ABSTRACT

Immigrant professionals (IPs) compose important internal publics in U.S. organizations. This study examined the processes of intercultural identity development through IPs’ stress, adaptation, and intercultural communication competence, as well as the outcomes of such identity development. Twenty-three interviews with Indian IPs in a major southern cosmopolitan area in the United States revealed three types of stressors: insufficiency in culture-specific knowledge and skills, ineffective expression, and imbalance in home and host social communication. Adaptation responses included active language and culture learning, perspective taking, compromising, ignoring, passive acceptance, and active initiating and participating in social interactions. Further, IPs demonstrated three major types of intercultural identities: integrated with both cultures, non-integrated (leaning more toward either home or host culture), and ambivalent (feeling rootless and uncertain about what culture to teach their children). In the context of intercultural identity development, the concepts of avowed and ascribed identities become even more nuanced. This study contributes to research in public relations by deepening the understanding of organizations’ immigrant internal publics and facilitating more effective relationship management with these publics.

摘要

移民专业人员（IP）组成了美国组织中的重要内部公众。这项研究通过IP的压力，适应和跨文化交流能力研究了跨文化身份发展的过程，以及这种身份发展的结果。在美国南部一个主要的国际大都会地区对印度IP进行的23次采访揭示了三种压力源：特定文化知识和技能不足，表达不力以及家庭和东道国社交交流不平衡。适应反应包括主动学习语言和文化，采取观点，妥协，忽视，被动接受，主动发起和参与社会互动。此外，知识产权展示出三种主要的跨文化身份：与两种文化融为一体，不融合（倾向于家庭文化或寄主文化），以及矛盾（对教育孩子的文化无根而又不确定）。在跨文化身份发展的背景下，公开和归属身份的概念变得更加细微。本研究通过加深对组织的移民内部公众的理解并促进与这些公众之间更有效的关系管理，为公共关系研究做出了贡献。