| The present study explores the connection between intercultural adjustment, social support networks, and communicative competence, as subunits of intercultural interaction. Three primary objectives were: (1) to explore the connection between intercultural social ties, host communicative competence, and cultural adjustment in a holistic fashion; (2) to compare the structure of intercultural networks across systems, and; (3) to identify structures that are associated with, and therefore may facilitate, cultural adjustment. The study examines nine cases of expatriates from three cultural regions employing network analysis, communicative competence, and cultural adjustment measures. Seven culture-general properties of intercultural social support networks are posited. They are: (1) Frequency of communication within the network links at large yields the resources necessary for developing cultural sensitivity; (2) Most intercultural supportive ties will be "fairly close friends;" (3) Balanced reciprocity will be the norm in intercultural links; (4) Multiplexity in intercultural ties will be modest (2-3 contexts) and less likely than in intracultural links; (5) Dense networks will tend to provide positive socialization models leading to cultural sensitivity while loosely connected nets will yield greater chances for growth in communicative competence; (6) Intercultural networks will contain between 20 and 30 supportive ties in order to provide generally satisfactory support, and; (7) Intercultural ties are not as multidimensional as intracultural ties and will normally provide a maximum of 2-3 modes of support. Additionally, the case studies present three significantly different architectures for intercultural identity. The first network structure tends to spread nodes out to the periphery with a single center, relatively homogeneous pattern taking on the shape of a wheel. Ties are radial and consist largely of home culture others. The second pattern exhibits multiple centers and a somewhat radial, predominantly weak host national tie socio-structure. The third structure has an integrated set of heterogeneous, strong ties in an elliptical core of the network. Each social structure appears to 'work' in the sense of creating a meaningful context for identity. Finally, the networks that exhibited an elliptical, interlocking structure with strong ties to host nationals appear to have the better balance in communicative competence and cultural sensitivity. |
