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Asian-Americans' Creative Styles in Asian and American Situations: Assimilative and Contrastive Responses as a Function of Bicultural Identity Integration

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  • Mok, Aurelia
  • Morris, Michael W.

Abstract

Bicultural individuals vary in the degree to which their two cultural identities are integrated. Among Asian-Americans, for instance, some experience their Asian and American sides as compatible whereas others experience them as conflicting. Past research on judgments finds this individual difference affects the way bicultural individuals respond to situations that cue their cultures. Asian-Americans with high bicultural identity integration (BII) assimilate to norms of the cued culture (e.g., they exhibit typically American judgments when in situations that cue American culture), whereas Asian-Americans with low BII do the opposite, contrasting against the cue (e.g., they exhibit typically Asian judgments when in American situations). We investigated whether this dynamic similarly affects creative performance, which differs cross-culturally in that novelty is encouraged more by American than East Asian norms. In two experiments, we found that cues to American (vs. Asian) culture increase the novelty of solutions in divergent thinking tasks for Asian-Americans with high BII (assimilative response) yet decrease it for Asian-Americans with low BII (contrastive response). We discuss theoretical implications for culture and creativity research and practical implications for firms seeking to foster creativity.

Suggested Citation

  • Mok, Aurelia & Morris, Michael W., 2010. "Asian-Americans' Creative Styles in Asian and American Situations: Assimilative and Contrastive Responses as a Function of Bicultural Identity Integration," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 6(3), pages 371-390, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:cup:maorev:v:6:y:2010:i:03:p:371-390_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Morris, Michael W. & Hong, Ying-yi & Chiu, Chi-yue & Liu, Zhi, 2015. "Normology: Integrating insights about social norms to understand cultural dynamics," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 129(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Chua, Roy Y.J. & Morris, Michael W. & Mor, Shira, 2012. "Collaborating across cultures: Cultural metacognition and affect-based trust in creative collaboration," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 118(2), pages 116-131.
    3. Masud Chand & Rosalie Tung, 2014. "Bicultural identity and economic engagement: An exploratory study of the Indian diaspora in North America," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 763-788, September.
    4. Reed, Americus & Forehand, Mark R. & Puntoni, Stefano & Warlop, Luk, 2012. "Identity-based consumer behavior," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 310-321.
    5. Ranjitha G.P. & Anandakuttan B. Unnithan, 2018. "Self and Identity of Being an Ideal Woman: An Exploratory Qualitative Study," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 7(1), pages 33-44, January.
    6. Dau, Luis Alfonso, 2016. "Biculturalism, Team Performance, and Cultural-faultline Bridges," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 48-62.
    7. Goncalo, Jack A. & Duguid, Michelle M., 2012. "Follow the crowd in a new direction: When conformity pressure facilitates group creativity (and when it does not)," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 118(1), pages 14-23.
    8. Christine Wimschneider & Alexander Brem, 2019. "The Perception Of Creativity Through Multicultural Experience — Results From An Empirical Analysis," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(07), pages 1-31, October.

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