Negotiating multicultural identity in the organizational contexts: Lived experiences of Latin American professionals in Poland

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine how professionals from Latin America working in Poland negotiate their cultural identities and make sense of their multiculturalism within organizational settings. Ten bicultural or multicultural individuals participated in in-depth interviews and created Cultural Identity Circles. Drawing on the frameworks of Bicultural Identity Integration and cultural identity styles, the findings indicate that across the sample, harmonious, blended, and hybridized identity styles were most prevalent among participants, with some individuals demonstrating multiple styles simultaneously. Alternating was less common, appearing mainly through contextual language switching. Moreover, within organizational contexts, multiculturalism was largely perceived as an asset. Participants drew on multilingualism, cultural bridging, and relational warmth rooted in Latin American values as deliberate strategies for fostering inclusion, mediating between teams, and navigating diverse workplace norms. However, these advantages were accompanied by costs, including linguistic barriers, being subject to stereotyping, and feelings of otherness. This study contributes to the field by providing phenomenologically grounded insights into Latin American professionals in Poland, an underexplored group in a Central and Eastern European context, and by demonstrating the value of cultural identity mapping as an elicitation tool for uncovering complex identity negotiations of bi- and multicultural individuals. The article calls for more dynamic approaches to multiculturalism, grounded in qualitative inquiry and close attention to lived experiences.