The Relationship Between Biculturals and Attitudes Towards Diversity

Drawing from the cultural intelligence framework (Early & Ang, 2003) and the common in-group identity model (Gaertner & Dovidio, 2000), we hypothesize that bicultural individuals will be associated with higher attitudes toward diversity mediated by cultural intelligence. We also hypothesize competing hypotheses regarding the role of the different dimensions of cultural intelligence in explaining variance in attitudes towards diversity. We tested our hypotheses with two different samples including current employees from different organizations and industries. Results supported our hypotheses: cultural intelligence mediates the relationship between bicultural individuals and attitudes toward diversity. One implication of the study is that the mere exposure to bicultural settings is not enough to increase positive attitudes towards diversity. The development of cultural intelligence will facilitate the generalization process and increase attitudes towards diversity.