Cultural diversity: impact on the doctoral candidate-supervisor relationship
Article
Article Title | Cultural diversity: impact on the doctoral candidate-supervisor relationship |
---|---|
ERA Journal ID | 21951 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | Malan, Renee (Author), Erwee, Ronel (Author), van Rensburg, Henriette (Author) and Danaher, Patrick (Author) |
Editors | Erwee, Ronel and Malan, Renee |
Journal Title | International Journal of Organisational Behaviour |
Journal Citation | 17 (1), pp. 1-14 |
Number of Pages | 14 |
Year | 2012 |
Place of Publication | Toowoomba, Australia |
ISSN | 1440-5377 |
Web Address (URL) | http://www.usq.edu.au/business-law/research/ijob |
Abstract | A number of aspects influencing the relationship between the doctoral candidate and the supervisor have been identified as impacting on the success of postgraduate research supervision, but the influence of the cultural diversity of doctoral candidates and supervisors on this relationship has not been addressed. Australian universities attract a large percentage of international doctoral candidates and many of these candidates relocate to Australia for the duration of their candidature and have to face the challenges of settling temporarily in a foreign country and working closely with a supervisor from a different cultural background. Through a comparative case study approach, this exploratory study investigated the influence of cultural dimensions on the doctoral candidate-supervisor relationship. Qualitative data obtained through interviews with six cases from various cultural clusters were analysed and compared based on four dimensions of national culture values (Hofstede, 2001). The findings suggest that cultural diversity impacts significantly on the social environment of doctoral candidates, but there is no significant impact on the supervisory relationship due to the acculturation of postgraduate students into the university culture. Cultural diversity is identified as a potential factor influencing the doctoral candidate–supervisor relationship and this study suggests the development of measures to ensure that cultural misunderstandings in the supervisory relationship are avoided. |
Keywords | cross-cultural misunderstanding; cultural diversity; doctoral candidate-supervisor relationship; Hofstede; university culture |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 470207. Cultural theory |
470108. Organisational, interpersonal and intercultural communication | |
350503. Human resources management | |
Public Notes | File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Management and Marketing |
Faculty of Education | |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q12v6/cultural-diversity-impact-on-the-doctoral-candidate-supervisor-relationship
Download files
2343
total views471
total downloads6
views this month3
downloads this month