This chapter provides conclusion of the overall study on the basis of the findings elaborated in the previous chapter as well as possible limitations caused by the samples. In addition, some suggestions and recommendations for future study are stated in this chapter.
Conclusions
The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship among cultural intelligence, psychological well-being, mindfulness and social support with the goal of enhancing students’
psychological well-being and benefitting international students studying abroad experience.
Table 5.1 below summarizes the results of the data analysis of the previous chapter, followed by a more detailed description of each supported hypothesis.
Table 5.1.
Summary of Hypotheses Results
Hypothesis Description Result
H1 Students’ cultural intelligence is positively related to their
psychological well-being when studying abroad. Supported H2 Mindfulness positively strengthens the relationship between
cultural intelligence and psychological well-being. Not supported
H2-1
Mindfulness positively strengthens the relationship between cultural intelligence and six sub-dimensions of psychological well-being.
Not supported
H3 Social support positively strengthens the relationship between
cultural intelligence and psychological well-being. Not supported
H3-1
Social support positively strengthens the relationship between cultural intelligence and six sub-dimensions of psychological well-being.
Partially supported
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Positive Effect of Cultural Intelligence
The findings of this study show that cultural intelligence is positively related to psychological well-being. Increasing individuals’ cultural intelligence has the ability to enhance their psychological well-being simultaneously. Livermore (2010) indicated that cultural intelligence can be developed by acquiring knowledge about different cultures, enhancing awareness of cultural differences and planning actions accordingly, cultivating an interest in adjusting oneself into a different culture and the ability to behave in different cultures.
Therefore, designing and implementing pre-departure courses related to cultural intelligence enhancement might be a good way to benefit students’ learning experiences abroad. By enhancing their level of cultural intelligence, an individual’s psychological well-being also increases.
Positive Moderating Effect of Social Support
Ryff and Singer (2008) stated that psychological well-being is constructed by positive relations with others, autonomy, mastering the environment, personal growth, purpose of life and self-acceptance. The results show that social support positively moderates the relationship between cultural intelligence and autonomy, a sub-dimension of psychological well-being.
People with high autonomy are described as having more confidence in themselves. They have personal core values which they use to evaluate themselves, instead of using other people’s standards. Therefore, results show that social support including support from friends, family and significant others is favorable to the relationship between students’ cultural intelligence and their autonomy. Trying to get support before going abroad also makes it easier for students to have a positive studying experience.
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Practical Implications of the Study
The findings of this study show that the increase of cultural intelligence and social support is helpful for the enhancement of psychological well-being, resulting in a positive learning outcome when studying abroad. These results could benefit not only schools when they are preparing to send students abroad but also organizations when they are preparing to give their employees opportunity to learn in a different country.
In order to help students to adjust to a different cultural environment quicker and to enhance their psychological well-being, schools can design and execute a cultural-related training program prior to sending the students abroad. Also, encouraging students to proactively develop a good social support network with their family and friends could aid their transition to a different country.
From organizational perspective, since making employees feel personal growth is important in terms of training and development, and thus, organizations sometimes provide opportunity abroad for employees to study further about industry, skills that benefits employees themselves and the organization. According to the results of this study, in order to foster the positive results of the employees selected to learn abroad, some training about culture during the pre-departure preparation process can be applied and meanwhile, it is also important to ensure that employees are supported by their friends and family before their departure.
Research Limitations
Data was to be originally collected by convenience sampling and snowball sampling.
However, because of limited time, data was mostly collected by snowball sampling. This might cause sample bias leading to limitations of the results generalizability.
The samples for this research was Taiwanese students who are currently studying abroad.
According to the descriptive statistics, some of these students are studying in countries like
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USA, Korea, Italy, Australia, and South Africa. The cultural difference between Taiwan and each of these countries are of varying degrees. This may cause students’ level and length of adaptation to be different. According to the U-curve theory (Black & Mendenhall, 1991), students start to adapt to a new cultural environment after six months. As a result, participants filling the questionnaire had to be studying at that country for at least six months. To ensure this, the questionnaire had this as a screening question. Nonetheless, the influence of the culture difference level might still exist.
Suggestions for Future Study
For future research, studies can further examine whether an individual’s cultural difference level affects their level of psychological well-being enhancement. The level of culture difference is different from country to country. For example, Taiwanese students might think that the cultural difference between USA and Taiwan is greater than that between Japan and Taiwan. The reason is because USA is classified as being part of the western culture, while Japan and Taiwan are both part of the eastern culture. Although countries within the same region, like east or west, might share similar culture, every country has their own unique culture.
In this study, the country a student is studying in was not controlled when examining the relationship between cultural intelligence and psychological well-being. Besides, it is difficult to reach to students who are currently studying abroad, future study with the same sample could cooperate with office of international affairs of school. It could be a possible way that foster the data collection process because it is a channel to get access to students studying abroad. In addition to students, expatriates which means that people who work abroad might be a possible sample for examining the relationship as well. It is also practical if future study could find out that whether the level of cultural difference affects the psychological well-being. As a result, different level of aids could be provided according to the future findings in order to make all
55 the preparations more effective.
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APPENDIX: QUESTIONNAIRE
臺灣留學生出外就學情形調查
同學您好，
非常感謝您抽空填寫此問卷。
此問卷僅供學術用途，本研究之目的在於充分了解國際學生之出外就學生活，
此問卷不記名且無標準答案，請依照您的個人經驗及第一印象填答，填寫之答案將受 到絕對保護不向第三方公開。
您的協助是對於和您一樣之國際學生的莫大幫助，再次感謝您的填答。
指導教授：張媁雯教授 學生： 楊子平 國立臺灣師範大學 國際人力資源發展研究所 Requirement:
□ 1. 我是目前正在國外讀書的臺灣人。
□ 2. 我目前已經在國外讀書超過六個月(含六個月)。
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20 為因應跨文化互動之需求，我會調整我的
臉部表情 □ □ □ □ □ □ □
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12 請詳列以前所有曾去過之
國家