| Biculturalism, defined as the internalization of two cultural meaning systems and the associated ability to use two cultural repertoires, is critical for managers in cross-cultural settings in multinational corporations (MNCs). Building on research on biculturalism in psychology and cultural-cognitive embeddedness in sociology, I provide a conceptualization of biculturalism in the context of MNC cross-cultural managers. Biculturalism involves culture-cognitive structures that pertain to two cultures and that affect individuals' perceptions and actions, operating in interaction with cultural cues in the environment. Biculturalism allows cross-cultural managers to function within different cultural contexts by applying the appropriate culture. However, many cross-cultural tasks require the consideration of both cultural perspectives in an integrated fashion. To address this, I introduce the concept of bicultural integration. It captures the degree to which cross-cultural managers simultaneously access and use the two cultures based on the integration of culture-cognitive structures---ranging from low bicultural integration which involves switching between the two cultures to high bicultural integration.;Two theoretical models explaining the development of biculturalism and the determinants of bicultural integration are presented. The central tenet is that people engage in and learn culture within processes of cultural participation and that the development of biculturalism is marked by recognizable social relationship patterns. Based on this, I propose that biculturalism and bicultural integration are shaped by the configuration of an individual's social networks with members of two cultures and that these states occur via cultural participation mechanisms. The theoretical development of the cultural participation approach is based on the sociological conception of culture as enacted, experienced, and used within social interactions and on situated learning conceptions that focus on understanding through participation in social processes.;The models will be assessed using qualitative methodology for cultural analysis and social network analysis on a sample of U.S. managers in German MNCs in Germany. In a pre-study, I will identify monocultural schemata and determine cultural coding schemes in the U.S. and Germany as well as develop an interview protocol for the main study. In the main study, data collection of cultural and social network data involves interviews and a questionnaire. Biculturalism and bicultural integration will be assessed using the developed coding schemes. The models are tested using multiple regression analysis.;This dissertation contributes to the IM literature, more specifically, the understudied area of cultural embeddedness of people and processes in MNCs. The main theoretical and methodological contributions include: (1) using a sociological perspective of culture that extends our knowledge of culture in the context of MNCs beyond value dimensions and shifts from a view of cross-cultural differences to one of culture-cognitive mediation; (2) addressing the social embeddedness of cross-cultural managers in MNCs, specifically, their culture-cognitive and structural embeddedness; (3) providing an explanation of biculturalism in cross-cultural managers ; (4) conceptualizing the concept of biculturalism based on a theory of culture; (3) introducing the concept of bicultural integration to address different ways in which two internalized cultures can be organized and accessed; (4) identifying the mechanism of cultural participation through which biculturalism and bicultural integration are formed; (5) developing a novel measurement technique and instruments for biculturalism and bicultural integration based on the qualitative analysis of texts. Finally, the dissertation provides relevant insights to practicing global managers and cross-cultural managers in general. |
