Fear-Free Cross-Cultural Communication: Toward a More Balanced Approach With Insight From Neuroscience

Abstract

In cross-cultural communication and adjunct disciplines such as cross-cultural management and international business, there is a negativity bias of seeing cultural differences as a source of potential issues. The emergence of Positive Organizational Scholarship (POS) questions this problem-focused approach. This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion from neuroscience's perspectives in several ways. Firstly, it provides a neurological look at this bias. Secondly, it proposes that the problem-focused approach may (1) give us a biased outlook of cross-cultural encounters rather than a reality, (2) hinder creativity, (3) lead to the rebound effect, and (4) turn belief into reality. Finally, based on insight from neuroscience and adopting the POS lens with the connection between POS and creativity, it's recommended that future research takes three directions: (1) Using similarity as the starting point; (2) strategize body language, context and theories; and (3) develop a multicultural mind. In essence, the paper contributes to existing knowledge of the field by employing an interdisciplinary approach, aiming to gain a more holistic view, provoke thoughts, and trigger future empirical studies.

What Bias Management Can Learn From Change Management? Utilizing Change Framework to Review and Explore Bias Strategies

“…Proposing a shift of paradigm, Nguyen-Phuong-Mai (2019 , 2020) argued that humans are both product and producer of culture, in the sense that individuals are influenced by cultures, yet they can also proactively and deliberately be change agents, re-shaping both themselves and the cultures around them. While Hofstede, embracing the static paradigm, insisted that culture is the software of the mind, the dynamic paradigm and its evolving nature suggested that “not culture, but context is the software of the mind” ( Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, 2017a , 2020 ). This notion of a dynamic culture allows the possibility of bias preventive strategies in which people are “rapid niche constructors” ( Huebner, 2016 ).…”

Diseño y validación de un instrumento para medir la integración intercultural en los negocios internacionales

“…En los negocios internacionales, el intercambio de conocimientos, el desarrollo y mantenimiento de relaciones, la negociación de acuerdos y el establecimiento y preservación de asociaciones son logrados gracias a la comunicación intercultural (Szkudlarek et al, 2020). Sin embargo, existe el sesgo inconsciente negativo de percibir la diversidad cultural como fuente de problemas potenciales (Nguyen-Phuong-Mai, 2020). Si bien México y España gozan de una afinidad cultural importante gracias a los lazos históricos, lingüísticos y comerciales, la herramienta de Hofstede Insights (2021) comprueba que existen diferencias entre los puntajes entre ambos países.…”