Asian-Americans' Creative Styles in Asian and American Situations: Assimilative and Contrastive Responses as a Function of Bicultural Identity Integration

How culture influences consumer creativity: A dual perspective of multiculturalism and loose-tight culture

In the context of globalization, consumers with multicultural experiences are increasingly involved in the process of value creation, yet there is a lack of understanding of how multiculturalism affects consumer creativity. Based on the dual perspectives of multiculturalism and loose-tight culture, this paper illustrates the mechanism of multicultural experience on consumer creativity and the moderating effect of loose-tight culture on this relationship. Two studies (a questionnaire study and an experimental study) were conducted to validate the theoretical model. The results revealed that multicultural experiences enhance consumer creativity, cognitive complexity mediates the relationship between the two, and loose-tight culture moderates the relationship between multicultural experiences and consumer creativity. The loose culture scenario has a positive enhancement effect, the tight culture scenario has a negative weakening effect, and the interaction between multicultural experiences and loose-tight culture affects consumer creativity through cognitive complexity. The results of this study provide a new perspective on the relationship between culture and consumer creativity, expanding the study of culture and consumer creativity from the cultural value dimension to the social norm dimension, enriching the research on creativity as a cognitive process at the consumer level, and providing guidance and reference for companies to better stimulate and utilize consumer creativity.

Feeling at Home in Two Cultural Worlds: Bicultural Identity Integration Moderates Felt Authenticity

Bicultural individuals navigate and identify with two cultures. Biculturals differ in levels of Bicultural Identity Integration (BII)—how much their two cultural identities are combined and compatible (high BII) versus divided and conflicting (low BII). We hypothesized that during conformity in cultural ingroup contexts, biculturals with low BII feel inauthentic (being untrue to themselves), whereas biculturals with high BII feel authentic (being true to themselves). Across four experiments with Asian-Americans, expressing cultural conformity (vs. non-conformity) in Asian or American contexts produced felt inauthenticity among participants with low BII but not high BII (Studies 1–3). Felt inauthenticity was due to cultural identity threat (perceived identity exclusion) (Study 2). Activating self-kindness counteracted felt inauthenticity for low BII participants during cultural conformity (Study 3) and produced felt authenticity (Study 4). Our findings imply that responding kindly to the self makes biculturals at ease in their cultural homes, at least temporarily.

Specific Antecedents of Entrepreneurial Intention Among Newly Returned Chinese International Students

A growing group of Chinese students is returning to China following graduation, especially young returnees. This group is seen as one of the most innovative sectors of Chinese society. Based on the theory of planned behavior (TPB) and three kinds of capital theories, this study explores entrepreneurial intention (EI) and its influencing factors among Newly Returned Chinese International Students (NRCIS). A survey of 211 NRCIS showed a low level of EI and little knowledge of supporting policies about entrepreneurship. Influencing factors included culture harmony as culture capital, overseas social networks as social capital, and foreign entrepreneurship education and foreign language proficiency as human capital. Attitude mediated the effects of foreign language proficiency, culture harmony, and foreign entrepreneurship education on EI. Perceived behavior control mediated the effect of foreign language proficiency, Chinese language proficiency, culture harmony, foreign entrepreneurship education, domestic entrepreneurship education, and overseas social networks on EI, and subjective norms have no significant mediating effect in any mediation path. Based on these findings, policymakers could pay attention to examining whether the current policies are working and accessible for NRCIS, and domestic entrepreneurship education could keep cultivating students' cross-cultural communication and understanding abilities, and society and education sectors could encourage positive cognition of entrepreneurship and guide students to form a positive attitude toward entrepreneurship and enhance their confidence.

The Double-Edged Effects of Dual-Identity on the Emotional Exhaustion of Migrant Workers: An Existential Approach

By integrating an existential approach to burnout, identity theory, and the job demand–resource (JD–R) model, this paper compares the sense-making processes of migrant workers who embrace both rural and urban identities (i.e., dual-identity holders) with those who suppress either identity (i.e., non-dual-identity holders). In particular, we have examined these dual-identity holders’ interpretations of the workplace regarding internal corporate social responsibilities (CSR) efforts and job complexity and the subsequent emotional exhaustion. A sample of 1,985 migrant workers in China reveals that dual-identity holders may have decreased emotional exhaustion because of higher perceptions of internal CSR efforts, and increased emotional exhaustion because of higher perceptions of job complexity. Furthermore, it is found that human resource management (HRM) strength (i.e., employees’ shared perceptions of HR practices) weakens those two relationships. These findings have important implications for managing migrant workers and ensuring their well-beings.

THE PERCEPTION OF CREATIVITY THROUGH MULTICULTURAL EXPERIENCE — RESULTS FROM AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

This research is an approach to connect creativity and multicultural experiences (MCEs): we give insights into how and what type of MCE influences people’s perceptive abilities such as creativity. We offer one of the first empirical examinations that links the perception of creativity concept to strategy of acculturation. This study addresses an often-mentioned research gap by examining laypersons’ ability to perceive different levels of creativity. For this, a sample of 195 participants from 26 countries with and without MCE was researched. Findings indicate that attitudes as well as personal and professional goals apparently influence people’s creativity perception. The acculturation strategy integration seems to be a determining factor in this respect. As MCE has become a firm part of many people’s CV, the present paper adds to an omnipresent phenomenon in today’s society, which is worth studying.

“So Now, I Wonder, What Am I?”: A Narrative Approach to Bicultural Identity Integration

Individuals socialized in multiple cultures actively construct their bicultural identity in the context of relevant life events. However, the content and meaning of these experiences, as subjectively constructed and understood by the individual, remain largely unexplored in relation to biculturalism outcomes. Using a narrative approach, two studies of U.S. biculturals examined how memories about the experience of being bicultural (“bicultural memory narratives”) related to bicultural identity integration (BII). BII describes having cultural identities that are blended and exist harmoniously within the self (vs. having dissociated and conflicting identities). In Study 1, bicultural college students shared two bicultural memory narratives, which were coded for the past event valence, exploratory processing, and ending valence (positive vs. negative ending). Most reported memories about at least somewhat negative experiences, and yet narrating those events with positive endings was predictive of higher BII, even after controlling for other factors, such as trait affect. In Study 2, second-generation bicultural adults ranging in age from 18 to 62 shared narratives about memories of bicultural conflict, which were also coded for exploratory processing and positive resolution. Similar to Study 1, positive resolution predicted higher levels of BII, independent of other factors. Bicultural identity conflict was found to decrease with age across adulthood. Findings for exploratory processing were inconclusive and suggest that its role in BII may fluctuate over time and be dependent on several factors, including age, type of memory, and time spent exploring bicultural identity.

Perceived Discrimination and Intergroup Behaviors: The Role of Muslim and American Identity Integration

In this article, we test the proposition that identity integration—or perceptions of compatibility versus conflict between one’s social identities—predicts behaviors in intergroup contexts. Using a sample of 171 Muslim Arab American adolescents aged 13 to 19, we examine the relations between identity integration of Muslim and American identities, experiences of discrimination, and intentions to avoid and approach members of the majority group. For adolescents who perceived their American and Muslim identities as being in conflict, we found that perceived discrimination was positively related to intentions to avoid the majority group. However, this trend was not significant for those who perceived their American and Muslim identities as highly integrated. These effects held after controlling for participants’ strength of identification with both American and Muslim identities, and number of years lived in the United States. These results provide support for the idea that identity integration among stigmatized minorities may buffer the negative effects of discrimination on intergroup behaviors.

Culture, Creativity, and Innovation

This special issue enriches the study of creativity and innovation as a cultural and social process. Authors of nine articles jointly contribute to a nuanced and systematical inquiry into the cultural perspective of creativity. Their topics of investigation include lay conceptions of creativity in different cultures, different natures and manifestations of creativity and innovation, the influence of cultural values, norms, and multiculturalism on creativity, and the dialogical coevolvement between culture and creativity. The collection of articles in this issue presents cutting-edge evidence and lays the groundwork for an active dialogue about integrating the study of culture and creativity.

How Chinese and Caucasian Canadians Conceptualize Creativity: The Mediating Role of Uncertainty Avoidance

The current study examines cultural value mediators of the relationship between culture and the relative weight placed on novelty versus usefulness when conceptualizing creativity. With a sample of Chinese and Caucasian Canadian undergraduate students, we found that uncertainty avoidance, but not power distance or individualism/collectivism, mediated the relationship between culture and preferences toward the novel versus useful dimensions of creativity. We replicated the effect of uncertainty avoidance in a second study with Chinese Canadians’ bicultural identity integration predicting focus on novelty versus usefulness in the predicted direction. We advance prior research by isolating a cultural value mechanism driving cultural variation in the conceptualization of creativity when considering novelty versus usefulness. We discuss theoretical contributions and implications for future research addressing additional creativity domains, situated cognition, and norm salience.

Novelty and Usefulness Trade-Off: Cultural Cognitive Differences and Creative Idea Evaluation

Creativity and innovation have become critical organizational capabilities in today’s global environment, and leveraging creative potential of employees across various cultural contexts has become increasingly important. Although recognized among researchers, cross-cultural differences in creativity are not yet well understood. We contribute to this line of research by constructing a theoretical model that focuses on cultural differences in cognition (i.e., holistic vs. analytic thinking) that affect the evaluation of creative ideas. The cultural cognition perspective allows us to theorize about the interrelationship between an idea’s novelty and its usefulness. We propose that to the extent there is a trade-off between an idea’s novelty and usefulness, cultural differences in cognition will systematically influence the trade-off relationship such that Easterners will perceive a stronger trade-off between novelty and usefulness as compared with their Western counterparts. Such effects of cultural cognition, however, can be reduced by contextual factors of multicultural exposure, cognitive team diversity, and organizational climate for innovation. Our cultural cognition perspective complements the extant cultural value and social norms perspectives on cross-cultural differences in creativity and innovation.

Unlocking Expatriates’ Job Creativity: The Role of Cultural Learning, and Metacognitive and Motivational Cultural Intelligence

In this article, we extend Amabile's componential theory of creativity to account for cross-cultural creativity by conceptualizing cultural learning as a crucial component in the creativity relevant process. We hypothesize a significant positive relationship between cultural learning and expatriates’ cross-cultural job creativity, and that this relationship will be enhanced by domain learning and the cultural distance between the host and home countries. Moreover, we propose that expatriates with higher metacognitive and motivational cultural intelligence will engage in greater cultural learning, which in turn will be related to job creativity. Data from 219 expatriate-supervisor dyads of 36 Chinese multinational companies reveal that metacognitive CQ and motivational CQ are indeed positive antecedents to cultural learning, which in turn positively relates to cross-cultural job creativity, especially for high domain learning expatriates who work in a foreign culture not vastly different from home. Our findings make significant contributions to the existing literature on creativity and provide nuanced understanding of the relationship between cultural intelligence, cultural learning and cross-cultural job creativity. Our findings also have important implications for expatriate management.

Self and Identity of Being an Ideal Woman: An Exploratory Qualitative Study

Gender roles and their stereotyped behaviour is influenced by various factors, both external and internal, during the course of an individual’s life. But, the identity of being an ideal woman is allegedly triggered by marketing. It seems to create an identity benchmark in the society and a pressure in women to comply with these identity standards. These efforts to adhere to the ideal woman benchmark is reflected in women’s consumption. But, what does it mean to be an ideal woman? To explore this, we conducted 20 interviews. The study identified that being an ideal woman is being beautiful and feminine, and to have stereotyped perfect bodies and behaviour. These seem to be driven by the expectations from men, which bring transitions in a woman’s public and private self. The study also discusses the implications to marketing and advertising.

Shared Authentic Leadership in Research Teams: Testing a Multiple Mediation Model

Research teams face complex leadership and coordination challenges. We propose shared authentic leadership (SAL) as a timely approach to addressing these challenges. Drawing from authentic and functional leadership theories, we posit a multiple mediation model that suggests three mechanisms whereby SAL influences team effectiveness: shared mental models (SMM), team trust, and team coordination. To test our hypotheses, we collected survey data on leadership and teamwork within 142 research teams that recently published an article in a peer-reviewed management journal. The results indicate team coordination represents the primary mediating mechanism accounting for the relationship between SAL and research team effectiveness. While teams with high trust and SMM felt more successful and were more satisfied, they were less successful in publishing in high-impact journals. We also found the four SAL dimensions (i.e., self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral perspective) to associate differently with team effectiveness.

Identifying as American among Adolescents from Asian Backgrounds

An important aspect of identity development requires adolescents to consider and select the cultural label or labels that best fit with their conception of who they are. Yet, little is known about the longitudinal development of such labeling preferencs and their possible links with adjustment. Using longitudinal data from 180 Asian Americans (60% female; 74% U.S.-born), intra-individual and group-level changes in adolescents' American label use were tracked. Over time, 48% chose an American label as their "best-fitting" label and 42% chose an American label at least once, but did not include an American label during at least one other time point. American label use was not associated with continuous measures of American identity, but the use of American labels was linked with lower levels of ethnic identity. American identity, whether indicated by label use or continuous scale scores, was generally linked with positive psychological and academic adjustment, with some effects of label use moderated by gender and generational status. Developmental implications of American cultural labels as markers of adolescent identity and broader adjustment are discussed.

Bicultural and Generalized Identity Integration Predicts Interpersonal Tolerance

In this article, we test the hypothesis that individuals with higher levels of identity integration—or those who perceive their different social identities as more blended and harmonious—will exhibit greater interpersonal tolerance toward others holding dissimilar values and preferences. Three studies examined this hypothesis using bicultural identity integration (or perceived blendedness and harmony between multiple cultural identities) and generalized identity integration (or perceived blendedness and harmony between one’s social identities in general). We find that individuals who perceive higher levels of blendedness, but not harmony, between their social identities are more tolerant of dissimilar others, as demonstrated by making more positive trait inferences about them. We also find that experimentally increasing identity integration leads to more positive trait inferences. Our findings have theoretical and practical implications for managing conflict between individuals and groups.

Situational Salience of Norms Moderates Cultural Differences in the Originality and Usefulness of Creative Ideas Generated or Selected by Teams

This study examines how culture affects the normative processes implicated in cultural differences in creative behaviors. Western norms prioritize originality and Eastern norms usefulness. In a cross-cultural study, we found significant performance differences in terms of originality and usefulness between Americans and Taiwanese only when these norms were salient, as when the task required individuals to select ideas (vs. generate new ideas) or to work in a group (vs. work alone). Compared with Taiwanese, Americans generated more original ideas when they worked in a group or when the task required them to select ideas for further elaboration. When required to select ideas in a group, norms were most salient and Americans’ relative advantage over Taiwanese in originality was most pronounced. In contrast, compared with Americans, Taiwanese generated more useful ideas when they worked in a group or when the task required them to select ideas for further elaboration. When required to select ideas in a group, Taiwanese’s advantage over Americans in usefulness was most pronounced. Moreover, although Americans and Taiwanese were equally capable of generating original and useful ideas, Taiwanese teams tended to express useful ideas and hold back original ones in group discussion. In contrast, American teams tended to hold back useful ideas. The theoretical and future research implications of these findings are discussed.

Flexible Loyalties: How Malleable Are Bicultural Loyalties?

Biculturals are individuals who are acculturated in two cultures and have dual identities. Due to this, many early discussions on biculturalism argued that biculturals may have divided loyalties between their two cultural backgrounds and the identities derived from these backgrounds. This view is further highlighted given historical and contemporary debate regarding immigrants in the European and American political arenas. These concerns illustrate two possibilities. First, that biculturals have a preference for their home or host culture, identifying one as the in-group to express loyalty toward and the other as the out-group. Second, biculturals may alternate between who they identify as their in-group depending upon the circumstances. In a particular cultural environment, a given bicultural may feel greater degrees of loyalty toward that culture, while feeling different loyalties when immersed in a different cultural environment. To-date, few empirical studies have examined these two questions in detail. We proposed two hypotheses: First, biculturals will express higher levels of loyalty for a specific culture if they have been exposed to a prime congruent with that culture than if they have been exposed to a prime associated with a different culture. Second, the magnitude of preferences expressed for the two cultures will differ depending on the cultural prime. We experimentally investigated this phenomenon in a sample of Chinese-Americans (N = 136) using a computer simulated soccer game between the United States and China. This simulation was selected in order to avoid the controversial nature of an immigration or cultural conflict scenario. Past research has shown that support for the sports team of a given country is a form of expressing loyalty. Participants were randomly exposed to one cultural priming condition (American, Neutral, Chinese) using commentaries recorded in different languages: English, no commentary, and Chinese. Participants were then asked to what degree they would cheer for each team. Participants expressed more likelihood to cheer for the Chinese team than for the American team. However, our results indicate that cultural priming does influence the degree to which the participants express loyalty for the Chinese team over the American team in the form of rooting behaviors.

When Money Makes Employees Warm and Bright: Thoughts of New Money Promote Warmth and Competence

Warmth and competence are two important dimensions that facilitate career success (e.g., building relationships, providing novel solutions to problems). We investigated how situational reminders of money affect warmth and competence. Specifically, we propose that reminders of new (vs. used) money increase people's warmth and competence. In five studies of working adults, inducing participants to think about new (vs. used) banknotes promoted creative idea generation (Study 1) (reflecting competence), increased concern for coworkers (Study 2), decreased self-serving behavior (Study 3), and increased helping intentions (Study 5) and behavior (Study 4) (reflecting warmth). Study 4 showed that the effect of priming new money on warmth occurs by activating a norm of social conscientiousness. Our findings suggest that money's appearance can impact problem solving, prorelationship behavior, and perceived norms. We discuss implications for research on money, norm salience, and organizational behavior.

n-Culturals: modeling the multicultural identity

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to extend current conceptualizations of multicultural individuals by mapping the underlying elements of knowledge, identification, commitment and internalization as components of multicultural identity. It aims to extend discussions of how multicultural individuals manage their multiculturality.

Design/methodology/approach

– The paper draws primarily on extant works on multicultural individuals and identity. The paper reviews a number of concepts relevant to multicultural identity to introduce the existence of a population called n-Culturals who represent a complex type that exists on one extreme of a continuum of multicultural identity. The paper derives a theory of n-Culturalism which represents a more nuanced theory of the multicultural identity.

Findings

– n-Culturals recognizes that elements of multicultural identity exist within individuals to a greater or lesser extent and that their combination results in a comprehensive understanding of the entire range of multicultural identities. n-Culturalism extends current views that multicultural individuals maintain multiple saliences of their identities rather than switching modes to manage their multiculturality.

Research limitations/implications

– The conceptual nature of the paper implies that there are no existing empirical data apart from anecdotal examples; at the same time this fact provides ample opportunities to test the theory.

Practical implications

– First, the findings provides an understanding of multiple cultural influences on acculturative stress and on performance across a range of domains as well as measuring multicultural identity. Second, by understanding the way in which n-Culturals develop the authors may gain valuable insights in modeling this process.

Originality/value

– The paper develops a new theory of approaching the challenges faced by multicultural individuals, that is, how to manage their multiculturality. The theory goes beyond current views of switching modes or suppression, and suggests maintaining and balancing multiple identities.

Psychological Functions of Subjective Norms

This article considers the social and psychological functions that norm-based thinking and behavior provide for the individual and the collectivity. We differentiate between two types of reference groups that provide norms: peer groups versus aspirational groups. We integrate functionalist accounts by distinguishing the functions served by the norms of different reference groups, different degrees of norm moralization, and different directions of responses to norm activation.

Mechanisms of Identity Conflict

Social identities are associated with normative standards for thought and action, profoundly influencing the behavioral choices of individual group members. These social norms provide frameworks for identifying the most appropriate actions in any situation. Given the increasing complexity of the social world, however, individuals are more and more likely to identify strongly with multiple social groups simultaneously. When these groups provide divergent behavioral norms, individuals can experience social identity conflict. The current manuscript examines the nature and consequences of this socially conflicted state, drawing upon advances in our understanding of the neuropsychology of conflict and uncertainty. Identity conflicts are proposed to involve activity in the Behavioral Inhibition System, which in turn produces high levels of anxiety and stress. Building upon this framework, four strategies for resolving identity conflict are reviewed.

Human Creativity: Reflections on the Role of Culture

In commenting on the articles in this Editors' Forum, three questions are addressed: (i) how should we operationalize and measure creative outputs to enable a sound analysis of cross-cultural differences in creativity; (ii) could it be that culture impacts not only the valuation of originality and usefulness but also the psychological processes through which original yet useful ideas and insights are achieved; and (iii) does culture impact the domains in which individuals are more or less motivated to perform creatively? Using recent work on creativity as a starting point, and the key findings reported in this Editors' Forum, I propose that new research on culture and creativity would benefit from separating creative products from creative processes, and would do justice to the nature and functionality of cultures by asking not only when and how individuals and groups achieve creativity, but also why they would bother to be creative in the first place.

Yin Yang: A New Perspective on Culture

In this article I propose a Yin Yang perspective to understand culture. Based on the indigenous Chinese philosophy of Yin Yang, I conceptualize culture as possessing inherently paradoxical value orientations, thereby enabling it to embrace opposite traits of any given cultural dimension. I posit that potential paradoxical values coexist in any culture; they give rise to, exist within, reinforce, and complement each other to shape the holistic, dynamic, and dialectical nature of culture. Seen from the Yin Yang perspective, all cultures share the same potential in value orientations, but at the same time they are also different from each other because each culture is a unique dynamic portfolio of self-selected globally available value orientations as a consequence of that culture's all-dimensional learning over time.

Creativity East and West: Perspectives and Parallels

This Editors' Forum – ‘Creativity East and West’ – presents five papers on the question of cultural differences in creativity from the perspective of different research literatures, followed by two integrative commentaries. The literatures represented include historiometric, laboratory, and organizational studies. Investigation of cultural influences through country comparisons and priming manipulations, focusing on how people perform creatively and how they assess creativity. This introduction notes parallels in the findings across these research perspectives, suggesting some cultural universals in creativity and some systematic differences. Many differences can be explained in terms of the model that creativity means a solution that is both novel/original and useful/appropriate, yet that Western social norms prioritize novelty whereas Eastern norms prioritize usefulness – an account which predicts cultural differences would arise in contexts that activate social norms. The commentaries elaborate this argument in terms of processes – at the micro cognitive level and at the macro societal level – through which creativity occurs.

Culture and Creativity: A Process Model

The articles in this forum present many innovative ideas on the role of culture in creativity. In this commentary, we first discuss the contributions of these articles in relation to two recurrent themes: (i) where creativity resides and (ii) what conceptual refinements are needed to push the field forward. Next, we oudine a process model of creativity and explain the role of culture at each stage of knowledge creation. We argue that successful innovation involves one or more iterations of the following three stages: (i) authoring new ideas; (ii) selecting, editing, and marketing new ideas; and (iii) acceptance of the new ideas in the market. The desired outcomes are different at the different stages, and culture influences all stages of the process. Specifically, existing knowledge provides a reference point for evaluating the originality of ideas; assumed cultural consensus provides the normative basis for idea selection, editing, and marketing; and actual cultural norms determine how likely an idea will be accepted in a culture. Furthermore, different social and psychological processes are at work at different stages of the creativity process, and culture can affect the outcomes of the creativity process through its effects on these social and psychological processes.

Creativity: The Influence of Cultural, Social, and Work Contexts

The present article aims to answer the question of whether creativity is universal or culture-specific. We develop a conceptual framework that expands the existing knowledge in two ways. First, it distinguishes between the two dimensions of creativity – novelty and usefulness, and their relationship to culture. Second, it clarifies how the social context moderates the relationship between culture and creativity. We focus on the social context where cultural differences are likely to be more salient because of the presence of others, relative to the private work context where no one observes whether a person performs in a normative or a unique way. In addition, we propose that task structure, whether a task is tightly or loosely structured, is an important contextual characteristic that moderates the relationship between culture and creativity. Lastly, we offer several propositions to guide future research.

Whose Time Is It? Understanding Clock-time Pacing and Event-time Pacing in Complex Innovations

Time pacing, which refers to the regulation of intensity and direction of people's attention and effort, is central to innovation management. However, in a study of complex product innovation in pharmaceuticals, we find that time pacing is a major source of conflict between managers and scientists over innovation management. Our analysis of this tension reveals that two very different forms of time pacing operate in this complex innovation. Clock-time pacing, which gauges progress by the predictable passage of clock time, is used by strategic managers to reduce unnecessary exploration, focus on necessary questions, and speed up the execution of steps. Event-time pacing, which gauges progress by the unpredictable achievement of learning events, is used by the scientists to develop a deep understanding of how a drug might behave in the body against a disease, to focus on learning by asking many questions, and to integrate emergent results into plausible patterns. We identify four dimensions that differentiate clock-time pacing from event-time pacing, which drive the tension between the two. We summarize negative effects that this tension can have on innovation if left unaddressed, and then suggest ways to integrate clock-time pacing with event-time pacing. We also discuss implications for Chinese management.

Culture and the Assessment of Creativity

Laboratory studies of culture and creativity typically rely upon measures of divergent thinking while studies of creativity in organizational settings explicitly define creativity and use subject matter experts as assessors to account for the influence of culture on the assessment of creativity. Yet, little is known about what specific characteristics of a creative idea are considered when creativity is assessed by communities of experts (the field) in different spheres of creative activities (domain). In this article, we review, conceptually analyse, and illustrate using original interview data the influence of culture on the assessment of two commonly examined dimensions of overall creativity, novelty, and usefulness. Using the context of expatriates, we propose a framework, along with propositions, that integrates cultural experience, creativity criteria, and assessor perspectives on creativity assessment. Finally, we discuss ways in which a focus upon the processes underlying creativity assessments could help advance research on culture and creativity.

Doing Better Research on Organizational Behaviour in Chinese Cultural Settings: Suggestions from the Notebooks of Two Fellow-Travellers

In this article, we describe the development of cross-cultural research in organizational behaviour over the last few decades. Distinguishing four epochs of cross-cultural research, i.e., the Aristotelian, Linnean, Newtonian, and Einsteinian, we explain research questions, empirical approaches, and research designs that have guided contributions to each epoch. Based on this description, we outline a route for future research that takes Chinese indigenous constructs as points of departure to describe how individual outcomes of interest are embedded in their cultural environment. Finally, we provide concrete implications for future research in this area.

Diversity in Organizations and Cross-Cultural Work Psychology: What If They Were More Connected?

In this article, we discuss how the fields of diversity in organizations and cross-cultural work psychology can benefit from greater attention to and integration with each other as well as more clarity regarding the distinctions between them. We first present—each in our own voice and from our individual perspective—past and current issues in the two respective areas. We then jointly identify and discuss key areas of commonality and difference between diversity and cross-cultural work psychology in theory, research, and practice. Subsequently, we point to ways the two fields might learn and benefit from each other's approaches and perspectives. We consider issues such as the interplay between culture and diversity, the dual impact of individuals on groups and vice versa, and the role of identity as an organizing principle in group diversity. Overall, this article provides illustrative examples of the benefits of more exchange and dialogue between the fields.

How Dual-Identity Processes Foster Creativity

We propose a theoretical model explaining when and why possessing 2 inconsistent social identities can foster superior creativity. The framework describes how during cultural adaptation individuals (a) alternate their identities across contexts, (b) integrate elements of their distinct (i.e., remote and uncorrelated) identities, and, having formed cognitive and emotional links with the new group, (c) broaden their self-definition. We explain how these processes of cultural adaptation map onto 3 fundamental creative processes: (a) an ability to quickly and effortlessly switch between cognitive strategies and semantic categories, (b) an apparent ease in integrating distant and conflicting ideas, and finally, (c) the widening of one's creative idea base. Our model explains how the challenges involved in managing complex self-definitions enhance creativity, and increase potential for novel problem solutions. Understanding this dynamic brings a new perspective to debates on the value of diversity.

International Collaboration for Academic Publication

In this study, the authors examine factors that explain international scholars’ success in publishing in North American management journals through collaboration. Drawing on the international entry mode literature, the authors propose that international collaboration teams are more successful when they increase complementary resources and reduce transaction costs. A sample of 364 articles from 10 North American management journals shows that teams published in higher impact management journals when they had U.S. or Canadian collaborators, higher proportions of assistant professors, and less gender diversity. Combining additional findings from 23 semistructured interviews, the authors provide a research model to explain the resources and costs embedded in international collaboration teams as well as mechanisms that help transform costs into resources.

Attentional Focus and the Dynamics of Dual Identity Integration

Do situational cues to individuals’ social identities shift the way they look at objects? Do such shifts hinge on the structure of individuals’ self-concept? We hypothesized individuals with integrated identities would exhibit attentional biases congruent with identity cues (assimilative response), whereas those with nonintegrated identities would exhibit attentional biases incongruent with identity cues (contrastive response). Dual identity participants (Asian Americans, Study 1; female lawyers, Study 2) were exposed to identity primes and then asked to focus on central, focal objects in a stimulus display. Among participants with high identity integration, American (Study 1) or lawyer priming (Study 2) shifted attention toward focal objects (assimilative response). Among participants with low identity integration, Asian (Study 1) or female priming (Study 2) shifted attention toward focal objects (contrastive response). Dual identity integration moderates responses to identity cues in attentional focus. Implications for identity structure, object perception, and task performance are discussed.

Managing two cultural identities: the malleability of bicultural identity integration as a function of induced global or local processing

Increasingly, individuals identify with two or more cultures. Prior research has found the degree to which individuals chronically integrate these identities (bicultural identity integration; BII) moderates responses to cultural cues: High BII individuals assimilate (adopting biases that are congruent with norms of the cued culture), whereas low BII individuals contrast (adopting biases that are incongruent with these norms). The authors propose BII can also be a psychological state and modulated by shifts in processing styles. In four experiments, the authors induced a global or local processing style using physical posture (Experiment 1) and cognitive manipulations (Experiments 2-4) and found that BII is enhanced in contexts facilitating a more global processing style (i.e., smiling, high-level construal, and similarity focus). The authors also found that contrastive responses to cultural cues are diminished when BII is situationally enhanced. Implications for research on processing style, identity integration, and performance in culture-based situations are discussed.