Demonstrating Empathy for Foreign-Born Employees through Openness and Acceptance: A Quasi-Experimental Field Study

Abstract

This replication of an earlier study with United States-born employees tests the attitudes of foreign-born employees toward supervisors' acceptance of and reciprocal openness to task-relevant and nontask-relevant "open" messages from the employee. Forty-two United States-born and fifty-two foreign-born employees completed a 20-dialogue questionnaire in this 2 x 2 x 3 field study. Data were analyzed using a multiple-factor ANOVA and a post hoc Scheffé test. All hypotheses were supported at the .05 level or better. Reliability coefficients calculated for each of the response-type categories prompted an in-depth discussion on how supervisors and managers might improve their abilities to demonstrate accurate empathy.