| The number of foreigners who live in South Korea has grown over the past two decades since immigration reform has occurred, which has transformed Korea into a multicultural society. Identification of the experiences and perceptions of foreigners with consumer language and intercultural communication during interaction with small- and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Seoul Metropolitan Area were important in order to understand difficulties foreigners faced during a service encounter in Korea. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the experiences and perceptions of foreign consumers during service encounters with SMEs for two constructs: consumer language and intercultural communications. Data collection involved in-depth interviews from a purposeful sample of 10 out of a sampling frame of 62 foreign professors who worked at Gachon University. Thematic data analysis was used to identify and report emergent themes with MAXqda software. Three major themes were as follows: (a) verbal and non-verbal coping skills, (b) foreign consumer cultural adapt, and (c) communicative approach avoidance by Koreans, and two minor themes: preference for use of Korean language by foreign consumers, and polite interaction by Koreans. The implications included foreign consumer ability to adapt use of verbal and non-verbal coping skills, communication approach avoidance of Koreans when interacting with foreigners, positive personal traits of foreigners in relation to their interaction and general adjustment, foreign consumer willingness to use Korean in low-involvement situations, foreigner ability to adapt culturally, and regular contact of foreigners with Koreans developed a better understanding of Korean culture. Recommendations for practice included creating programs with local governments and universities to educate SMEs to use English as a competitive advantage, having SME's window signs to signify the languages spoken and written, expanding of culture and communication classes offered by local governments and universities for foreigners. Recommendations for future research included a qualitative multiple case study with a diverse sample of foreigners, a mixed method study on the level of convenience of oral English for foreigners in Korea in low- and high-involvement encounters, and a quantitative multivariate regression study to further examine approach avoidance. |
