Curve Theory

The theory related to culture shock and concerned to cross-cultural adjustment is the U-Curve Theory (UCT) as figure 2.1, which explains the adjustment process. Descriptions of UCT generally include four stages though the names of stages are slightly different in literatures.

In the first stage (honeymoon stage), individuals are excited about the new culture and show interest in some fresh scenes. Following the first stage comes the culture shock stage.

Individuals feel disillusionment and frustration when they must seriously cope with living in

the new culture on a day-to-day basis. Then the adjustment stage depicts that individuals gradually learn how to behave appropriately. Finally, the mastery stage describes individuals have well equipped for functioning effectively in the new culture (Black & Mendenhall, 1991).

Figure2.1. U-Curve model. Adapted from “The U-Curve Adjustment Hypothesis Revised:

A Review and Theoretical Framework,” by J. S. Black & M. Mendenhall, 1991, Journal of International Business Studies, 22(2), 227. Copyright 1991 by the Jounal of International Business Studies Issues.

In this study, after probing into the mind of several teachers from Taiwan, we can see if U-curve pattern emerges. The causes of adjustment at all stages may not be the same. The theory suggests that the use of time since living in a new culture is a key factor. The proper way to examine UCT is to study a sample of teachers from Taiwan at several times over a course of their assignments in Kinmen. But due to the lack of a longitudinal approach in this study, it is too hasty in accepting or rejecting the UCT pattern for this study. However, the

pattern could still provide a logical grounding for discussing the cross-cultural adjustment process of the teachers from Taiwan.

Acculturation Strategies

Spielberger (2004) organized the four acculturation strategies: integration, separation, assimilation and marginalization. A brief explanation is that individuals who maintain their in-group identity and, at the same time, maintain relationships with members of other groups are considered to have integration strategy. People who postulate an exclusive value on the maintenance of their own culture distinctiveness and do not cherish intra-groups relations are assumed to adopt a separation strategy. Those who are less concerned with the maintenance of their in-group identity but value intra-groups relations are thought to adopt an assimilation strategy. For individuals who matter neither their in-group identity nor relationships with members of other groups are thought to be marginalized (Berry, 2005).

Other research has shown that the way people relate to their social groups of reference as well as other relevant social groups in society has important impact on their psychological well-being and personal satisfaction (Fave, 2006). Now teachers from Taiwan have formed a close group and often do leisure activities together after work or on weekends, but the natives and teachers from Taiwan do not show hostility against each other.

Importance of Adjustment

For people who progress along the stages of being in a new environment, inevitably, the phase of adjustment occurs. In this phase, the literature put much emphasis on expatriates, who need to learn and understand the culture and logistics of the new country (Harrison, Shaffer, & Gilley, 1999).

Before discussing the particular relevance of expatriates of companies between teachers from Taiwan to Kinmen, it is perhaps useful to briefly introduce the main idea of expatriates.

The basic criterion of being an expatriate is that the individual is employed on behalf of a foreign resident employer for a limited period of time working in a host country.

Though teachers from Taiwan are citizens of ROC as people born in Kinmen are, they still have to deal with problems resulting from the particular culture of Kinmen. Besides, teachers from Taiwan all had signed at least a four-year contract about serving in schools of Kinmen, which is similar to expatriates who cannot serve in the host country without time limitation due to the contract with their company. So in a sense, teachers from Taiwan are similar to expatriates who are not citizens of a specific place of which they work in and plus have to overcome problems about cultural adjustment.

In the literature, we can see the reasons for expatriate failure (returning home country or ending the assignment before the assignment in a host country is completed) are highly influenced by not overcoming the consequences of culture shock (Christensen & Harzing, 2004). Those reasons for expatriate failure have been summarized by Briscoe and Schuler (2004) such as dissatisfaction with quality of life in foreign location, dissatisfaction with compensation and benefits, and lack of cultural and language preparation, etc. Cross cultural adjustment has proven to be related with the turnover, early returns, absenteeism, and work performance of expatriates (Inkson & Parker, 1999).

As the link between effective performance of expatriates and the process of cultural adjustment is strong (D’Annunzio-Green, 2004), the researcher assumes it is logical to link the problems of teachers from Taiwan and those teachers’ acculturation states. If teachers from Taiwan cannot adjust themselves well, they may be like expatriates desiring for premature return which is damage to both the teachers and the schools.

Dimensions of Adjustment

Black and Stephens (1989) proposed three dimensions of expatriate adjustment: (1)work adjustment, (2)interaction adjustment, and (3)general adjustment. Work adjustment measures

the degree to which the expatriate feels psychologically comfortable in his or her overseas work role. Interaction measures the degree to which the expatriate feels comfortable interacting with host country nationals. General adjustment measures the degree to which the expatriate feels comfortable in the new living environment, including adjustment to housing, food, shopping, etc. The researcher outlined what the two scholars proposed as in figure 2.2.

Figure2.2. Dimensions of expatriate adjustment. Adapted from “The Influence of the Spouse on American Expatriate Adjustment and Intent to Stay in Pacific Rim Overseas Assignments,” by J. S. Black ＆ G. K. Stephens, 1989, Journal of Management, 15(4), p538. Copyright 1989 by the Journal of Management Issues.

The three-dimensional view of expatriate adjustment provides a theoretical framework for this research. In later research, it will be necessary to examine whether the Kinmen local friendships can help the teachers from Taiwan overcome culture shock and any feelings of loneliness or isolation and also to examine if their stress coping to work and living in Kinmen is heavy.

Determinants of Adjustment

After Black and Stephens (1989) proposed a model of determinants of adjustment to international assignments, Harrison, Gilley and Shaffer (1999) expanded and tested the model by examining two additional individual factors and three positional factors as moderators of adjustment determinants:

1. Job factors

Job factors refer to a set of tasks and duties performed by a given individual and they are measured using questions about autonomy in job, role clarity, role discretion, role conflict and role novelty, etc.

2. Organizational factors

There are three perspectives of organizational factors, supervisor support, coworker support ,and logistical support.

3. Non-work factors

There are mainly two kinds of non-work factors according to Black and Stephens (1989), culture novelty and spouse/ family adjustment. Culture novelty refers to the perceived distance between host and parent country cultures, and has been found to hinder non-work adjustment (Harrison et al., 1999).

4. Individual Factors

Factors include achievement, relational and perceptual skills, previous assignments and language fluency. The scale measuring achievement focuses on goal attainment, and social self-efficacy focuses on the development of interpersonal relationships.

5. Positional Factors

Positional factors have something to do with the nature of the work and stress at varying hierarchical levels and functional positions. There are three factors to this category, hierarchical level, functional area and assignment vector.

The three-dimensional view of adjustment and the model of determinants of adjustment provide a theoretical framework. They give some clues to the interview questions for this study and also suggest the researcher to observe the participants from those aspects. The non-work factor of cultural distance will receive special attention to in this study.