This study examined acculturation and bicultural integration in organizational settings, with particular attention to the factors that influence individuals’ acculturation processes; the challenges and opportunities they face; the ways in which they integrate home- and host-culture features; and the conditions that facilitate third-culture building with host-culture members. A qualitative approach using in-depth interviews with Americans living in Sweden, Swedes living in the United States, and Swedish-American biculturals having grown up with ties to both countries was used to gain an in-depth understanding of the processes of acculturation in organizational contexts. Results emerging from a grounded theory analysis identify assimilation as the predominant acculturation approach for reasons of cultural preference. Culture-specific features are integrated in limited ways and third-culture building takes place in contexts where home-culture connections exist. Bicultural individuals integrate their two cultures by alternating between them as well as blending them. Theoretical implications are discussed.
AbrahamRZikiyeA (1993) Acculturation: a review and an exploratory seven-nation comparative study. Cross Cultural Management: An International Journal3(1): 3–19.
2.
AngSVan DyneLKohC. (2007) Cultural intelligence: its measurement and effects on cultural judgment and decision making, cultural adaptation and task performance. Management and Organization Review3(3): 335–371.
3.
Benet-MartínezVLeuJLeeF. (2002) Negotiating biculturalism: cultural frame-switching in biculturals with oppositional vs. compatible cultural identities. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology33(5): 492–516.
4.
BerryJW (1980) Acculturation as varieties of adaptation. In: PadillaA (ed.) Acculturation, Theory, Models, and Some New Findings. Boulder: Westview Press, pp. 9–25.
5.
BerryJW (1997) Immigration, acculturation and adaptation. Applied Psychology: An International Review46(1): 5–68.
6.
BerryJW (2009) A critique of critical acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations33(5): 361–71.
7.
BerryJWSabatierC (2011) Variations in the assessment of acculturation attitudes. International Journal of Intercultural Relations35(5): 658–69.
8.
BrannenMYThomasDC (2010) Bicultural individuals in organizations: implications and opportunity. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management10(1): 5–16.
9.
BrimmL (2010) Global Cosmopolitans: The Creative Edge of Difference. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
10.
CasmirFL (1999) Foundations for the study of intercultural communication based on a third culture building model. International Journal of Intercultural Relations23(1): 91–116.
11.
ClausenL (2007) Corporate communication challenges: a ‘negotiated’ culture perspective. Journal of Cross Cultural Management7(3): 317–32.
12.
ChirkovV (2009) Critical psychology of acculturation: What do we study and how do we study it, when we investigate acculturation?International Journal of Intercultural Relations33(1): 94–105.
13.
ChristmasCNBarkerGG (2014) Assessing intercultural experience: differences in acculturation, intercultural sensitivity, and cognitive flexibility between the first and second generation of Latino immigrants. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication7(3): 238–57.
14.
CoxTLobelSAMcLeodPL (1991) Effects of ethnic group cultural differences on cooperative and competitive behavior on a group task. Academy of Management Journal34(4): 827–47.
15.
CreswellJW (2007) Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design: Choosing among Five Traditions, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
16.
CroucherSM (2011) Social networking and cultural adaptation: a theoretical model. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication4(4): 259–64.
17.
EarleyPCMosakowskiE (2000) Creating hybrid team cultures: an empirical test of transnational team functioning. Academy of Management Journal43(1): 26–49.
18.
ElyRThomasD (2001) Cultural diversity at work: the effects of diversity perspectives on work group processes and outcomes. Administrative Science Quarterly46(2): 229–73.
19.
FroeseFJPeltokorpiVKoKA (2012) The influence of intercultural communication on cross-cultural adjustment and work attitudes: foreign workers in South Korea. International Journal of Intercultural Relations36(3): 331–42.
20.
FujimotoYHärtelCEJ (2006) A self-representation analysis of the effects of individualist-collectivist interactions within organizations in individualistic cultures: lessons for diversity management. Cross Cultural Management13(3): 204–18.
21.
GillespieKMcBrideJBRiddleL (2010) Globalization, biculturalism and cosmopolitanism: the acculturation status of Mexicans in upper management. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management10(1): 37–53.
22.
HofstedeGH (1984) Culture’s Consequences: International Differences in Work-related Values. Beverly Hills: SAGE.
23.
HongHJ (2010) Bicultural competence and its impact on team effectiveness. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management10(1): 93–120.
24.
HongYYMorrisMChiuCY. (2000) Multicultural minds: a dynamic constructivist approach to culture and cognition. American Psychologist55(7): 709–20.
25.
HouseRJHangesPJJavidanM. (2004) Culture, Leadership, and Organizations: The GLOBE Study of 62 Societies. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
26.
HusseinME (1981) The presence of a “third culture” in a Western society. Human Resource Management20(1): 31–5.
27.
KimYY (2001) Becoming Intercultural: An Integrative Theory of Communication and Cross-cultural Adaptation. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
28.
KimYY (2008) Intercultural personhood: globalization and a way of being. International Journal of Intercultural Relations32(4): 359–68.
29.
KomisarofA (2009) Testing a modified interactive acculturation model in Japan: American-Japanese coworker relations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations33(5): 399–418.
30.
LaFromboiseTColemanHGertonJ (1993) Psychological impact of biculturalism: evidence and theory. Psychological Bulletin114(3): 395–412.
31.
LarssonRLubatkinM (2001) Achieving acculturation in mergers and acquisitions: an international case survey. Human Relations54(12): 1573–1607.
32.
LeeS (2006) Somewhere in the middle: the measurement of third culture. Journal of Intercultural Communication Research35(3): 253–64.
33.
LindlofTTaylorB (2002) Qualitative Communication Research Methods, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
34.
McEwanBSobre-DentonM (2011) Virtual cosmopolitanism: constructing third cultures and transmitting social and cultural capital through social media. Journal of International and Intercultural Communication4(4): 252–8.
35.
MilesMBHubermanAM (1994) Qualitative Data Analysis, 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks: SAGE.
36.
MokAChengCYMorrisMW (2010) Matching versus mismatching cultural norms in performance appraisal: effects of the cultural setting and bicultural identity integration. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management10(1): 17–35.
37.
MooreAMBarkerGG (2012) Confused or multicultural: third culture individuals’ cultural identity. International Journal of Intercultural Relations36(4): 553–62.
38.
NavasMGarcíaMCSánchezJ. (2005) Relative acculturation extended model: new contributions with regard to the study of acculturation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations29(1): 21–37.
39.
NavasMRojasbAJGarcíaM. (2007) Acculturation strategies and attitudes according to the Relative Acculturation Extended Model (RAEM): the perspectives of natives versus immigrants. International Journal of Intercultural Relations31(1): 67–86.
40.
NguyenADBenet-MartínezV (2013) Biculturalism and adjustment: a meta-analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology44(1): 122–59.
41.
OerlemansWGMPeetersMCW (2008) The multicultural workplace: interactive acculturation and intergroup relations. Journal of Managerial Psychology25(5): 460–78.
42.
PhinneyJBerryJWVedderP. (2006) The acculturation experience: attitudes, identities and behaviors of immigrant youth. In: BerryJWPhinneyJSamDLVedderP (eds) Immigrant Youth in Cultural Transition: Acculturation, Identity and Adaptation Across National Contexts. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum, pp. 71–116.
43.
PhinneyJSDevich-NevarroM (1997) Variations in bicultural identification among African American and Mexican American adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence7(1): 3–32.
44.
PortesA (1997) Immigration theory for a new century: some problems and opportunities. International Migration Review31(4): 799–825.
45.
PortesARumbautR (2001) Legacies: The Story of the Immigrant Second Generation. Berkeley: University of California Press.
46.
RodríguezCM (2005) Emergence of a third culture: shared leadership in international strategic alliances. International Marketing Review22(1): 67–95.
47.
RudminFW (2003) Critical history of the acculturation psychology of assimilation, separation, integration, and marginalization. Review of General Psychology7(1): 3–37.
48.
SackmannSAPhillipsME (2004) Contextual influences on culture research: shifting assumptions for new workplace realities. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management4(3): 370–90.
49.
SamnaniAKBoekhorstJAHarrisonJA (2012) Acculturation strategy and individual outcomes: cultural diversity implications for human resource management. Human Resource Management Review22(4): 323–35.
50.
SeidmanIE (1991) Interviewing as Qualitative Research: A Guide for Research in Education and Social Sciences. New York: Teacher’s College.
51.
SelmerJDe LeonC (1996) Parent cultural control through organizational acculturation: HCN employees learning new work values in foreign business subsidiaries. Journal of Organizational Behavior17(1): 557–72.
52.
SelmerJDe LeonC (2002) Parent cultural control of foreign subsidiaries through organizational acculturation. International Journal of Human Resources13(8): 1147–65.
53.
ShoreLMChung-HerreraBGDeanMA. (2009) Diversity in organizations: Where are we now and where are we going?Human Resource Management Review19(2): 117–33.
54.
StraussACorbinJ (1990) Qualitative Analysis for Social Scientists. New York: Cambridge.
55.
SussmanNM (2000) The dynamic nature of cultural identity throughout cultural transitions: why home is not so sweet. Personality and Social Psychology Review4(4): 355–73.
56.
TayebM (2001) Conducting research across cultures: overcoming drawbacks and obstacles. Cross Cultural Management1(1): 91–108.
57.
TriandisHC (1995) Individualism and Collectivism. Boulder: Westview Press.
58.
van OudenhovenJP (2006) Immigrants. In: SamDBerryJ (eds) The Cambridge Handbook of Acculturation Psychology. New York: Cambridge, pp. 163–80.
59.
van OudenhovenJPvan der ZeeKIvan KootenM (2001) Successful adaptation strategies according to expatriates. International Journal of Intercultural Relations25(5): 467–82.
60.
WardC (2008) Thinking outside the Berry boxes: new perspectives on identity, acculturation and intercultural relations. International Journal of Intercultural Relations32(2): 105–14.
61.
ZagefkaHGonzalezRBrownR (2011) Antecedents and consequences of acculturation preferences of non-indigenous Chileans in relation to an indigenous minority: longitudinal survey evidence. European Journal of Social Psychology39(4): 558–75.
62.
ZimmermannAHolmanDSparrowP (2003) Unravelling adjustment mechanisms: adjustment of German expatriates to intercultural interactions, work, and living conditions in the People’s Republic of China. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management3(1): 45–65.
