Beyond demographic boxes: Relationships between students’ cultural orientations and collaborative communication

Nishan Perera, Alyssa Friend Wise

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

This study investigated relationships between students’ cultural orientations and the ways in which they communicated with their peers in collaborative online discussions. 211 undergraduate business students from diverse backgrounds completed questionnaires directly assessing their cultural orientations along four dimensions (individualism, collectivism, power-distance and cultural-context). Scales were input into mixed multi-level models to predict 12 aspects of the way students communicated in their course-based collaborative discussions of business cases. Results based on a sample of 1565 posts showed that students with weaker context-based orientations posted messages that showed greater levels of reasoning, hard evidence use, autonomous tone and linear argument structures. In addition, the local discussion group context moderated the relationship between students’ degree of collectivistic orientation and how they referred to and agreed with each other, as well as their expressions of social presence. Findings highlight the group/individual interplay in understanding relationships between cultural orientations and collaborative communication.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMaking a Difference
Subtitle of host publicationPrioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL - 12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning, CSCL 2017 - Conference Proceedings
EditorsBrian K. Smith, Marcela Borge, Emma Mercier, Kyu Yon Lim
PublisherInternational Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS)
Pages159-166
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780990355007
StatePublished - 2017
Event12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning - Making a Difference: Prioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL, CSCL 2017 - Philadelphia, United States
Duration: Jun 18 2017Jun 22 2017

Publication series

NameComputer-Supported Collaborative Learning Conference, CSCL
Volume1
ISSN (Print)1573-4552

Conference

Conference12th International Conference on Computer Supported Collaborative Learning - Making a Difference: Prioritizing Equity and Access in CSCL, CSCL 2017
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhiladelphia
Period6/18/176/22/17

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Education

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