Interculturalism and the Acceptance of Minority Groups

Multiculturalism has been criticized and rejected by an increasing number of politicians, and social psychological research has shown that it can lead to outgroup stereotyping, essentialist thinking, and negative attitudes. Interculturalism has been proposed as an alternative diversity ideology, but there is almost no systematic empirical evidence about the impact of interculturalism on the acceptance of migrants and minority groups. Using data from a survey experiment conducted in the Netherlands, we examined the situational effect of promoting interculturalism on acceptance. The results show that for liberals, but not for conservatives, interculturalism leads to more positive attitudes toward immigrant-origin groups and increased willingness to engage in contact, relative to multiculturalism.

Managing the face in service failure: the moderation effect of social presence

Purpose This study aims to investigate the moderating effect of in-group social presence on the relationship between face concern and hotel customers’ behavioral responses to service failures. Design/methodology/approach Participants were randomly assigned to two conditions: in-group presence vs control group. They read a scenario describing a hotel check-in service failure and answered questions regarding their behavioral intention after the failure and level of face concern. Findings The results indicate that face concern is positively associated with the intention to voice a complaint, to spread negative word-of-mouth and to post negative online reviews. While the impact of face concern on complaint intention became insignificant in the presence of an in-group, its effect on posting negative online reviews was enhanced when surrounded by an in-group. Research limitations/implications It addresses the long-lasting debate about the association between face concern and various types of behavioral responses to service failure. Practically, extra attention should be paid to the process quality when serving face concerned customers, particularly when they are accompanied by important others. Originality/value This study enriches the literature on cultural effects by identifying the situational effect of face concern on customers’ service failure responses. A model that describes the situational effect of face concern on different types of behavioral intention has been built.

Coping Behaviors in Relation to Frequency and Intensity of Anxiety-Provoking Situations

The relationships between coping strategies (constructive, passive, and escape), on the one hand, and anxiety reactions and individuals’ frequency of experiences of anxiety, and situations’ rate of recurrence, and general anxiety-inducing effect on the other, were explored. The investigated factors and their associations were studied both as individual characteristics and situational properties. Data for boys and girls were treated separately. The results for individuals showed that both trait-anxiety and frequency of stressful experience were related positively to escape strategies and negatively to constructive solutions. For situations, general situational effect correlated positively with escape solutions and negatively with constructivity. Rate of recurrence was correlated positively with constructive strategies and negatively with escape solutions. No significant sex differences were found.