The Development and Validation of the Cross-Cultural Cognitive Dissonance Scale

1. The Development and Validation of the Cross-Cultural Cognitive Dissonance Scale Brian G. Whitaker, PhD - Appalachian State University Rick Cotton, PhD - Appalachian State University Shawn M. Bergman, PhD - Appalachian State University Jacqueline Z. Bergman, PhD - - Appalachian State University Ahmad Hassan – Morehead State University

2. Background • Expatriate failure to adjust • May result in several maladaptive outcomes, including premature termination of the expatriate assignment, reduction in expatriate organizational commitment, job satisfaction or career satisfaction • Cross-cultural cognitive dissonance (CCCD) • Internal conflicts that arise when host-culture behavioral demands are incongruent with the expatriate’s values and behavioral norms • Considered a form of stress • The extant expat literature lacks an empirically-validated scale to test the effect of CCCD on expat-relevant outcomes

3. CCCD Conceptualization • Seven discrete expatriate dissonance reduction strategies • VABN modification • The wholesale adoption of host-culture values/attitudes • Perceptual modification • Modifying personal or host country cognitions • Self-Affirmation • Offsetting the threat to the self-concept by accessing positive attributes of the self

4. CCCD Conceptualization, cont. • Rationalization • Using situational features to excuse or explain inconsistency • Confession-Redemption • Relieving the discomfort by confessing some level of wrongdoing • Selective exposure • Achieving consonance by actively avoiding dissonance-inducing contexts • Host VABN rejection • Refusal to perform or condone the behavior in question

5. CCCD Development & Anderson, 1991) • Study 1 – Item generation • Pool of 63 items written • After content analysis by nine I/O graduate students, 46 items • Gathered data from 204 expats via snowball sampling • Parallel analysis, minimum average partial correlation analysis, scree test, and EFA all indicate 7 dimensions underlying the data • Elimination of cross-loadings and conceptually-redundant items reduced item pool to 33 items • Demographics for Study 1 sample • Mean age - 31.9; Mean of 2.84 expatriate assignments over the last decade; Lived outside their home country an average of 2.83 years; 52.8% male; 67.3% Chinese, 2.4% American Samoan, 2.4% Indian, 2% Japanese, 2% German, 2% Austrian, with the remaining participants reporting a variety other nationalities

6. CCCD Development, cont. & Anderson, 1991) • Study 2 - CFA and Initial Validity Evidence • 142 expatriate employees via snowball sampling • CFA confirmed the factor structure • (χ2 = 206.83, p < .001; CFI = 0.95; RMSEA = 0.07; SRMR = 0.06) • Demographics for Study 2 sample • Mean age - 29.74; Mean of 2.99 expatriate assignments over the last decade; Lived outside their home country an average of 2.45 years; 46.4% male; 38% Chinese, 22.5% Egyptian, 5.6% Saudi Arabian, 2.11% Belgian, Spanish, and English. Each of the remaining participants’ nationalities reflected less than 2% of the total

7. CCCD Development, cont. & Anderson, 1991) • Study 3: Nomological Network • 142 expatriate employees via snowball sampling • Demographics for Study 3sample • Mean age - 30.88. Mean of 3.14 expatriate assignments over the last decade; Lived outside their home country an average of 2.76 years; 47.8% male; 57.4% Chinese, 2.1% Belgian, 2.1%, Spanish, and 18.1% unidentified. Each of the remaining participants’ nationalities reflected less than 2% of the total • Participants also gave us data on positive affectivity, tolerance for ambiguity, social skill, withdrawal cognitions, job satisfaction, and expatriate career satisfaction

8. CCCD subfacets predict… • Tolerance for ambiguity • Positively predicted by VABN modification (r = .29, p < .05), perceptual modification (r = .28, p < .05), and self-affirmation (r = .31, p < .01), negatively associated with host VABN rejection (r = -.29, p < .05) • Positive affectivity • Positively predicted by self-affirmation (r = .31, p < .01) and negatively related to Host VABN rejection (r = -.27, p < .05) • Withdrawal cognitions • Positively predicted by confession-redemption (r = .36, p < .01), selective exposure (r = .34, p < .01), and host VABN rejection (r = .25, p < .05) • Job satisfaction • Positively predicted by VABN modification (r= .42, p < .01), perceptual modification (r = .22, p < .05), and self-affirmation (r = .28, p < .05). • Career satisfaction • Positively predicted by VABN modification (r= .35, p < .01)

9. Means, Standard Deviations, and Correlations

10. EFA Pattern Coefficients on Retained CCCDS items

11. Implications • Across three studies, the CCCD subscales are valid and reliable • Selection/Recruitment • Utilize CCCD to select and recruit those more prone to VABN modification and perceptual modification, specifically. Select based on VABN rejection. • Organizational Culture • Develop/maintain cultures that reward VABN modification and perceptual modification • Performance Management • Assess, diagnose, and address skill deficiencies as they occur • Develop specific performance feedback

12. Limitations • Sampling • Derived from snowball sampling method • Respondents were not truly randomly sampled • Community Bias - first participants will have strong impact on the sample • Samples heavily weighted by Chinese responses across studies • Small N for Study 2 • Reduction of statistical power • May understate/overstate parameter influence