Schwartz Value Studies And Intercultural Adaptation

Intercultural adaptation studies originated from anthropologists and socialists’ concern of aboriginals and immigrants, discussing how they learnt new culture and got rid of old tradition so as to adapt to new social environment. Hereafter, scholars from psychology, anthropology and sociology made multi-level studies on intercultural adaptation. However, currently the study of value orientations’ influence upon intercultural adaptation is rare. Through questionnaires survey on76IAESTE interns who took an internship in Western European countries and test analysis on200internship reports, the author discussed the influence of value orientations on intercultural adaptation during the internship.According to the empirical studies by former scholars, intercultural adaptation studies aimed at groups like immigrants, refugees, international tourists, transnational business people and etc., touched upon different disciplines like psychology, sociology, anthropology and etc., and investigated influential factors like organizational culture, personality, attachment styles, length of stay, and etc. As interns selected from IAESTE organization for Western European countries’ internship, what characteristics do their values possess? What is the level of their intercultural adaptation in international internships? What are the relationships in between?Both the revised Sociocultural Adaptation Scale (SCAS-R) by Colleen Ward and her doctorate Jessie Wilson and the Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ) by Schwartz were employed in this study to measure the value orientations and intercultural adaptation level. The results were analyzed with SPSS20. to test the validity and reliability. Correlations between value orientations and intercultural adaptation dimensions were analyzed.Research findings include:1. Benevolence, Self-direction and Stimulation were positively correlated with Academic/Work Performance;2. Benevolence was positively correlated with Personal Interests&Community Involvement;3. Stimulation was positively correlated with Ecological Adaptation;4. A longer duration of internship would not necessarily lead to higher level of intercultural adaptation;5. Individuals who had former intercultural experience would not necessarily have better overall intercultural adaptation level than those who hadn’t. The results can provide some suggestion to future scholars to further intercultural adaptation on international interns and students, also they can serve as practical examples for prospective IAESTE interns to improve their intercultural adaptation level to qualify and prepare for the incoming internships.