With globalization on the rise, the role of individuals in mediating and communicating between and within different cultures becomes very important for international organizations. In light of such context, the scholars Brannen and Thomas (2010) highlight the topic of bicultural individuals, who are a growing yet unexplored demographic. Their introductory article (Brannen & Thomas, 2010) provides an overview on ‘biculturals’ and their meaning for organizations, thus addressing the knowledge gap in the area.
Beginning with a definition, the authors state that ‘bicultural individuals identify with two (or more) distinct cultures because of having internalized more than one set of cultural schemas’ (2010; p. 6). In this context, a cultural schema should be understood as a collection of one’s knowledge about values, attitudes, beliefs and behaviours that are common to a specific culture. The authors note that it is important to distinguish between cultural identification and cultural knowledge; and that surface characteristics are not always indicative of biculturalism. In other words, answering the question ‘Who am I?’ in reference to some culture(s) does not necessarily imply speaking the language of or looking like the population of the country one identifies with.
Moving to implications of ‘being bicultural’, Brannen and Thomas (2010) note that having two or more cultures to operate with, these individuals develop more complex cultural representations. Referring to earlier research (Tadmor et al., 2009), the authors also argue that this more complex cultural representation increases one’s cognitive complexity across more general domains. Specifically, the ability to articulate with and combine several cultural identities positively affects general cultural skills, such as being more empathetic, flexible, being able to think and act in more novel and creative ways. Drawing on results of earlier research (e.g. Brannen et al, 2009; Leung et al, 2008), the authors conclude that biculturals ‘may excel as boundary spanners in multicultural teams, bridge among organizational joinings in culturally different contexts, or be catalysts for creativity and innovation because of their cognitive complexity’ (Brannen & Thomas, 2010; p. 11).
Apart from the abovementioned advantages, Brannen and Thomas also bring up some drawbacks of being bicultural. Specifically, they discuss the difficulties that a bicultural person may encounter due to other people’s expectations, who confuse ethnicity with country-specific knowledge. For example, it is often expected that biculturals speak languages of their multiple cultures, or have deep knowledge associated with these cultures. Although such expectation might sound logical at first, most often it does not reflect reality because biculturals are usually raised in hybrid cultural contexts. Brannen and Thomas (2010; p. 11) argue that ‘mistakes such as this may make it difficult for bicultural employees to contribute their most important abilities and, at the same time, could reinforce the personal insecurities that many biculturals feel’.
In summary, it seems that biculturals are a quite interesting and important demographic that may stimulate an entirely new way of thinking about cultural diversity in organizations.
Further reading:
Brannen, M. Y., & Thomas, D. C. (2010). ‘Bicultural individuals in organizations: Implications and opportunity’. International Journal of Cross Cultural Management, 10, 1, 5-16.
Brannen, M. Y, Garcia, D. and Thomas, D. C. (2009). ‘Biculturals as Natural Bridges for Intercultural Communication and Collaboration’, Proceedings of the International Workshop on Intercultural Collaboration, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA.
Leung, A. K.-Y., Maddux, W. W., Galinsky, A. D. and Chiu, C.-Y. (2008). ‘Multicultural Experience Enhances Creativity: The When and How’, American Psychologist, 3, 1, 9-81.
Tadmore, C. T., Tetlock, P. E. and Peng, K. (2009). ‘Acculturation Strategies and Integrative Complexity’, Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 40, 105–39
I would really love to read some studies done on the effect of bicultural people in organizations that are in transition, that is, from a single ethnic group as employees or clients to a bicultural clientele or employees.
Yet another interesting study to read would be how well suited are bicultural people for ex-patriot positions even in countries that are not related to either of the individual’s culture.