STUDY OF MEASURING CULTURAL INTELLIGENCE AND DEVELOPING A MODEL TO ANALYZE THE RETENTION OF CULTURE AMONGST INDIAN IMMIGRANTS

Abstract

This present study “Study of Measuring Cultural Intelligence and Developing a Model to Analyze the Retention of Culture Amongst Indian Immigrants” is an attempt to understand the determinants of Cultural Intelligence with respect to the Indian students studying abroad. This will provide an insight to understand the cultural differences of different cultures across the sample countries and to understand how it is perceived by Indian students. The different challenges faced by Indian Immigrants in host countries are to be identified and discussed. The factors which contribute to retain the culture of Indian Immigrants are also to be discussed. Finally, an attempt to develop a conceptual model is performed. Hence, this study is a new dimension which tries to investigate deeply into the role of cultural intelligence so as to face the challenges in the host country as well as the retention of culture of Indian immigrants. In recent years globalization and internationalization of business and education have increased worldwide. The impact of globalization has facilitated the familiarity of different cultures, languages, customs, and traditions to the people all around the world. As a result, more people, especially students are getting attracted and have started to decide in terms of leaving their home countries and going abroad to fulfill their dreams for pursuing higher education or going for better opportunities for future prospects. Also, the number of students going abroad and enrolled in international universities in the United States, Australia, Canada, and other European countries have shown drastic increase recently. India is a densely populated diversified country known for its enriched culture and heritage. This will help to understand that although the Indian immigrants must settle abroad for better education opportunities and prospects, how readily they adapt foreign culture and still retain their home country's cultural values. The immigrants for this study are the students who have at least completed one year in the foreign country to be called as a sample. USA, Australia, and Canada are the three sample countries which are taken as it contributes to be the major proportion of immigrants taken in the study. After having a comprehensive study of review of literature it has been analyzed that although there has been enormous study being done regarding cultural intelligence, retention of culture and immigrants but all studies are in isolation which means there is dearth of research done so far regarding these dimensions which correlates cultural intelligence with cultural retention. This is a new dimension which tries to investigate some insight regarding the role of cultural intelligence as well as developing an understanding of how the depth of culture is helpful in retention of values in Indian Immigrants. The study would focus on achieving the four objectives namely to study the cultural intelligence of Indian Immigrants, to define the cultural differences of sample countries taken in the study, to identify issues and challenges faced by Indian immigrants to retain their culture and to develop a model for retention of culture among Indian immigrants. The discussion below summarizes the chapter schema in detail which has been opted to achieve the research inferences. First chapter of the thesis covers the introduction part. In this chapter, background of the study has been presented which is followed by the discussion on the global scenario of studying abroad with special reference to India, push factors for Indian students to go abroad and the trends & concepts of Indian immigrants are emphasized. Chapter has given overview of the key domains of the present study namely culture, cultural intelligence, Indian immigrants, culture retention. Further chapter has presented the rationale behind conducting the study and has discussed about the study area. In the end, the research outline has been presented. The second chapter of the thesis focuses on the literature review part. Chapter has discussed the concept of cultural intelligence, culture, and immigrants. Comprehensive review of existing literature therefore helped in the identification of the research gap thereby providing the necessary justification to undertake present study. Chapter three includes the research methodology part. It briefly discusses the need for conducting the present research work. In this chapter objectives of the study have been precisely defined. This is followed by discussion on research approach, research methodology and the research design which have been opted for achieving the objectives of the study. The process of

research instrument development for measuring the dimensions of cultural intelligence and cross- cultural adaptability has been discussed in detail. This chapter also embodies the research hypotheses,

data collection procedures along with the detailed discussion on various statistical tools which have been used to achieve the desired research inferences. Chapter four covers the data analysis part. This chapter begins with a brief discussion on the plan of data analysis followed by the discussion on the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Further researcher has checked the data for the response rate, missing values, common method biases and for outliers. After assumption testing

researcher has used various statistical tools namely descriptive analysis, CFA, independent t-test, One- Way ANOVA using SPSS to make the inferences. In this chapter, the results of the study have been

thoroughly discussed with the help of hypothesis testing. Chapter five comprises the research finding’s part which also includes the conclusions of the study. Various research inferences have been drawn on the basis of the findings of the study. Previous research studies have also been cited in support of the present findings. In this chapter practical, theoretical, and methodological implications of the present research have been thoroughly discussed. Suggestions, conclusions, and future research directions have also been highlighted. The final study is expected to contribute from the perspective of students to develop cultural intelligence for adjustment to a new culture and retention of the cultural values of the home country as well. This research can contribute with valuable suggestions and guidance and can be taken as a handbook for the better understanding of cultural experiences while studying abroad which in turn can predict future interest in studying/working abroad.