Acculturation attitude and its effect on work engagement : a case of professional Chinese immigrants in Australia

Based on Berry’s seminal work on acculturation process, this study investigates the individual differences of professional Chinese immigrants in terms of their attitudes toward acculturation, and the relationship between acculturation attitudes and work engagement of professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace. Our survey on a sample of 220 professional Chinese immigrants reveals that those immigrants have a predominant preference to maintain their home culture. The professional Chinese immigrants adopting assimilation attitude have significantly higher level of work engagement than those who adopt separation and marginalization. This study provides useful information for organizations to manage immigrant employees via effective acculturation programs.6 page(s