultural effectiveness identified its three

dimensions, including the ability to (1) deal with psychological stress;
(2) communicate effectively; and (3) establish interpersonal relation-
ships, in intercultural interactions (Hammer et al. 1978). Similarly,
in a study exploring the relationship between interpersonal and social
­behaviors and the patterns of success and failure in cross-cultural adap-
tation, Ruben and Kealey (1979) identify seven interpersonal com-
munication skills that are important for cross-cultural adaptation,
including ‘empathy, respect, role behavior flexibility, orientation to
knowledge, interaction posture, interaction management and tolerance
for ambiguity’. Subsequently, researcher began to explore the process
of cross-cultural adjustment by exploring the influence of accultura-
tion strategies, psychological adjustment, and sociocultural competence
during cross-cultural transitions (Ward and Kennedy 1994), the impact
of situational prototypes on the dimensions of intercultural commu-
nication competence (Hammer et al. 1996), and the dynamic process
underlying the development of cultural competence (Chiu and Hong
2005). More recent studies highlight the role of intercultural compe-
tence in the multicultural marketplaces (Demangeot et al. 2013) and
focus on the shift of emphasis from acculturation to frame-switching to
highlight the importance of intercultural competencies in this process
(van Oudenhoven and Benet-Martínez 2015).

Theories of Intercultural Perceptions

and Behaviors
Similarity-Attraction Paradigm

‘Similarity-attraction paradigm’ provides the theoretical basis for

dyadic exchange process in intercultural interactions. Similarity is the
extent to which people are alike in terms of their attitudes, values, per-
sonal attributes, or other characteristics (Smith 1998), and it leads to
greater attraction toward the other party (Brehm et al. 2005; Byrne
1971). The positive relationship between similarity and attraction
has been observed in many social and interpersonal contexts, such as
 2 Literature Review and Theoretical Background    
21

interpersonal friendships (Morry 2007), marriages (Houts et al. 1996),

voluntary interactions (McPherson and Smith-Lovin 1987) as well as in
organizational settings (Tsui and O’Reilly 1989) and buyer–seller rela-
tionships (Smith 1998). Similarity leads to attraction by enhancing lik-
ing, which in turn makes the information exchange easier and efficient,
and helps influence or shape attitudes (Dellande et al. 2004).
In this context, Smith (1998) suggests that interpersonal interactions
are easier and less cognitively challenging with others who have similar
attitudes, values, activities, or experiences. Individuals feel more com-
fortable interacting with others who share similar attributes with them-
selves (Spake et al. 2003), which leads to more open communication and
helps develop mutual understanding and strengthen interpersonal bonds
among them. On the other hand, interactions among individuals with
dissimilar values, morals, and interpersonal norms are more likely to
experience conflict (Lin and Guan 2002). These ideas explain why peo-
ple generally feel uncomfortable in intercultural interactions, as possibly a
natural defensive reaction toward anything that they are unfamiliar with.

Social Identity Theory

Social identity theory suggests that people categorize themselves into

one or more social groups and define their social identity on the basis of
the membership of the group (Tajfel 1970, 1978, 1982). This act of cat-
egorizing people into an in-group and out-group exaggerates perceived
differences among the groups, resulting in in-group favoritism and
discrimination against the out-groups. People tend to favor in-group
members at the expense of members of other groups, by giving them
more favorable evaluations or allocations of rewards (Tajfel et al. 1971).
Applying social identity theory to the context of intercultural interac-
tions, it is argued that people who identify each other as members of the
same in-group may display more understanding, favoritism, and toler-
ance toward each other. They may also be willing to lower their expecta-
tions and be more tolerant with their in-group members, whereas they
may feel less willing to interact and may even display prejudice or dis-
crimination against their out-groups.
22   P. Sharma

Role Theory

Role theory describes human behavioral patterns in interpersonal social

interactions as ‘roles’ played by people based on their social positions
and also illustrates the expectations that people hold for their own
behaviors and those of others (Sarbin and Allen 1954, 1968). As sug-
gested by the term ‘role’, the role theory uses a theatrical metaphor to
describe how people have to behave with each other in their everyday
lives, just like actors in a drama who are constrained to perform specific
‘roles’ for which ‘scripts’ are written (Biddle 1986). Thus, social behav-
iors are expected to be associated with roles and scripts that are under-
stood by social actors. Role theory also posits that expectations are the
major determinants of roles and these expectations are learnt through
personal experience and socialization process, which means that people
are aware of their own and others’ expectations, and hence, role the-
ory expects everyone to be a ‘thoughtful, socially aware human actor’
(Biddle 1986, p. 69). Role expectations can manifest in at least three
modes: norms, preferences, and beliefs, all of which are learned through
different social interpersonal experiences and may or may not be shared
with others in a given context, and yet, each of these can affect behavior
and may be involved in defining a role (Biddle 2013).

Attribution Theory

Attribution theory describes the ways in which people explain the

behavior of others or the events they observe by or attributing these
to some internal or external factors (Heider 1958). Internal factors
(e.g., effort or ability) are used to make ‘dispositional’ attributions
by assigning causality for the behaviors or events to factors that are
within the person making the attributions, whereas external factors
(e.g., weather or economic conditions) are used to make ‘situational’
attributions by assigning causality to environmental or situational
factors. Weiner (1980) refers to these internal versus external attribu-
tions as the ‘locus of causality’ dimension in his ‘Cognitive (attribu-
tion)-emotion-action’ model of motivated behavior. Attributions have
 2 Literature Review and Theoretical Background    
23

been a popular topic in consumer research, with many studies explor-

ing their impact on a variety of context, such as reactions to product
or service failure (Alford 1998; Bitner 1990; Folkes 1984; Harris et al.
2006; Hartman et al. 2009; Iglesias 2009; Laufer 2002; Weiner 2000).
Attributions generally need a motivational trigger, and expected out-
comes or successes may not lead to an attributional process because
these are mostly taken for granted by the consumers (Oliver et al.
1997). Hence, it is only when there are unexpected outcomes or fail-
ures due to which customers experience psychological discomfort, they
would begin to look for the causes of these failures (Laufer 2002), to
restore their psychological equilibrium (Tse et al. 1990; Tse and Wilton
1988). Several studies provide evidence for the influence of attributions
on customer evaluations and subsequent behaviors (Bitner 1990; Choi
and Mattila 2008; Folkes 1984; Ha and Janda 2008; Iglesias 2009).

Conclusion
This chapter reviews the vast literature on intercultural interactions and
cross-cultural adjustment and the important role played by intercultural
communication and intercultural competence in these processes. It also
reviews four main theoretical perspectives that drive intercultural per-
ceptions and behaviors, including similarity-attraction paradigm, social
identity theory, role theory, and attribution theory. The next section
examines how these perspectives have been applied to the study of inter-
cultural service encounters in the current literature.

References
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health care services evaluation. Health Marketing Quarterly, 15(4), 55–74.
Bennett, M. J. (1986). A developmental approach to training for intercultural
sensitivity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 10(2), 179–196.
Berry, J. W. (1974). Psychological aspects of cultural pluralism. Topics in
Culture Learning, 2, 17–22.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
General description and date of
structure.
The front room on the first floor has a well designed plaster
ceiling (Plate 79), the wall frieze being enriched with griffins, of a
slightly different type to those in No. 11. The chimneypiece is of white
marble with a central decorative panel.
The rear room on the same floor has also an ornamental
plaster ceiling of very simple design, and the white marble
chimneypiece is inlaid with Siena marble.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.
Biographical notes.
According to the ratebooks the first occupant of the house was Thos.
Hibbart, who resided there during 1780 and 1781. He was followed by Jas.
Bailey from 1782 to 1793, and from the latter year, Sir Alexander Monro was
in occupation.
In the Council’s collection are the
following:—
[734]Ornamental plaster ceiling in front room on first floor
(photograph).
Marble chimneypiece in front room on first floor (photograph).
Ornamental plaster ceiling in rear room on first floor (photograph).
LXXVI.—No. 15, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord and lessee.
Ground landlord, His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.;
lessees, the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the
Royal College of Music for Local Examinations in Music.
General description and date of
structure.
The front doorway (Plate 80), with its decorative leadwork
fanlight, is a typical example of the majority in the square.
The first floor front room has an ornamental plaster ceiling,
somewhat similar to others already noticed. There is an interesting
plaster cornice in the rear room of the same floor, and a carved
marble chimney piece on the second floor.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.
Biographical notes.
The occupants of this house, according to the ratebooks, were as
follows:—

1780–81. —— Pole.
1784–90. John Cologan.
1790–94. Jno. Stephenson.
1794–95. Mrs. Stephenson.
1795–98. Robt. Tubbs.
1798– Jas. Williams.
In the Council’s collection are:—
[735]Entrance
doorway (photograph).
Ornamental plaster ceiling in front room on first floor (photograph).
Marble chimneypiece in front room on second floor (photograph).
LXXVII.—No. 18, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord and lessee.
Ground landlord, His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.; lessee,
Herbert Sefton-Jones, Esq.
General description and date of
structure.
This house forms the eastern half of the central feature on the
north side of the square. Its interior has been considerably altered,
but the original carved white marble chimneypiece shown on Plate
81 still remains.
The motif of the central panel is similar to that at No. 11, but is
not quite so gracefully expressed. The shelf appears to be a modern
substitute, and out of harmony with the requirements of the design.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.
Biographical notes.
The earliest occupier of this house was, according to the ratebooks,
the Rev. Frederick Hamilton, who resided there from 1784 to 1786. In the
latter year he was succeeded by Thos. Hankey, who remained at the house
until after the close of the century.
In the Council’s collection is:—
[736]Marble chimneypiece in front room on ground floor
(photograph).
LXXVIII.—No. 23, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord.
His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.
General description and date of
structure.
This house was not in existence on 20th November, 1777,[737]
and the first mention of it in the parish ratebooks occurs in 1781. Few
of the decorations in the house are original, the two principal
exceptions being the plaster ceiling of the front room on the first
floor, and a fine doorcase and pair of doors (Plate 82), connecting
that room with the one in the rear.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.