A Quantitative Investigation On Chinese Employees’Intercultural Sensitivity In China-Based Multinational Companies

This thesis conducts an empirical investigation into intercultural sensitivity in the workplace. Under increasing globalization, multinational companies (MNC) flourish worldwide. In these multicultural working environments, MNC employees need intercultural communication competence, not only to facilitate work efficiency but also for the smooth and harmonious interaction with people from different cultural backgrounds.Chen and Starosta’s Intercultural Sensitivity Scale (ISS) is adopted as the main instrument in this quantitative study, which focuses on the affective aspect of intercultural communication competence, aiming to explore the state of intercultural sensitivity among this group employees in China. It also analyzes the internal relationship among the five factors of the ISS scale (namely, Interaction Engagement, Respect for Cultural Differences, Interaction Confidence, Interaction Enjoyment, and Interaction Attentiveness) and how various demographic variables associate with ISS.Through an online survey,116valid responses were collected from this group of multinational employees. The respondents come from Fortune500companies in Shanghai, specialized in automobiles, consumer goods, and telecommunication. After descriptive, independent sample t-tests, one-way ANOVA, correlation, and regression statistical analysis (using SPSS21.0), the results show that firstly, the overall respondents’ intercultural sensitivity is at medium level, strongest in Respect for Cultural Difference, weakest in Interaction Confidence. The largest problem existing is their lack of adequate communicative skills. Secondly, all the five factors are highly and positively correlated with ISS, with Interaction Enjoyment having the strongest correlation, Interaction Attentiveness, the lowest. Strong correlation also exits among internal five factors. Thirdly, except for gender and cultural training, all the others including respondents’working period in multinational company, the current title in company, English proficiency level, intercultural communication experience have significant influence on their intercultural sensitivity.