Sensemaking and culture: Examination of two culturally grounded theoretical frameworks (Chinese, Karl Weick)

This study is aimed to examine whether and how culture may influence the results of social science research. An empirical study on Chinese sojourners' sensemaking in their culture-shock experiences at Chinese restaurants in the U.S. was conducted to provide the research data for the examination of the impact of culture on research results.; The empirical study was based on a phenomenological approach. Twelve Chinese women and two Chinese men were interviewed to talk about their first experiences of dining at the Chinese restaurants in the U.S. These interviews provided the empirical and descriptive data that later was used for the analysis of cultural impact on research results.; To examine the cultural impact on research results, this study applied Karl Weick's theory of sensemaking and a Chinese theory on sensemaking to interpret the research data collected from the empirical study. This study compared and contrasted the interpretations of the research data based on the two culturally grounded theoretical frameworks on sensemaking. The comparison showed that the taken-for-granted cultural perspective in a theoretical framework had an influence on the interpretation of research data. It also showed that the Western theory of sensemaking and the Chinese theory of sensemaking both have their limitations in explaining Chinese sojourners' sensemaking. The value of indigenous theory and a multicultural approach for future communication research is discussed at the end of this study.