| A lack of cultural awareness in appreciative inquiry research is highlighted as an obstacle to building and maintaining trust in intercultural alliances. This study addressed the potential that trust, religion, ethnicity, age, and gender are variables of influence on cultural awareness, impacting the way people see and perceive others in the intercultural domain. A cognitive perspective was integrated with trust theory as a framework for this study. The purpose of this research was to explore the relationships between cultural awareness and trust, ethnicity, and religion, as assessed by the NEO-PI-3 Trust Facet, the Intercultural Effectiveness Scale, and a demographic survey. A quantitative nonexperimental approach was employed to survey 89 male and female adult participants across ethnic backgrounds and religions. Pearson correlations and multiple linear regression were used to test the hypothesis. Results indicated a strong, significant, positive relationship between cultural awareness and trust. Trust, gender, and age were found to uniquely and significantly contribute to the prediction of variance in cultural awareness. Additional exploratory analyses and Pearson correlations yielded unique significant findings. This research contributes to positive social change by inviting leaders to value and encourage trust, intercultural development, and cultural awareness of facilitators who seek to build lasting trust with diverse populations. Leaders embracing the importance of trust and cultural awareness in strategic intercultural alliances could positively impact the effectiveness of transformational change efforts such as appreciative inquiry locally, nationally, and globally for many organizations in the social, corporate, educational, and political realms. |
