Calling for ‘The New Cultural Normal’–

NBS8199 Dissertation

(Dual Award M. Sc. Advanced International Business Management &

Marketing)

Calling for ‘The New Cultural Normal’–

Benefits and Challenges of Working with Biculturals

and how to deal with it: A Multiple Case Study

by Lisa Tran

Student No.: S3751619 (RUG) & 200372466 (NUBS)

Supervised by Bartjan Pennink (RUG) & Robin Pesch (NUBS)

December 04

, 2020

Abstract

This research’s objective is to detect and understand the current perception and value of biculturalism in the work environment and further to develop a conceptual framework of how to integrate those individuals effectively. The emerging framework, called ‘The New Cultural Normal’ describes the process of reaching the status of full integration of biculturalism among society. It will help each affected party, which are assigned to four corporate setting levels defined as bicultural employees, colleagues, supervisor, and the company, to enhance their awareness regarding how to deal with bicultural colleagues. Based on insights and narratives of bicultural employees collected through 18 conducted interviews, several key categories emerged, followed by the attribution of each to a corporate setting, considering which has the most substantial influence on that category. Conclusively, implications of how to enhance the incorporation of those individuals in the work environment have been drawn. These findings will therefore help to shape the future workplace, where more inclusion and contentment will lead to qualitative improved team outcomes, hence increased corporate performance, and can even conclude in long-term societal changes.

Acknowledgements

The creation of this academic work was only possible with the great support of both of my supervisors, Bartjan Pennink and Robin Pesch, who provided a path, which enabled me to think creatively and gave me the confidence to examine a topic, which others might have perceived as uncommon.

Furthermore, I am immensely grateful to all of my 18 interviewees, who shared profound personal narratives, the good and the bad ones, which have been more than eye-opening. Ultimately, I would also like to show my gratitude to my sister, who always picked up the phone and shared her time with me to listen to my thoughts, even though she became herself just recently the greatest mother of a gorgeous baby girl.

Table of Content

1) Introduction ... 5

2) Literature Review ... 7

2.1) Culture & Cross-Cultural Management ... 7

2.2) Understanding Biculturalism ... 9

2.3) Bicultural Employees in Organizational Studies ... 12

3) Research Questions & Rationale ... 13

4) Methodology ... 16

4.1) Research Design ... 16

4.2) Research Strategy ... 17

4.3) Sample Design ... 18

4.4) Data Analysis & Coding ... 20

5) Findings ... 21

5.1) Bicultural Employees ... 23

5.1.1) Bicultural Skills... 23

5.1.2) Intercultural Competency ... 25

5.1.3) Advanced Work Ethic ... 27

5.2) Colleagues ... 30

5.2.1) Approaching Bicultural Employees ... 30

5.2.2) Challenging Bias ... 32 5.2.3) Team Atmosphere ... 34 5.3) Supervisor ... 35 5.3.1) Team Collocation ... 35 5.3.2) Managerial Support ... 36 5.4) Company ... 38 5.4.1) Corporate Efforts... 38 5.4.2) Corporate Benefits ... 39 6) Discussion ... 42

6.1) The Concept of Reaching ‘The New Cultural Normal’ ... 42

6.2) Theoretical Contribution ... 45

6.3) Implications ... 46

6.4) Limitations & Future Research ... 48

7) Conclusion ... 49

8) Reference list ... 50

9) Appendices ... 56

9.1.) Interview Guideline (English Version) ... 56

List of Tables & Figures

Figure 1) Conceptual model of the influence of biculturalism on corporate settings and its

potential effect on the work environment ... 15

Figure 2) The process of reaching 'The New Cultural Normal' ... 44

Table 1) Sample characteristics ... 20

Table 2) Corporate settings with assigned categories ... 22

1) Introduction

In only 14 years, the number of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of companies located in the US with an ethnically diverse background doubled from 27 per cent in 2004 to 54 per cent in 2018 (Crist Kolder Associates, 2019). Moreover, albeit the Fortune 500 CEOs are still predominantly white males counting almost 90 per cent of the total share in 2020, the number is steadily declining since the beginning of this century while simultaneously the quantity of new CEOs with a culturally diverse background is continuously rising (Zweigenhaft, 2020). Those significant developments can be traced back to the increasing number of bicultural individuals among many developed countries’ societies (van Nimwegen and Van der Erf, 2010), yet this phenomenon of biculturalism in the work environment is still understudied. While most of the conducted research analyzes cross-cultural management on an international level between monocultural individuals with a different cultural background (Adler, 1991; Søderberg and Holden, 2002), this research field lacks knowledge concerning cross-cultural management, which occurs on an intra-national level as several cultures can be inherent within one individual as well.

In the course of the increasing collaboration of markets worldwide, people’s lives are becoming more diverse and complex as a vast amount of people crossing borders (Coleman, 2009; van Nimwegen and Van der Erf, 2010). Either forced by difficult political or environmental circumstances in their home country (push driver) or voluntary for instance due to labour opportunities (pull driver), an unprecedented number of immigrants will keep settling in foreign countries (Eytan, 2004; Van Hear et al., 2018). Even though the number of individuals belonging to the first or second subsequent generation of foreign descents is challenging to quantify, it is undeniable that the share of bicultural people depicts an ever-increasing work cohort (van Nimwegen and Van der Erf, 2010). To gain an approximate idea of how many people could have been raised biculturally, examining countries’ statistics about immigrants can help, which constitute the foundation for biculturalism. For instance, 25 per cent of the German population has a migrant background2 nowadays, either because they are immigrants or being the descendant of immigrants (German Federal Statistical Office, 2016). Other statistics even show that around 20 to 30 per cent of the European population will be bicultural

2 _{The definition of ‘a person with a migrant background’ differs depending on statistical (only include first}

descendant generation of immigrants) or socio-economic usage (include further descendant generations of immigrants) (Will, A.-K. (2020) Migrationshintergrund – wieso, woher, wohin? Available at:

by 2050 (Coleman, 2009). Although this cohort remains statistically indeterminate, it will obtain an essential stake in the future workforce (Coleman, 2009).

The necessity of the full integration of culturally diverse individuals at the workplace shows similar traits like the development of the gender diversity issue: Society achieved a level of mutual respect progressively regardless of one’s gender. Sexism is widely refused among society and at work nowadays. Nevertheless, people did not reflect on personal cultural backgrounds ultimately, yet wherefore culturally inappropriate behavior or communication difficulties still occurs in the everyday workplace.

Scholars like Brannen and Thomas (2010), Fitzsimmons (2013), Barker (2017) and Hong (2010), conducted first attempts of researching this phenomenon; however, some did include expatriates instead of solely collecting narratives by bicultural employees, which distorts the cohort immensely. In contrast, this academic work focuses on collecting primary data through interviews only conducted with biculturals and purposefully exclude multicultural people. To study the research field of bicultural employees in the work environment, firstly a literature review about cross-cultural management and biculturalism will be undertaken, followed by the analysis of the primary data collected through the interviews. The scholar will use the qualitative research method to receive in-depth understanding (Yin, 2015). Moreover, Glaser and Strauss’ (2017) grounded theory approach constitutes the basis for developing a theoretical framework, which emerges through the usage of an inductive analysis process of the data (Burnard et al., 2008).

The advanced comprehension of bicultural individuals can constitute a valuable tool for enhancing cultural diversity in the workplace. As biculturals are familiar with the main culture while having another ethnic culture inherent, there might be, for instance, less reservation of monocultural colleagues to approach them, wherefore bicultural individuals can possess the role of a mediator and bridge between different cultures. This academic work’s objective is to create a conceptual framework which encompasses knowledge about bicultural employees’ capabilities, which will help each affected party, including bicultural employees, colleagues, supervisors, and companies, to enhance their awareness regarding how to deal with biculturalism in the work environment to reach a stage of complete integration.

contentment will lead to improved qualitative outcomes and maybe even to long-term societal changes.

2) Literature Review

2.1) Culture & Cross-Cultural Management

If talking about cross-cultural management, Adler’s work called “International Dimensions of Organizational Behaviour” (1991) and Hofstede’s “Culture’s Consequences – International differences in work-related values” (1984) need to be mentioned. Their works substantially influenced this academic field and created a fundamental base for further research. Either in the form of investigating the cultural impact on different organizational position (Adler, 1991) or by gathering data across 50 countries to conclude and compare work-related values and behavioral patterns (Hofstede, 1984). Without lessen the decisive findings and implications of the research mentioned above, the definition of culture has evolved due to the changing collocation of society wherefore the findings from over three decades ago may not be entirely valid anymore. Culture is still mostly associated with national borders in the scientific context (Søderberg and Holden, 2002), hence overlooking the possibility of immigrants or children of foreign descents who crossed those borders, living in a new cultural environment while still owning another ethnic culture. Cultural patterns continuously change through the people who live those patterns and reproduce them, teaching them to further generations (Søderberg and Holden, 2002). The evolving societal structures, including bicultural individuals, therefore redefine culture decisively while cultural communities and their boundaries become more blurred and might even merge (Hannerz, 1996).

in the companies’ values and its employees’ mind, the benefits can be fully reaped (Schneider

et al., 2003). Current trends show that the latter perspective is the more recent and important

one (Martin, 2014). Bicultural individuals are extensively interconnected with two cultures, wherefore the findings of Gross (2004), stating that companies are more likely to recognize and value cultural knowledge and skills, the better an employee is familiar with them, are contradictive to Brannen and Thomas (2010) assumption, that companies still overlook bicultural competencies. This academic work’s data supports Brannen and Thomas (2010) point of view, as the interviews revealed the oversight of bicultural employees’ strengths by their supervisors, even though they are highly familiar with both cultures.

Cross-cultural management encompasses the handling of culturally diverse individuals, which is often negatively connotated because of possible challenges in communication, interpreting the behavior of colleagues, and occurring frictions (Søderberg and Holden, 2002; Martin, 2014). According to Adler’s definition of cross-cultural management (1991), it refers to studying “the behavior of people in organizations around the world […] and perhaps, most importantly, seeks to understand and improve the interaction of co-workers, clients, suppliers, and alliance partners from different countries and cultures.” (Adler, 1991, p.10). Based on the enhanced perception of culture presented above, this academic work redefines cross-cultural management as a means that needs to be recognized by all employees, supervisors, and companies regardless of the internationalization level of their work. As the cohort of bicultural employees is steadily growing, especially among developed countries (Chirkov, 2009; Brannen and Thomas, 2010), the meaning of cross-cultural management will gain ever-more importance in intra-national settings, while it will cross paths in the work environment daily.

Hence, to be able to successfully perform as a company in the future, rethinking current perceptions of culture, both inter- and intra-national, is substantial (Søderberg and Holden, 2002).

2.2) Understanding Biculturalism

Several scholars in psychology study the phenomenon of biculturalism for decades, dealing with theories regarding how bicultural people integrate both of their inherent cultures (LaFromboise et al., 1993; Benet‐Martínez and Haritatos, 2005; Hong et al., 2007). Standard definitions of biculturalism include among other immigrants, refugees, expatriates or ethnic minorities (Berry, 2003). Additionally, Benet-Martinez et al. (2002) define bicultural individuals as people, who have been exposed to and have internalized two cultures. However, several other scholars like Costa (2019) or Ringberg, et al. (2010), who study the phenomenon of bilingualism, show, there is proof that the way of thinking and behavior acting of individuals are highly influenced by the languages they are learning and speaking since childhood. That is why both definitions of biculturalism do not fulfil the academic requirement for this research as they are too broad and need to be specified to provide a high level of robustness and generality of this research. Therefore, this research expands the definition of biculturalism by the argument that language has an extensive impact on individual behavior too (Ringberg et

al., 2010; Costa, 2020); thus, individuals are only categorized as bicultural if growing up

bilingual as well. (Benet-Martínez et al., 2002)

On the other hand, cultural identification is rooted more deeply in individuals due to their childhood. Bicultural individuals are capable of accessing cultural-specific values, attitudes, believes and behavior from both cultures and can easily switch between those cultural schemas depending on the environment they are exposed to (Hong et al., 2000; Nguyen and Benet‐ Martínez, 2007). Albeit having access to two knowledge pools may sound desirable, with two cultures there come challenges in finding the right balance between both of them. Other scholars detected downsides like identity crises which conclude in maladjustment, stress, and isolation (Vivero and Jenkins, 1999; Rudmin, 2003). Former research on cultural identity even assumed that bicultural individuals have to decide for one culture to be capable of being economically successful, causing rejection of the other one (Brannen and Thomas, 2010). However, other scholars detected the possibility of owning several cultures, while negative connotation with biculturalism diminished and beneficial aspects emerged (Berry, 1997; Phinney et al., 2001).

For a better comprehension of bicultural individuals in a later stage of this research, this academic work integrates LaFromboise et al.’s (1993) bicultural identity integration model. They created an essential framework concerning how bicultural people handle their at least two inherent cultures. Thereby, the so-called ‘main, ‘hegemonic’ or ‘primary’ culture is mostly defined in the academic literature as the individual’s culture they deal with the most in their everyday life, whereas the culture of their foreign ancestors is called their ‘minor culture’ or ‘ethnic culture’. The following bicultural identity integration model, consisting of five types, will provide an important fundament during this master thesis to support an enhanced comprehension of bicultural individuals at the workplace and to connect the dots between biculturalism and the perception of various situations in an organizational setting (LaFromboise et al., 1993):

(2) Similar to the first model, the Acculturation Model compromises the acquisition of the primary culture. However, it differentiates in the sense that individuals can preserve the connection to their ethnic culture. It underlines the possibility of individuals altering their cultural attitude until they become a full competent participant of their hegemonic culture yet still are identified as a member of their minor culture. This model often applies to individuals, who need to ultimately acquire the primary culture to be economically successful due to external cultural pressure.

(3) A further model is the so-called Alternation Model. Those individuals know and understand two different cultures, hence possessing the capability of changing their behavior appropriately depending on the social-cultural context of the situation. Individuals who gained this kind of skill still feel belonging to both cultures without impairing their cultural identity.

(4) The fourth model is the Multicultural Model, which focusses on the ability to understand different cultures by gaining knowledge through working with culturally different people or their immigration into a foreign country. Having said that, this model mostly refers to individuals who grew up monocultural (wherefore, it will not be further assessed in the upcoming research as this model does not relate to the bicultural cohort). (5) The last model to mention is the Fusion Model, based on the idea of ‘the Melting Pot Theory’. In this case, a bicultural individual will fuse economic, political, or cultural, attitudes of their inherent two cultures to create a third one. Both initial cultural experiences will contribute to creating a new culture, including strengths and weaknesses. In contrast to the first two models, there is no assumption of any cultural superiority.

Those models are, however, not mutually exclusive. Depending on the bicultural individual and the exposed situation, their bicultural identity approach can change (LaFromboise et al., 1993). Even though the level of identifying with both cultures vary among individuals, they are still defined as biculturals (Benet-Martinez and Haritatos, 2005).

individuals developed those competencies due to the exposure to a vast number of cultural experiences and their unique way of dealing with it. The appropriate handling requires, among other things, flexibility, empathy, and metacognitive skills (LaFromboise et al., 1993; Mok and Morris, 2010; Barker, 2017). Primarily, they can be precious for organizations, whether nationally or internationally, in the form of owning efficient conflict-solving skills or possessing the function of a cultural mediator (Jehn and Mannix, 2001).

2.3) Bicultural Employees in Organizational Studies

Biculturalism has been already discussed in the socio-economic and psychology research field elaborately (LaFromboise et al., 1993; Benet-Martínez et al., 2006; Nguyen and Benet‐ Martínez, 2013); however, the relationship between bicultural individuals and their monocultural colleagues in a professional setting is still significantly understudied. The cohort of bicultural employees is growing steadily, wherefore the need to investigate this research field increases simultaneously (Earley and Mosakowski, 2000; Larsson and Lubatkin, 2001). Only a few scholars about biculturalism in organizational studies have been conducted so far by Brannen and Thomas (2010), Hong (2010). Fitzsimmons (2013) and Barker (2017). Brannen and Thomas’ (2010) created a useful summary of individual biculturalism integration approaches by collecting and presenting former literature while focusing on acculturation research. Their work mentions the changing meaning of acculturation during the course: While former definitions stated that bicultural individuals need to choose for one culture and rejecting the other, more recent studies describe acculturation as a rather bidimensional approach where it is possible for the individual to feel belonging two both cultures, nevertheless on a different level (Brannen and Thomas, 2010). They propose that companies need to foster an organizational culture, in which bicultural individuals can make use of both cultures and feel confident in knowledge-sharing and decision-making to be economically successful. In conclusion, companies should treat biculturalism within an individual as a valuable asset, just like the positive perception of cultural diversity between individuals (Brannen and Thomas, 2010). Similar to Hong (2010), they suggest the existence of specific cultural skills only possessed by bicultural individuals, defined as bicultural competencies (Hong, 2010).

depicts a pivotal academic means for future research about biculturalism in the work environment. Albeit her model helps to identify how multinational organizations or multicultural teams can benefit from bicultural employees, she is overlooking the potential advantages for companies in an intra-national work environment and market. Moreover, Fitzsimmons’ (2013) theoretical framework regarding multicultural individuals’ behavior at the workplace points into the same direction as the objection of this academic research; however, the inclusion of interviews with multicultural individuals and expatriates in her sample represents the severe difference in this case, and therefore distort the cohort of biculturals. Then again, the ‘Model of Multicultural Identity Dimensions’ by Fitzsimmons (2013) reveals three main categories which influence one’s social identity: personal history, current context and cultural content. Those variables are partly overlapping with LaFromboise et al.’s (1993) bicultural identity model (BI Model); hence similar cultural identity procedures can be found among bi- and multicultural individuals. However, to be aligned with the strict definition of biculturalism, only LaFromboise et al.’s (1993) model will be used for further analysis.

Even though Barker (2017) focuses on biculturalism in the work environment and is yet using in-depth interviews to gain new insights and narratives, she includes monocultural employees and expatriates in her research too similar to Fitzsimmons (2013). Still, her study contributed extensively to the research field of understanding bi- and multicultural individuals in the work environment by examining the acculturation process. Her findings revealed the requirement of “equality, mutual respect, autonomy, and openness among interaction parties” to be able to integrate biculturalism at the workplace (Barker, 2017, p. 299).

3) Research Questions & Rationale

emerging theory (Bowen, 2006). It depicts the starting point for this research’s analysis to create a grounded theory. Furthermore, the emerged theoretical concept will diminish that sizeable theoretical gap by using a qualitative research method (Bowen, 2006; Yin, 2015). This research will shed light on people growing up with two cultures and solely interviewing bicultural employees; consciously excluding expatriates. It, therefore, can bring forth new implications for cross-cultural management and colleagues, which will enhance the effectiveness and efficacy of all parties in the future. Enhanced awareness of occurring challenges and benefits concerning biculturalism at work will lead to a more inclusive coexistence and conclude in increased performance, not only in corporations but on an individual socially-sustainable level as well.

While the collocation of society changes, the academic definition of culture changes as well. Moving away from a definition where culture is bounded to national borders (Hofstede, 1984), its meaning has to be redefined and need to include the cultural perception of immigrants and people with a migrant background (Søderberg and Holden, 2002). Academic studies by Benet-Martinez and Haritatos (2005) and LaFromboise et al. (1993) show that individuals can have two different cultures inherent simultaneously. Because of biculturals are exposed to cohort-specific cultural situations, they created unique behavioral traits and skills and are examined in the psychological research field quite profoundly (Hong, 2010). In contrast, bicultural employees’ roles and impacts in the work environment remain still underdeveloped (Brannen and Thomas, 2010; Hong, 2010). Hence, the first objective of this study is to answer the question:

Research question 1) Which competencies do bicultural employees possess, and are they able to make usage of them?

Besides of that, academic researches majorly support the beneficial impact of culturally diverse teams (Cox and Blake, 1991; Stahl et al., 2010; Noe et al., 2017). Working with people possessing different cultural backgrounds can originate synergies by sharing values and experiences. Bicultural individuals are mostly working in a company containing their primary culture; however, the impact of their minor culture on their work ethic and approach has not been examined yet. Hence, the question arises if their ethnic culture influences the work performance at all:

Furthermore, the literature review revealed that there is still sparse research concerning bicultural individuals in the work environment on a national level. Recent statistics about the future collocation of society present a high share of bicultural individuals, who will make up a sizeable stake of the future employees’ cohort. While Fitzsimmons (2013) focuses on the contribution of biculturals in international corporations and teams, the need to examine this cohort embedded in an intra-national setting increases (Earley and Mosakowski, 2000; Larsson and Lubatkin, 2001).Hong (2010) also mentioned the unsystematic research of how and what bicultural individuals contribute to the workforce. Therefore, this academic work shifts the perception of cross-cultural management: Not only does it occur on an international level but evermore on an intra-national level as well, meaning within a company or a team including bicultural colleagues. To be able to reap the benefits of making usage of those bicultural competencies, there is a need for understanding how to integrate bicultural employees effectively, which concludes in the following question:

Research question 3) What are the key managerial factors which enable the utilization of bicultural competencies?

While the importance of intra-national cross-cultural management and its impact increases, four corporate setting levels will further explored in relation to the process of integrating biculturals, which are defined as follows: i) bicultural employees, ii) colleagues, iii) supervisor, and iv) company, see the sensitizing concept presented in figure 1. The emerging framework may help to comprehend better the needs and skills of bicultural employees and further support decision-making and approaching methods of colleagues. Figure 1 illustrates the starting point of developing the theoretical framework, where the corporate levels and sub research questions, as mentioned above, are organized and connected.

Based on the sensitizing concept regarding biculturalism and its impact and integration in the work environment, the research questions will be answered at the end of the findings chapter.

4) Methodology

The goal of this academic research is to create a conceptual framework, as this is the most suitable approach to explain the progression of the phenomenon to be studied (Camp, 2001). This will be achieved by linking existing concepts like the ‘Bicultural Identity Integration Model’ with newly generated insights gained through empirical research about bicultural employees and the analysis of in-depth interviews (Zimmermann et al., 2003; Yin, 2015; Barker, 2017). The narratives told by bicultural employees who are directly involved, facilitate to mitigate the risk of concluding blurred implications and outcomes (Søderberg and Holden, 2002).

4.1) Research Design

The preparation for these interviews will follow a semi-structured approach by encompassing some predetermined questions on the one hand and a few spontaneous ones during the conversation on the other (Yin, 2015). This approach enables scholars to focus on their specific phenomena studied, supports the prioritization of internal validity and contextual understanding, and ensures the comparability of data (Bickman and Rog, 2008; Yin, 2015). Moreover, after the completion of the interview, the participants will receive a brief diary template. During the following six weeks, the interviewee should pay attention to two to three arising work-related situations where biculturalism as a topic occurs. Those recent experiences will help and depict pivotal support to develop cutting-edge propositions. Hence, the semi-structured interview approach will correspond to the research question most suitable and efficient (Bickman and Rog, 2008; Yin, 2015).

defined as the dependent variable in this research (Goulding, 2002). However, this database can lead to a different outcome if any other researcher makes usage of them and interpret them differently (Glaser and Strauss, 2017).

4.2) Research Strategy

Social interactions are no measurable numerical components; instead, conclusions and implications need to be drawn based on real-life experiences similar to related laboratory experiments (Glaser and Strauss, 2017). This multiple case study will, therefore, generate reliable findings rather than a single case study (Yin, 2015).

The face-to-face semi-structured, in-depth conversational interview enables the researcher to adapt their questions according to the deepness level of interviewee’s shared experience. While being flexible regarding which information to collect, this kind of interview approach is most efficient to build up an emergent concept (Goulding, 2002). According to Fontana and Frey (1994), there are six critical considerations of which a researcher should be aware of while conducting interviews to understand the insights in the right context. The scholar of this research has herself3 a bicultural background, which constitutes an essential starting point for conducting interviews on a trustworthy and profound level, and leading to more detailed narratives by the participants as they may feel sharing their experiences in safe and comfortable surroundings. The three most salient arguments, which make this specific research setting unique due to the author’s own professional experiences and ethnic origin, will be briefly listed (Fontana and Frey, 1994):

• Accessing the setting: Because of the author’s own experiences at the workplace for more than two years, valuable connections with former colleagues have been drawn, which help to address the most useful experts for this research.

• Gaining trust: By virtue of the scholar’s own bicultural background encompassing German as her hegemonic culture and Vietnamese as her culture of origin, the interviews were conducted on a high level of trustworthiness as the participants felt positioned in a safe space to talk about the research topic and better comprehended, wherefore are speaking more freely.

• Establishing rapport: A comfortable atmosphere has been created where the participants did not feel judged concerning the experiences and narratives they shared due to the bicultural background of the interviewer and the given adequate time to think about their answers. Otherwise, the participants may have withheld important information if there is no sense of rapport.

The very first conducted interview represents the first round of empirical data and assists the adjustment of the interview guideline to avoid any misunderstandings. Based on those learnings, the final interview structure consists of three main pillars: Firstly, questions to figuring out the expert status of the interviewee have been asked including information about the level of bicultural identity integration, followed by the second part encompassing questions concerning biculturalism and the company. Finally, the last section, therefore, included questions about biculturalism and the interviewee’s team. The interview consists of close questions to gain in-depth insights, for instance, “What position do you currently occupy?” and open ones like “What behavior or thoughts did this incident trigger in you?”. In comparison with, for instance, Benet-Martinez and Haritatos’ work (2005), the usage of questionnaires might have enabled them to collect an incredible amount of superficial opinions of many participants; however, this statistical sampling does not consider individual experiences which are crucial for exploring this research topic as it is a socio-economic one.

Nonetheless, due to the time pressure or internal pressure to come up with a rapid answer, participants might have overlooked vital experiences from the past, which they did not think of immediately. The opportunity to share further insights via a follow-up diary template during the subsequent six weeks after the interview has taken place enables this research to become even more holistic. All interviews have been held in German to avoid any language biases as this is one of the participants’ native languages; therefore, mentioned citations in this academic work had been translated into English.

4.3) Sample Design

2009) at the workplace and constitutes the base to create a conceptual framework expanding the research area of bicultural employees. Furthermore, using purposive sampling regarding these research questions, it enables the analyses of information-rich and insightful cases and therefore constitutes the best suitable approach to learn about biculturalism at the workplace (Patton, 2007).

The set of dimensions for choosing the interviews are initially based on a homogenous sampling approach, meaning reducing variation to focus on one sample group (Patton, 2007). For this purpose, all participants need to fulfil the following characteristics: i) having inherent two cultures ‘from the cradle on’, ii) growing up bilingual, and iii) have been working fulltime for at least one year. Moreover, the sample aims to contain a variety of minor cultures to receive diverse perspectives on the focal phenomena while limiting a biased outcome (Eisenhardt and Graeber, 2007). By picking a broad range of cases and pursuing a maximum variation sampling, this kind of sampling provides a wider variety of experiences and perspectives and therefore considerably helps to identify common central patterns across participants’ personal cultural background (Patton, 2007). One might argue that the selected choice of interviewees can lead to a biased outcome compared to statistical sampling, however as the selection is well deliberated and executed carefully, it becomes a strength of this study (Patton, 2007).

At the same time, different initials are being used in place of the participants’ names, and firm names mentioned in citations are changed into for example ‘Company A’ to secure the interviewee’s privacy and the protection of the traceability to a particular company. Age, gender, and the company’s industry remained the same for the evaluation (see table 14). Due to the significant number of 18 conducted interviews, the analysis includes sufficient comparisons, which create a high level of generality, and explanatory powers of the core categories as various participants shared similar incidences and experiences for example (Goulding, 2002; Glaser and Strauss, 2017).

4.4) Data Analysis & Coding

The interviews have been held during September until mid-October 2020 while using the online video call platform ‘Zoom™’ as the communication tool. Face-to-face meetings would have been preferable; however, were not possible due to the current global pandemic this year. Nevertheless, the interview video recordings enabled the interviewer to construe the things

4 _{Interviewee No. 9) Immigrated to Germany in the age of 22. Even though he does not fit perfectly into the}

participant’s cohort, his insights are still based on experiences he made due to his bicultural background (Indian-Canadian) wherefore the data will be used.

which the participants’ have said and their mimic and gesture too. Paying attention to things which might not have been caught on the audio track and to “read between the lines” is crucial to interpret the data correctly (Goulding, 2002). The interviews lasted between 27 and 75 minutes, with an average conversation length of 49 minutes.

At any time during the transcription of the interviews, the constant comparative method of qualitative analysis has been used. Through substantive coding, encompassing the direct fracturing and analyzing of the data, memos have been taken during the transcription process in the form of keywords or short sentences such as ‘unconscious evaluation, ‘ownership’, or ‘minor culture traits depict as beneficial’ (Holton, 2007; Glaser and Strauss, 2017). Those used keywords help in the further process of coding to figure out causality and detecting the main categories based on a theoretical saturation as soon as the data generate interchangeable indicators (Glaser, 1992; Burnard et al., 2008). This inductive approach is being used to elaborate the data extensively and explore a research question where little is known about the study phenomenon (Glaser, 1992; Burnard et al., 2008). Consequently, a new theoretical concept emerges, which is distinguished by its parsimony, scope and generality (Holton, 2007, Burnard et al., 2008; Glaser and Strauss, 2017). With this method, the analysis of the transcripts concluded into ten main categories, which then again have been assigned to four corporate setting levels, see table 2 in the following chapter.

5) Findings

All 18 interviewees shared relevant experiences which contributed substantially towards creating the theoretical concept, based upon an insightful and elaborate database. At the beginning of the analysis, it revealed ten primary categories, which encompasses several subcategories like, for instance ‘trustworthiness’, ‘holistic approach’, or ‘valuing biculturalism’. While the main categories enhanced, a further dimension was recognizable based on the mentioning and repetition of keywords like ‘my colleagues’, ‘manager’ or ‘the company’, which are as a result of this defined as the corporate setting levels (see table 2). Each level encompasses different categories concerning biculturalism, assigned with the ones which are influenced the most by the individuals located on that level.

having two cultures inherent, those individuals developed several kinds of ‘bicultural skills’, ‘intercultural competency’, and a particular ‘advanced work ethic’. Moving on to the next level, described by colleagues working with bicultural individuals, main categories such as ‘approaching biculturals’, ‘challenging bias’, and ‘team atmosphere’ can be found. Both levels mentioned above can have a vital influence on the supervisor, who then again has the decision-making power regarding the ‘team collocation’ and the scope of ‘managerial support’. Last but not least, some of the emerging main categories are assigned to the company level, which comprises ‘corporate efforts’, and ‘corporate benefits’.

5.1) Bicultural Employees 5.1.1) Bicultural Skills

Bicultural skills are defined as capabilities which emerge in individuals based on and developed upon their bicultural background. It is not said that these skills only exclusive occur in bicultural individuals; however, it seems to be more easily for biculturals to feature among other things empathy, cultural sensitivity, or people approaching skills (Brannen and Thomas, 2010). Tadmor et al. already suggested back in 2009 specific unrecognized cultural general skills which can be attributed to bicultural individuals as they develop increased cognitive complexity across domains, which is aligned with the newly-gained insights of this research. Their bicultural skills help them and their employers to build strong relationships with other customers, clients, or colleagues, regardless of their culture (Tadmor et al., 2009).

Empathy plays a crucial role in successfully collaborate with other professionals, which has been mentioned significantly often by several interviewees across all minor cultures. Due to growing up biculturally, those individuals faced many situations, where they had to put on another perspective to be able to handle these situations. Either they are emotionally, cognitively or surroundings-based moments (Elliott et al., 2011). Hence, bicultural employees influence the work environment by being more inclusive, understanding, and patient (Brannen

et al., 2009).

But when it comes to other colleagues or international colleagues, I’m a little, I’d say more understanding. In other words, if my counterpart doesn’t immediately understand what I said in German or, in the case of international colleagues, in English. For example, when I say something to my mother in German, she sometimes doesn’t understand it immediately, and I think I put that into practice with colleagues too. […] So I don’t get grumpy, and I’m happy to repeat it. And I have seen many colleagues, even from my team, who have complained about it because their opponent didn’t understand it right away. And here I am, I can’t think of any other term but being understanding. (HE)

quickly. Because of some minor cultures’ strong stance on hierarchy, for instance, Chinese or Vietnamese, there is no culture of rejection, wherefore those bicultural individuals can be overwhelmed with tasks while not being able to address that issue. Nevertheless, integrating a trustworthy colleague in the form of bicultural individuals can depict a credible base of creating strong teamwork through enhanced communication and trust-building among all parties (Hong, 2010).

[...] Because on the one hand, I am flattered that my colleagues credit these attributions to me, that can do this particularly well […]. On the other hand, it is also taken for granted that my work is good because it seems easy for me. Well, it’s not naturally good; I still have to make an effort anyway. It also costs me effort and a lot of work to make sure that the results are promising. (TJ)

[...] I often notice that I am asked for advice. Furthermore, I also like to help, and I am often asked for help. Or when it comes to familiarizing new interns or new managers, colleagues ask me to step in and take over the familiarization. (HH)

Another essential bicultural skill is their high level of cultural sensitivity. Given the definition of cultural sensitivity encompassing to employ “one’s knowledge, consideration, understanding, respect, and tailoring after realizing awareness of self and others and encountering a diverse group or individual.” (Foronda, 2008, p. 210), bicultural employees positively tend to have developed such a skill due to their mixed cultural background. They quickly detect culturally inappropriate behavior, which is pivotal to develop a more inclusive work environment, but they only will point it out if they feel comfortable enough to do so at work. Without culturally sensitive staff, companies will face substantial challenges to become more culturally diverse or during their internationalization process, while there is a greater risk of cultural inappropriateness. In cases of mainly monocultural work environments and teams, addressing culturally inappropriate situations remain rare due to the unconsciousness of this topic in the employees’ mind.

I occasionally take sides with Asian students who are more introverted. [...] And I feel that is a pity, that this case occurs now and then. Meaning if you are not very outgoing, some [lecturers] don’t think much of these students. In such situations, I tried to make my colleagues understand that it is the culture. (TC)

bicultural skill as well. By being sensed approachable by a broad range of people due to having same behavioral, cognitive, or linguistic patterns in common, a bilateral path occurs, which represents a respectful base to communicate and to build fruitful professional relationships.

The Vietnamese culture is amiable and reserved, and I think that is very helpful concerning consultancy when you are working with clients and don’t put yourself in the centre all the time. I think that’s an advantage I have towards my colleagues [...] It is not only about the knowledge, but also about the personal touch why a client would book you and your team again. (TI)

A further finding encompasses the flexibility and adaptation skills of bicultural employees. While growing up with two cultures, they developed a unique agile adaptation process responding to their cultural environment, which Hong et al. (2000) define as ‘cultural frame switching’, which monocultural individuals do not naturally possess. They are capable of quickly adapting to new surroundings, whether it is private or at work (Nguyen and Benet‐ Martínez, 2007). This skill helps to master new and uncertain situations, leading to fast integration into working structures wherefore bicultural employees can concentrate all their resources on creating high qualitative outcomes. They gained this kind of tacit knowledge ‘from the cradle on’ by socializing and interacting within two societies, wherefore it is deeply rooted in the person’s consciousness (Brannen, 2009). Thus, acquiring tacit knowledge is challenging in a formal environment, such as workshops or training (Johnson et al., 2006).

I mean, I came to Germany when I was 11 years old. I came here with my mum, I entered a new school, I didn’t know anyone, I had no friends. I had to rebuild my environment around me. Maybe that helped me to still get along very well in a new environment. (PS)

On the one hand, I would say, [...] that I act more spontaneously and flexibly in certain situations. (IC)

5.1.2) Intercultural Competency

defined as “the ability to relate to and with people from vastly different cultural and ethnic backgrounds” (Deardorff, 2009, p 4).

Bicultural individuals often possess a cultural intermediate function at their workplace which enables them to moderate between different cultures. Besides being able to translate from their first language into another second native language, the even more critical competency of a cultural translator emerges as this skill is difficult to learn. By combining those skills and the ability to alternate between different cultures, biculturals may function as cultural brokers, boundary spanners, and conflict mediators (Brannen and Thomas, 2010; Hong, 2010). While the perception of circumstances can differ because of having a various cultural background, the cultural intermediary can take ownership of the situation and mediate between both parties in the form of grasping what the other means or needs. Primarily, this can support companies in the form of bicultural employees can deal more efficiently with international clients while also own the role of integrating new cultural-diverse employees (Hong, 2010). Whatever the company is looking for, bicultural individuals will help the company to become more culturally diverse, whether internal or external.

In my previous work as an intern in the Chinese investment bank, [...] I often simply had to work as an intermediary between the different offices. Speaking and translating in Chinese, or even trying to explain to my German boss what exactly the Chinese colleague meant. […} Because I was familiar with both sides, I was able to translate a little bit, not only linguistically but also those non-communicative things between the two parties. (YC)

broad range of people. While colleagues might share their thoughts and problems more open, they can reach a solution faster, which enhance team performance as frustration can be avoided.

I am simply often the contact person on flights to France or Canada and frequently solve problems that cannot be fixed with regular French [...] And also through my assessment of how French people behave in the evenings for example when they have been drinking in the bar before, I was able to judge better whether the passenger is aggressive or not. […] Therefore, I practically decided for the captain that he can stay on board. Thus, I solved the problem, and the passenger slept the whole flight. (LL) This is expressed in the sense that you sometimes notice that colleagues, who have problems, may rather approach me than to a manager who would have less understanding for them. (LM)

People who are owning the capability to access a broad range of cultural knowledge and skills tend to be more open-minded and long-sighted. In that case, individuals who grew up with several cultures, combine their cultural knowledge and skills, which pays off in the form of evolving approaches and structures (Grosse, 2009). Culture-specific knowledge encompasses knowledge about national and international business operations while considering political, legal, social, and financial characteristics (Johnson et al., 2006). Bicultural employees’ significant pool of cultural knowledge combined with the ability to alternate between different cultures enables them to stay flexible (Chiu and Hong, 2005; Friedman and Liu, 2009) and to keep striving for broadening their professional horizon.

Nevertheless, also on the team, I am a good example. I think maybe this is partly due to my Turkish background. I motivate my employees to look at other markets from time to time. Meaning not only to analyze the German market but also doing research internationally: “Hey, look up what’s happening in Brazil in the area of insurance, e-commerce et cetera. What’s happening in Poland?” (EE)

5.1.3) Advanced Work Ethic

emerged in bicultural individuals, which will be presented in the following. Substantial pillars of work ethic comprise of attitudes and beliefs, which depict motivational drivers reflected in work behavior and job commitment (Wollack et al., 1971; Dose, 1997; Miller et al., 2002). The conducted interviews revealed considerable signs of stress-resistance and pragmatism among bicultural individuals, which seem to be connected to the experiences they collected in their past. While their parents immigrated into a completely new environment, they had to invest a vast amount of personal work to be accepted economically and socially by society. Thus, values like ambitiousness, eagerness, and self-realization form the work approach of many people with a migrant background, including bicultural descendants as their parental home considerably influence the creation of their values. Many interviewees with different minor cultures faced similar experiences, either in the form of an identity crisis during their adolescence or lacking support of educational supervisors. Even though those challenges are difficult to overcome, they taught bicultural individuals to deal with a high level of stress and create an assertive mindset. Instead of waiting for external support, their down-to-earth mentality and pragmatism empower them to overcome challenges which they extensively incorporate into their work approach.

“[...] The teacher advised us after graduating from middle school: “It would be better if you simply do an apprenticeship instead of studying, that’s nothing for you!” And we [five friends with a migrant background] graduated from high school and pursued an education at the university anyway. [...] Of course, it spurs you on even more! We didn’t let ourselves be beaten. All of us have studied, all have a great job, and two of them are even team leaders. (EE)

motivation beneficially and leads to higher qualitative outcomes as the outcome needs to fulfil high standards without compromises.

[I realized] that I’m much more emotionally involved, and simultaneously much more passionate about the task, which often collides with the fact that a colleague says: “Okay...well, it’s not perfect, but it’s okay. Just leave it like this!” Where I contradict: “Nah, that’s not possible. It has to be perfect!” Such situations disclose a bit of a dichotomy in professional life. (KA)

Across the majority of interview participants, the data shows a drive among those individuals for enhancing current working structures in their company, whether regarding team structures, project consultant approaches or the usage of financial means. Biculturals’ work attitude and beliefs push them to survey current circumstances from another perspective and challenge standard processes more regularly for better comprehension. Scrutinizing those approaches can help to increase the efficiency of teams and companies by adapting to the latest findings or technology if necessary. This act might cost time at first but mostly will be advantageous in the long-term due to work approaches become more purposeful and conclude in high qualitative outcomes.

Moreover, when someone says, “We’ll do it this way and that,” I thought to myself at some point, “Why don’t you do it this way? It’s so much easier!” Because then my pragmatism simply comes to the fore. (KA)

Ultimately, the wide spectrum of cultural experiences and a broad perspective are helpful to create a holistic approach. Instead of focusing on one’s own responsible area or division only, bicultural employees are more likely to actively listening to different points of view. They thereafter can assess situations from a more holistic perspective, hence finding the most suitable solution. As a result of this, biculturalism supports the enhancement of current structures and can lead to new paths.

5.2) Colleagues

5.2.1) Approaching Bicultural Employees

After presenting categories which are directly linked to biculturalism, the interviews reveal several points of contacts which are related to work colleagues. First to mention is the way of approaching biculturals. It is a key competency for including bicultural colleagues at work to be culturally sensitive and aware of everyday racism, meaning that how and when something is said determines the interpretation and simultaneously need to be embedded in the context. This academic research does not aim for analyzing racism at work but needs to mention this briefly to provide more comprehension for all parties.

One of the most critical parts considering talking about one’s minor culture is the personal context. The minor culture is undeniably an essential part of a bicultural individual as it shapes the person’s mind and behavior. Moreover, most of them want to share their minor culture with colleagues; however, they do not want to be reduced to being ‘the exotic one’. The categorization would lead to a feeling of exclusion and constitute a burden in the integration process into the team. Preferably after getting to know bicultural colleagues better in the professional context, it is always helpful to create an interpersonal bond as well. In such situations and to enhance the team atmosphere, questions about the ethnic culture of colleagues are perceived as showing interest in the individual, who is willing to share knowledge about their other culture.

As mentioned before, I like it quite a lot; I think it’s nice to have grown up biculturally. [...] I like to talk about it with other people, I like to share my opinion. I mean, Ukraine is sometimes due to political topics in the news in connection with the Russian war; therefore we discuss, and colleagues ask for my opinion. Yeah, I think that is good. (PS)

Although growing up with a second culture constitutes an essential part of those individuals, the discussed examples of addressing one’s minor culture during job interviews had been majorly perceived as something negative among the participants. The data shows that questions about the potential employee’s cultural background are only advisable; for instance, in case the ethnic background is directly relevant for the job position. Besides of that, growing up biculturally entails specific intercultural skills and work ethics as mentioned above, which can help the potential employee to distinguish from the competition.

Interviewee: No, because I would probably have interpreted it rather negatively. I would have perceived it positively if the HR manager had asked me whether I speak Turkish and if I would like or could actively bring in my language skills profitably for example while working with customers in Turkey. That I would have considered that positive. (AD)

On the other hand, I think that [to be bicultural] is very important for me, for my person, for the person I am today, and it also explains why I am the way I am. […] So, I talk about it when someone asks me questions about it, and I think that it also makes sense to talk about it, maybe even initiated by the HR manager, because it is a crucial part of my profile. (DP)

Moreover, in many workplaces, there is an artificial distance between mono- and bicultural employees, which arise due to colleagues not daring or not knowing how to ask any questions about one’s migrant background. Without approaching this topic, although it is sometimes evident in the form of, for instance, bicultural individuals’ outer appearance, the distance remains between mono- or biculturals. Again, personal context and cultural sensitivity are crucial to be able to overcome the artificial distance. However, with the means of communication, asking questions and listening, the work environment can evolve to an agreeable one and hence can increase the qualitative outcome as well. Humor can thereby represent a key tool to overcome the artificial distance. Typical immigration countries like the United Kingdom or Canada, for example yet shows that biculturalism is more cherished in society and the work environment, concluding in biculturalism, is perceived as a normal circumstance.

5.2.2) Challenging Bias

Needless to say, humans are a species who can hardly be objective about their surroundings. By realizing and admitting one self’s biased judgement and thinking structures, it depicts the first pivotal step to challenge and remove those prejudices.

Colleagues should actively be aware of regularly challenging habits as such as making assumptions or judging someone based on their outer appearance. It is still common to evaluate people unconsciously based on their looks, which consequently leads to creating stereotypes in one’s mind (Zebrowitz, 1996). To be able to change this way of approaching strangers or new colleagues, individuals need to develop an awareness of this circumstance and deal with the bicultural person to gain a better understanding. Occurring ignorance at the workplace can hinder potential new colleagues from joining that company and hence refrain it to become more culturally diverse. The shortest interview has been conducted with a French-German individual. The assumption arises that this person did not have too many things to revealed concerning outer appearance issues in the German workplace as her outward look has not been an indication for her bicultural background. Other cases of Portuguese-German or Chinese-German participants disclosed inappropriate behavior of monocultural colleagues who are falsely expecting and ascribed specific tasks and characteristics to their biculturals colleagues, which can lead to a feeling of misjudgment and disappointment.

It’s probably a conglomerate of being a woman, halfway conventionally attractive and not white-skinned so that people sometimes don’t know what to think of me. I catalogued the whole auction, and the people at the preview ran up to the security man and asked him questions about all the artworks we had on display. And he was like “This nice woman in the bright red dress can answer all your questions, which is particularly not dressed like security.” (KL)

Then sometimes I think there are expectations [because of my appearance] that I will be able to do the job faster than another person. [...] I might even consider it to be a bit stressful. (YC)

inappropriate comments need to be pointed out. The growing number of bicultural employees will play a crucial part in the process; however, they will not be successful in changing current mindsets without the consciousness of monocultural colleagues for political correctness in the language used.

Nevertheless, I know from my time in the US and Canada that many questions of my colleagues or the conversations I have at work would not be politically correct. The concept of political correctness is not yet strongly distinctive here in Germany or at least here in my company. (DP)

Well, what there was […] that somehow people were making culturally inappropriate statements which wouldn’t have been possible in another group. It was already noticeable when Swiss colleagues visited us. Suddenly certain things are no longer said because these colleagues already knew very well that it is just inappropriate. [In other situations] even though they knew for sure that this is very naughty, they just said it anyway because they have the feeling “we are here among ourselves, and we can do this.” (KL)

As it can be seen in table 1, 94 per cent of the participants are categorized into the ‘Acculturation Model’ or ‘Assimilation Model’, which means that they adjust their behavior regarding their environment and primarily using the hegemonic culture at the workplace to be economically successful. Still, there is hesitation among team members to work with that cohort. The fear of unpredictability in colleagues’ minds leads to unconfident decisions and decreases teamwork, which might be one reason for the maintenance of non-culturally diverse workforces in some industries. To overcome those uncertainties among colleagues, bicultural individuals have to prove themselves even more compared to monocultural employees and further even have to justify their success, which retains bicultural employees to focus their effort and time at work in engaging with the actual task.

In case I compete with a German, I wouldn’t have to have at least the same skills as him, in fact, I would have to be better than him for people to choose me. [...] It is easier [to hire him]. It is more transparent. I think more transparent in the sense of “you can scale what you get.” (KA)

5.2.3) Team Atmosphere

It is undeniable that the team atmosphere has a direct impact on employees’ motivation, correlated with the quality of their work (West, 2012). Hence, to reach an inclusive and comfortable team atmosphere for all participants, a cultural-diverse team can make use of valuable synergies.

Such as sharing knowledge by bicultural employees about their minor culture, cultural insights can be exchanged. By broadening the perspectives of their colleagues, it will help the whole team to develop a more inclusive way of thinking, which can result in enhanced awareness for political correctness and advanced empathy. It can even constitute a factual basis to improve team members’ well-being and thus increases the team outcome (West, 2012). Participants in the workplace should treat cultural diversity as a means for amplifying people’s mindset instead of perceiving it as a threat, which represents an essential pillar of cross-cultural relationships (Thomas and Peterson, 2016). Several participants share the opinion that a wide variety of people lead to an exciting work environment which again increases the work motivation. According to Gibson and Cohen (2003), “shared understanding, integration, and mutual trust” (Gibson and Cohen, 2003, p. 176) constitute the three critical conditions for well-performing teams, which can be all achieved by sharing knowledge. Prerequisites for effective knowledge sharing is the appreciation of different cultures, the capability of listening and observing of their colleagues and being impartial (Fink et al., 2005).

In my opinion, it lifts the working atmosphere because it is interesting to have colleagues who have different perspectives than I do. [...] Because it broadens my own horizon and not only other perspectives are shared, but also other experiences, other values, other backgrounds. (LM)

can decrease the team atmosphere severely and lead to frustration among bicultural employees. Albeit it might sound easy to create such safe spaces, the reality shows that it is still hard for bicultural employees to address politically incorrect behavior, as they are often scared of negative aftermaths in the form of for instance a changed relationship with their colleagues or less managerial support.

So, the quote was: “Since it started with Corona, I’ve been distancing myself from Asians.” [...] and then I immediately replied: “Hey, you can’t say something like that!” After the person noticed that I was sitting in the room, he started to stutter and say that it was more of a joke and that I shouldn’t take it the wrong way, but he noticed that it became very unpleasant for both parties. For this person, and for me, at which point I saw the conversation as finished relatively quickly. And afterwards, I was a little frustrated. (ND)

Mainly I did not dissent my supervisor due to hierarchical structures; that is why I simply did not dare to say anything at that moment. Moreover, I was afraid of the consequences of how to work together the next day. (HH)

5.3) Supervisor

5.3.1) Team Collocation

backgrounds in a team, either mono-, bi- or multicultural, the collocation decreases the danger of biased decision-making (Haas, 2006).

Even if I put together a team, I make sure that they not only came from different departments and have different know-how, but my department also consists of a Brazilian, someone from Poland and me for example, so we are already multicultural. [...] I expect that the topic of diversity is implemented and experienced in my team too. (EE)

A further aspect of choosing a more cultural-diverse team collocation is to increase the level of openness of all employees. By including bicultural employees, a broader way of knowledge sharing can be pursued, which supports the advancement of holistic perspectives, eliminate prejudices and increase the awareness for political correctness. Therefore, risks of failing marketing campaigns or the introduction of products which included cultural appropriation can be avoided, which can be pivotal for the success of internationally operating companies.

Yeah, I think that if there were others [biculturals] too, one could possess more understanding and openness, more understanding not only for students but also for...how shall I say it, I mean, I realized that things are very straightforward and narrow-minded here. (TC)

5.3.2) Managerial Support

Besides of the supervisor’s power to collocate the team, they bear the responsibility of being a role model regarding the acquaintance of bicultural colleagues. Supervisors’ acts influence their team’s approach regarding those individuals, wherefore they need to be aware of their potential. Thus, they must have strong intercultural communication skills to deal with a cultural-diverse team which should be the ‘normal’ case in the future as the bicultural cohort is proliferating.

He sometimes even said: “Yeah, our colleague has the Asian culture inherent partly. Therefore, you should be more careful with politeness or physical closeness”. (TC)