Concepedia

Bicultural Competence and its Impact on Team Effectiveness

International Journal of Cross Cultural Management · 2010 · 137 citations · 121 references

TL;DR

Biculturals are individuals who internalize two cultural schemas, a growing workforce demographic whose innate skills—such as conflict management and boundary spanning—can address central challenges in multicultural teams. The study develops the concept of bicultural competence and investigates its impact on multicultural team effectiveness. The authors define bicultural competence, identify its antecedents, delineate its influence on the two primary roles of bicultural members in teams, and examine how these roles affect team effectiveness. The paper discusses theoretical and practical implications of bicultural competence for team effectiveness.

Abstract

This paper develops the concept of bicultural competence and explores its impact on multicultural team effectiveness. Biculturals are individuals who have deeply internalized two cultural schemas. A cultural schema is a set of knowledge about values, norms, and beliefs for a given culture. Biculturals are an increasing workforce demographic, and hence a growing part of multicultural teams. Their innate skills that result from being bicultural may help solve central problems in multicultural teams, including managing conflicts and boundary spanning across cultures. Specifically, this paper defines bicultural competence, determines its antecedents, specifies its impact on the two main roles bicultural individuals play in teams, and explores their impact on multicultural team effectiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.