University Maastricht
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
Maastricht, 2003-08-19

National Diversity in Organisations:
A study of integration between host and international students

Final Thesis

by

Artmann, Antje

28.08.2003

Table of Contents

1 Introduction ... 1
1.1 Short overview of diversity research ... 2
1.2 Aim and Contribution of the final thesis ... 3
1.3 Structure ... 5

2 Intergroup behaviour ... 8
2.1 Social identity ... 9
2.2 Social categorisation ... 11
2.2.1 The concept of familiarity and social discrimination ... 13
2.3 Social comparison ... 14
2.3.1 In-group favouritism ... 16
2.3.2 In-group bias ... 17
2.4 Conclusion ... 18

3 The Acculturation ... 19
3.1 Multicultural ideology ... 20
3.2 Acculturation attitudes ... 21
3.3 The uni- and bidimensional model ... 22
3.4 Acculturation strategies ... 24
3.5 The Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM) ... 25
3.5.1 Host community acculturation orientations ... 27
3.5.2 Relational outcomes of host and foreign acculturation orientations ... 28
3.6 Conclusion ... 30

4 Research on immigrant- and international student populations ... 31
4.1 Overview of empirical studies ... 31
4.2 Applied social psychology theories ... 34
4.2.1 Social categorisation: minority group formation ... 34
4.2.2 Social identity: minority group identification ... 36
4.2.3 Social comparison: from national to international ... 37
4.3 Conclusion ... 38

5 Research design ... 40
5.1 Introduction ... 40
5.2 Aim of the research ... 41
5.2.1 Short outline of the Interactive Acculturation Model and its application ... 42
5.3 Participants and procedure ... 44
5.3.1 The interviews ... 45
5.3.2 The questionnaires ... 45

6 Findings ... 47
6.1 The group of German students ... 47
6.1.1 Applied acculturation strategies ... 51
6.2 The group of foreign students ... 56
6.2.1 Applied acculturation strategies ... 59
6.3 The group of Dutch students ... 63
6.3.1 Expected acculturation strategies ... 66
6.4 Relational outcomes ... 70
6.4.1 University life ... 70
6.4.2 Social life ... 72

7 Conclusion ... 77
7.1 Summary of results ... 77
7.2 Discussion ... 79
7.3 Limitations ... 84
7.4 Future research ... 85
7.5 Practical implications ... 86
7.6 Concluding remarks ... 88

References ... 96

Abstract
This thesis focused on international students (Germany, Belgium, Cuba, USA, Ecuador and the Bermudas) residing in the Netherlands for the period of their studies and Dutch host students studying at the faculty of Economics and Business Administration University Maastricht, the Netherlands. The aim of this study was to examine whether the relationship between international students (n=10) and host students (n=5) is concordant (consensual) or discordant (conflictual or problematic). The acculturation orientations of both groups have been assessed using Berry′s (1992, 1997) four acculturation strategies as there are: integration, assimilation, separation and marginalisation. Bourhis´ et al. (1997) Interactive Acculturation Model has been applied to explore the relational outcomes between the groups.

In this study it was shown that integration is the strategy most preferred by host students. However, international students reflect separation (n=5), integration (n=3) and a mixture of integration and assimilation features (n=2). Accordingly, the acculturation profiles of host and nationally diverse students are concordant (consensual) between host- (n=5) and international students (n=5) and discordant (conflictual or problematic) between host- (n=5) and international students (n=5).

The findings suggest that Dutch language skills, a Dutch partner, multinational living arrangements and interest in- and openness towards the Dutch society enhance integration and assimilation orientations. On the contrary, the geographical closeness to the home country, a close relationship to family and friends from the home city, the multilingual skills of the Dutch society, a high percentage of friends with the same nationality and linguistic background support separation orientations among international students. In addition, the large (numerical) size and homogeneity (in terms of nationality and language) of the group of German students represented at the faculty influence the acculturation orientations of international students and enhance separation orientations.

1 Introduction
Nowadays, increasing national diversity appears to be a highly demanding management topic. The proportion of non-native citizens grows substantially in countries all over the world. This move is on the one hand, a direct result of the current unbalanced allocation of wealth and on the other hand, due to the globalisation of the market. Therefore, one has to carefully distinguish between immigrants, who leave their home country due to poor living standards and political reasons and individuals that come to study or work in a foreign country for a limited time period. These two circumstances caused an increased movement of individuals between countries and as a consequence augmented national diversity. As such, each local government is faced with multiculturalism and the task to master the integration of different nationalities into the native society. The consequences of enhanced national diversity also affect local organisations, either profit or non-profit. Organisations can rarely avoid the increasing internationalisation and have to adapt their organisational structure to a multicultural environment. Thus, the integration of different nationalities into an organisation is a challenging but unavoidable task.

National diversity enriches the daily social life in that it provides each local organisation with different and novel ideas, opinions and beliefs. Pelled, Eisenhardt and Xin (1999) support this view and claim that due to increased diversity, members of the host culture are more likely to hear and experience views that diverge from their own. At the same time, the presence of many different cultures may cause emotional conflicts between groups as the native group may feel their heritage culture threatened. As a consequence, one can infer that the integration of nationally diverse individuals into the host society contains many hurdles that have to be overcome in order to create a harmonious life between the foreign and the native group.

The Netherlands is famous for its tolerance and is one of the countries that have adopted the ideal of multiculturalism as policy goal (Baubock, Heller & Zolberg, 1996, as cited in Arends-Toth and van de Vijver, 2003). Its acceptance of national diversity is appealing to many foreigners with the wish to acquire a residence in this country. The government displays its openness towards immigrants through its policies. In addition, Dutch organisations either profit, non-profit as well as educational institutions attract foreign workers and students by offering an international working and studying environment. Thus, the Netherlands provides an interesting context for inquiries in the field of diversity research.

1.1 Short overview of diversity research
Internationalisation comes at a cost. It is the integration of different nationalities, linguistic backgrounds and cultural norms and customs that represent a challenging task for every international organisation. This challenge has activated researchers to investigate the factors influencing the relationship between host nationals and nationally diverse groups (e.g. Ying, 2002; Goto, 1997; Simard, 1981) and especially the effect of cross-cultural contact on minority groups (e.g. Schmitt, Spears & Branscombe, 2003).

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