Abstract:

Multicultural experience is a double-edged sword in the context of globalization. It could provide ample cultural resources, help open minds and foster receptiveness to foreign cultures; meanwhile, it could also increase intergroup threat, tax cognition load, and further lead to negative emotions and resistant responses. The complex influences of multicultural experience highlight the importance of the ability to manage properly and deploy flexibly of context-appropriate cultural knowledge. However, most of the existing theories on cultural competence were proposed in the early period of global study, unable to meet the new challenges brought about by globalization. To shed light on the key elements to improve intercultural effectiveness, we reconstructed multicultural competence from the perspective of polyculturalism (i.e., emphasizing the hybridity of culture), and proposed the central role meta-knowledge (i.e., the knowledge of cultural knowledge) play in improving intercultural effectiveness. We developed a line of studies to examine the new model of multicultural competence, test its role in cross-cultural collaboration, and recover its underlying mechanism. Through these studies, we hope to deepen the understanding of globalization, and provide theoretical guidance for cross-cultural collaboration in a global environment.

Key words: multicultural competence, globalization, cross-cultural collaboration, polyculturalism