Sharing culture in a tech world: Grandparent-grandchild cultural exchanges over video chat

Grandparents who were separated from their infant grandchildren during COVID-19 sought other ways to connect, including video chat. Video chat supports learning, and its features (e.g., contingent responsiveness) may allow for cultural exchange. However, technological problems may disrupt these exchanges. In a seminaturalistic, longitudinal study, 47 families submitted up to three video chats and surveys. Families were predominantly White/Caucasian, highly educated, and lived between 1 and 2,700 miles apart. Multilevel models were used to predict the proportion of the sessions devoted to exchanging culture (e.g., holidays, parenting advice) and managing tech problems. Culture exchange did not change as a function of infant age, video chat experience, or when encountering tech problems. Although only marginally statistically significant, culture exchange increased as distance increased. Tech problems changed as a function of tech talk. Qualitative analysis revealed that cultural transmission occurred via a culture of care and sharing of information across video chat, that families adapted their behaviors to the new technology, and that technology disruptions rarely interfered with the flow of information. These findings demonstrate the ability to share culture when physically separated and in the presence of tech disruptions. Further, this study supports previous work on the emerging culture of video chat. Families adapted to being separated, and grandparents and infants successfully communicated through a new modality. Because video chat supports family relationships, equitable access to high-speed internet should be a priority to enable more families to use it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved) Impact Statement This study demonstrates that video chat allowed for familial culture exchanges to be maintained through a separation during COVID-19. Examining what and how cultural exchanges took place suggests that supports for using video chat, including access to high-speed internet, are necessary for families separated by other circumstances. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

How Cultural Intelligence Facilitates Employee Voice in the Hospitality Industry

Drawing upon person-environment fit, specifically demands–abilities fit, this paper examines the impact of hospitality employees' cultural intelligence (CQ) on their voice behavior and job satisfaction. Data were collected from domestic contact employees working for restaurants in three major cities in the United States. The results of the PLS-SEM model show that CQ has a positive effect on employees' voice behavior through self-efficacy. Further, CQ has a positive effect on job satisfaction through a sequential mediation of self-efficacy and voice. This study contributes to the CQ and voice literature, utilizing CQ as a person's ability to meet job requirements. This study also has important practical implications for hospitality practitioners who depend on employee voice for the success of organizations in today's ever-changing global environment.

Meaning in stressful experiences and coping across cultures

We report three studies to examine how culture may influence people's tendency to see meaning in stressful experiences (MISE), as well as their coping responses. Using a newly developed MISE scale with established measurement invariance across both cultures, we found that Chinese participants were more likely than Euro-Canadians to see meaning in stressful experiences (Studies 1 and 2), to adopt acceptance and positive reframing coping styles (Study 1), and to respond more positively to the COVID-19 pandemic (Study 2). To establish a causal link between MISE and coping, we primed MISE in Study 3 with Chinese participants and found an increase in resilient coping. The research highlights the important roles of culture and meaning making in coping. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

"The Stories We Tell Ourselves Shape Our Identities": Journals in a Plague Year

The author--in the role of one teacher observing another--documented a spring 2021 remote introductory art history course during the COVID-19 pandemic when graduate student teaching assistants called a campus-wide strike. Forced to improvise, the professor replaced formal analysis papers and exams with an ungraded journal. Drawing from the content of these journals, notes from the Zoom classes, and email correspondence with the professor, the author explicates how students took this journal assignment as an invitation to respond personally to the course content, and as an opportunity to grapple with their own identities. These journals allowed students to use art to explore similarities and differences freely across culture, space, and time. With the traditional requirement for an academic argument temporarily on pause, the author raises questions that characterize our present day: how to encourage a world that accepts different identities without hostility.

Cross-cultural collaboration through virtual teaming in higher education

Scholars from three universities in three different parts of the world - North America, Africa, and Eurasia - across different cultures, disciplines, and contexts, collaborated with the objective of advancing transversal skills and intercultural competences through immersing their students in international virtual teamwork. Students and lecturers represented the Appalachian State University (United States of America), University of the Free State (South Africa), and Novgorod State University (Russia). In this article, we share our lessons learned from the challenges we faced in the hopes of deepening understanding in higher education concerning what can be accomplished through remote learning across continents and cultures. This work allowed us to be ahead of the collapse of traditional teaching on campuses caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, as we had prior experience of online pedagogies reaching across international borders, cultures, time zones, and languages. Even during hard lockdown, when travelling abroad was impossible, our students experienced internationalised curricula, interacted with international scholars and staff, and were able to continue with the programme as planned. We began this work more than five years prior to the pandemic;therefore, these efforts led to successfully switching to online learning in other courses. We began with engaging staff members as well as students in ongoing, project-based collaboration across cultures from these institutions. This required the use of synchronous and asynchronous digital platforms, which would enable staff members and students to work collaboratively for six to eight weeks to create realistic projects. Staff members began to compile the collaborative co-creating courses that would be taught together, thus combining and adapting various pedagogical approaches. We then shared the responsibility for co-facilitating each course, despite different philosophies of teaching and learning. The result was a balanced blend of pedagogies, allowing students to collaborate successfully with students from the other universities. Students overcame a number of challenges: (a) cultural differences;(b) infrastructure for technology platforms;(c) time zones;(d) languages;(e) age and generational differences;(f) unfamiliarity with various pedagogies;(g) interaction with other cultures and settings;and (h) stereotypes fuelled by popular media. We share our journey and the strategies that addressed these challenges, including the use of technology and results from this continued collaboration.

Hospitality employees' technology adoption at the workplace: evidence from a meta-analysis

PurposeThis research aims to use meta-analytical structural equation modeling to look into how hospitality employees use technology at work. It further investigates if the relationship between the constructs of the technology acceptance model (TAM) is moderated by job level (supervisory versus non-supervisory) and different cultures (eastern versus western).Design/methodology/approachIn total, 140 relationships from 30 empirical studies (N = 6,728) were used in this study's data analysis in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis.FindingsThe findings demonstrated that perceived usefulness had a greater influence on "user attitudes” and "acceptance intention” than perceived ease of use. This study also identified that the effect sizes of relationships among TAM constructs appeared to be greater for supervisory employees or in eastern cultures than for those in non-supervisory roles or western cultures.Practical implicationsThe findings provide valuable information for practitioners to increase the adoption of employee technology. Practitioners need to focus on the identification of hospitality employee attitudes, social norms and perceived ease of use. Moreover, hospitality practitioners should be cautious when promoting the adoption of new technologies to employees, as those at different levels may respond differently.Originality/valueThis is the very first empirical investigation to meta-analyze the predictive power of the TAM in the context of hospitality staff technology adoption at the workplace. The findings also demonstrated differences in the predictive power of TAM constructs according to job level and cultural differences.

Development of cultural agility competencies through global mobility

PurposeThis paper aims to understand how these competencies gained will help human resource (HR) leaders become more strategic about when and how to use global mobility for talent development.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the author defines the construct of cultural agility and describes the theoretical mechanisms through which employees can gain cultural agility through culturally novel situations such as global mobility. Cultural agility enables individuals to work comfortably and effectively with people from different cultures and in situations of cultural novelty. People with cultural agility have task-management competencies (cultural minimization, adaptation and integration), self-management competencies (tolerance of ambiguity, resilience, curiosity) and relationship-management competencies (humility, relationship building and perspective taking).FindingsThis study aims at focusing on the development of cultural agility, this paper focuses on four cascading features of a culturally novel experience that can help individuals gain this competence: (1) the level of cultural novelty in the experience, (2) the readiness of an individual for that level of cultural novelty, (3) the individual's level of awareness of the cultural norms and values inherent in the culturally novel experience and (4) the level of social support offered to that individual to learn how to understand and respond in that experience.Originality/valueEach feature is discussed, concluding with the implications for future research and practitioners in global mobility and talent development.

Overview of the adoption of online food ordering services in spain and india. An analytical approach based on the stimulus-organism-response model

COVID-19 pandemic, the foodservice industry has had to modify the way it offers its services. The aim of this paper is to examine the drivers of intention to use and recommendation of online food delivery (OFD) using the SOR model, to analyze the perceived risk of COVID-19 and its relationship with the perceived risk for online purchase of OFD as well as to analyze the cultural effect between Spain and India. For this purpose, an online questionnaire was developed by obtaining a sample of 422 users and structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to determine which variables had a significant influence on the adoption of the OFD. The results confirm that attitude is the main antecedent of intention to use and recommendation, in contrast to the subjective norm relationships, where it was only confirmed by recommendation. This finding demonstrates how individuals' attitude toward intention and recommendation is more favorable than influence of third parties on decisions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Strengthening critical allyship in social work education: opportunities in the context of #BlackLivesMatter and COVID-19

COVID-19 has shifted social work education and widened the gaps in services for historically marginalised communities, including people of diverse cultural, sexual and gender identities and social classes. Existing inequities based on cultural differences have been magnified, perhaps most recently evident in George Floyd's slaying and the subsequent #BlackLivesMatter demonstrations across the globe. Learning to be an ally for diverse communities and working towards the betterment of all people is a goal of social work education. We argue that simple allyship is not enough given the structural inequities present in North America and Australia the civil unrest amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Social work education's focus should trend towards allegiance with disadvantaged communities or critical allyship and include a commitment to undertake decisive actions to redress the entrenched colonial, capitalist, systemic and structural inequities that oppress many and provide unearned privilege and advantage to others. We explore strategies used in classrooms to promote allegiance and make recommendations for social work education, policy, and practice in this time of change.

A Holistic Approach for Healing in a Multicultural Society: A Qualitative Study

The COVID-19 pandemic has spread awareness and helped people realise the importance of mental health such that psychiatrists have had a 60% - 70% surge in the consultations. It has also been noticed that cultural diversity is playing an increasingly important role in the treatment and its impact on mental health. Along with the rising rates, various practices as per different cultures are increasing, especially in India being a multicultural society which show different ways of handling mental health issues. Considering the rising rates of mental health consultations, the objectives of this study were to understand the perspective of mental health professionals on multicultural practices and to explore their experiences working with holistic practices. For the present research study, an interpretative phenomenological analysis approach which is qualitative in nature was employed. In-depth semistructured interviews were conducted with mental health professionals to collect the data. Different superordinate themes (changes in attitudes towards consultation post pandemic, psychosocial & cultural factors, acceptance, effective skills for multicultural counselling, tuning cultural factors into mental health practice, & existing limitations in mental health practice) and subordinate themes emerged in the findings of this study. The implications of this study is to address the stigma against mental health related concerns as well as tap different local psychosocial and cultural factors which will help to understand mental health issues more effectively. This study will also help to develop treatment plans and diagnostic plans to treat mental ailments using holistic approach.

Embodied conversations: Culturally and trauma-informed healing practices in dance/movement therapy

We are in the 14th month of an unprecedented public health crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic. Brutality against Brown and Black bodies, systemic racism, oppression, and white supremacy continue sustaining the foundation of white domination and privilege in all of our institutions. As dance/movement therapists, educators, students, and supervisors, we are coming to terms with the fact that our field is no different: the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion in our profession and harmful educational content/practices in our programs are a reflection of this reality. Living through trauma-filled times continuously filtered our conversations and themes emerged as important and necessary to unpack and explore: How do we engage in authentic relationships when we might be reinforcing dominant structures? How do we include, listen, and support those from marginalized identities both from a theoretical stance and a social action stance? How can we be held accountable? The authors came to this work with their own experiences, stories, memories, personal trauma, identities, and cultural backgrounds. Living through identity differences and acknowledging personal and political issues, this dialogue provides insight into our own healing journeys and offering a structure to remind ourselves how to recognize our shared humanity in the spaces we occupy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Using a cultural and social identity lens to understand pandemic responses in the US and India

The world over, countries have been racing to control the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic. Central to the mitigation of the virus spread is the ability of nations to ensure behavior of its people adheres to the constraints imposed in the wake of the pandemic. However, there has been much variation in how individuals and collectives have responded in conformance to expected behavioral changes necessitated by the pandemic. The paper offers a cross-cultural and social identity perspective based on group categorizations to understand the variation in pandemic responses in the context of two different countries, that of India and the United States. Relevant cultural dimensions of difference shaping behavior such as individualism-collectivism, power distance, and other cultural norms shaping divergent behavioral responses in the US and India are examined. Differing group categorizations relevant for each country are also explored to understand the dynamics of behavioral response, be it adherence to mask wearing and following norms of social distancing, or the migrant labor exodus in India from urban to rural areas amidst the first wave of the pandemic. Implications for managing behavioral responses considering cross-cultural differences and group categorization processes are also discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Working in a pandemic and post-pandemic period-Cultural intelligence is the key

Working environment has been transformed by this pandemic into flexible work arrangements with a swift acclimatization of technology. The post-pandemic working arrangements are expected to be increasingly driven by technology as business models will also evolve to adopt these changes. Virtual working arrangements bring several challenges like reduced trust, disrupted communication, limited collaboration, lack of role clarity and lowered team performance. The research suggests that the future of work is going to be more dynamic and virtual. The normal physical work arrangements that were in place before the pandemic will evolve to include multiple models. Therefore, the challenges and problems associated with virtual working needs to be addressed along with the increasing adoption. Cultural intelligence helps in fostering 'trust and understanding' even among virtual teams. The study surveyed people working virtually during this pandemic and analysed, if cultural intelligence and its dimensions i.e. cognitive, metacognitive, motivational and behavioural have effect on the challenges faced by the virtual teams. It is observed that the behavioural cultural intelligence predicts virtual team effectiveness and address the challenges faced by virtual teams. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Boundary Crossing through Text and Image on Instagram in an Online Community of Practice

During COVID-19 lockdown many social media challenges captured the attention of users all around the world, and many online communities of practice used social media platforms for their daily interactions. On Instagram these communities gather around common interests through the platform's sociotechnical affordances. We examined the role that these features play in boundary maintenance processes and boundary crossing practices, analyzing posts from four online communities of practice (CoPs), who were bounded by their hashtags and shared an art recreation challenge that was popular on Instagram at the start of COVID-19 lockdown. We found that while some practices are shared across CoPs, boundary maintenance processes sometimes are not, and the boundaries of some of these CoPs are more permeable than others. Cultural differences, language, and script were critical for boundary maintenance regardless of the platform's visual affordances that served the boundary crossing practices. © 2023 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of cross-cultural differences on crisis management: A conceptual model of transcultural crisis management

In this paper, leadership tasks and stakeholder response during transboundary crisis management are analyzed based on findings from Hofstede's study, GLOBE Project, and theoretical concepts in cross-cultural management. Accordingly, a conceptual model of transcultural crisis management is proposed. Seven propositions (P) and sixteen sub-propositions (SP) are developed and then tested using the case method. The case of the COVID-19 pandemic is studied to note the effects of cross-cultural differences and intercultural communication in the pre-crisis, crisis, and post-crisis stages. Cross-cultural differences are found to affect sense-making, decision-making, sense-giving and meaning-making during pre-crisis and crisis management stages. Implications of these findings and further research agenda are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The association between risk perceptions, anxiety, and self-reported changes in tobacco and nicotine product use due to COVID-19 in May-June 2020 in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, reports about a possible protective effect of nicotine on COVID-19 conflicted with messaging by public health organizations about increased risks of COVID-19 due to smoking. The ambiguous information the public received, combined with COVID-19-induced anxiety, may have led to changes in tobacco or other nicotine product use. This study examined changes in use of combustible cigarettes (CCs), nargila (hookah/waterpipe), e-cigarettes, and IQOS and home-smoking behaviors. We also assessed COVID-19 related anxiety and perceptions regarding changes in risk of COVID-19 severity due to smoking. METHODS: We used cross-sectional data from a population telephone survey that was conducted in Israel in the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (May-June 2020) and included 420 adult (age 18+) individuals who reported having ever used CCs (n = 391), nargila (n = 193), and/or electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes)/heated tobacco products (e.g., IQOS) (n = 52). Respondents were asked about the effect that COVID-19 had on their nicotine product use (quit/reduced use, no change, increased use). We assessed changes in product use, risk perceptions, and anxiety using adjusted multinomial logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: Most respondents did not change their frequency of product use (CCs: 81.0%, nargila: 88.2%, e-cigarettes/IQOS: 96.8%). A small percentage either decreased use (CCs: 7.2%, nargila: 3.2%, e-cigarettes/IQOS:2.4%) or increased use (CCs:11.8%, nargila:8.6%, e-cigarettes/IQOS:+ 0.9%). 55.6% of respondents used a product in the home prior to COVID-19; but during the first lockdown COVID-19 period, a greater percentage increased (12.6%) than decreased (4.0%) their home use. Higher levels of anxiety due to COVID-19 were associated with increased home smoking (aOR = 1.59, 95% CI:1.04-2.42, p = 0.02). Many respondents believed that increased severity of COVID-19 illness was associated with CCs (62.0%) and e-cigarettes/vaping (45.3%), with uncertainty about the association being lower for CCs (20.5%) than for vaping (41.3%). CONCLUSIONS: While many respondents believed that nicotine product use (particularly CCs and e-cigarettes) was associated with increased risk of COVID-19 disease severity, the majority of users did not change their tobacco/nicotine use. The confusion about the relationship between tobacco use and COVID-19 calls for clear evidence-based messaging from governments. The association between home smoking and increased COVID-19-related stress suggests the need for campaigns and resources to prevent smoking in the home, particularly during times of stress.

Civic Engagement and Latina Immigrant Mothers' Remote Learning Involvement During COVID‐19

Immigrant incorporation scholars have established that racialized immigrant parents encounter several barriers in their children's schooling: namely, language and cultural differences, discrimination, unfamiliarity with the U.S. schooling system, and unhelpful school agents. However, less is known about the mechanisms that lessen these challenges. Drawing on insights from immigrant incorporation and civic engagement literature, this study examines how advocacy organizations can mediate the barriers racialized immigrant parents face in their children's schooling. A case study of 20 Latina immigrant mothers is used to demonstrate how civically engaged parents drew on their participation with a local advocacy organization—Parent's Choice—to overcome the barriers that emerged during the transition to remote learning due to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Findings suggest that immigrant mothers leveraged their connection to Parent's Choice to learn how to use technology, get district‐related updates, secure devices necessary for at‐home learning, create complaints or demands for services at their children's school, fill out paperwork, and access community‐based referrals. Parent's Choice provided support and empowered Latina immigrant parents by minimizing the overwhelming barriers they faced during online learning. These findings complicate our understanding of immigrant civic engagement patterns and provide implications of how civic engagement can facilitate the incorporation of marginalized parents in educational institutions.

At the intersection of two countries: A comparative critical analysis of COVID-19 communication in Australia and New Zealand: International Journal for Mass Communication studies

This research provides critical, comparative insights into the public communication responses employed by Australia and New Zealand during the first twelve months following the World Health Organization declaring COVID-19 a global pandemic. The two nations share a similar socio-political and cultural context, but despite being highlighted by the international media as early success stories, their public communication responses to the pandemic showed noteworthy differences. Borrowing from cultural studies, this paper applies the circuit of culture model and offers a snapshot in time that reinforces the importance of socio-cultural awareness when communicating intricate and challenging information. It supports the idea that a range of effective solutions to complex communication challenges are possible and may result in a similar outcome, including strengthened identities and national pride during uncertain times.

Differences in the COVID-19 Pandemic Response between South Korea and the United States: A Comparative Analysis of Culture and Policies

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has varied across countries. Some countries controlled the virus relatively well, while others did not. In the United States, almost a million people died. However, South Korea's death toll is only about 12,000 even though its population is about one-sixth of the United States. What caused the difference? We argue that public compliance to government direction is the primary reason. South Korea's collective culture valuing communal benefits helped the people conform to government directions, such as mask wearing in public places. By contrast, American people resisted the government policies that restrict individual freedom due to the individualistic culture. In South Korea, historical experiences of relatively frequent national crises led to the rise of defensive nationalism, resulting in national union. However, the United States had relatively fewer national crises, and thus nationalism did not rise. Instead, national division, xenophobia, and hatred toward Asians prevailed in the United States. Besides the cultural differences, differences in national leader's characteristics, past experiences of public health crisis, and political system also contributed to the different outcomes of the crisis.

The role of collaboration in complying with COVID-19 health protective behaviors: A cross-national study

On March 11, 2020 COVID-19 was declared a pandemic. As the virus spread, governments called on citizens to comply with handwashing and social distancing behaviors. We use survey data from Finland and the United States to examine whether collaborative dimensions help predict compliance with health protective behaviors related to combatting COVID-19. We also investigate whether these factors' influence on compliance varies between a market regime such as the United States and a more statist regime such as Finland. Our findings provide important insight for public administrators in crafting messages to the public that emphasize citizens' collaborative role in combatting a pandemic. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)