Prior studies have found that the sociocultural context in the host country can change an
individual’s cultural identity and reverse cultural chock is unavoidable when they return
to the home country (Adler, 1981; Sussman, 2000, 2011; M. M. Wang, 1997; Wielkiewicz & Turkowski, 2010; Zapf, 1991). This current study provided further support for the idea that Chinese returnees had undergone cultural identity changes while overseas and experienced the need for (or pressures for) cultural re-adaptation and readjustment when they returned to their home country’s sociocultural context. These cultural changes were suggested by their way of communicating with others in their work place and social life, including getting along with their colleagues, students, and friends. Some returnees had difficulties understanding Chinese norms and values when communicating with other colleagues and social associates. They sometimes felt confused and frustrated when interacting with people from their once familiar culture, such as dealing with the indirect way of Chinese people when talking to others and what they now perceived as the complicated interpersonal relationships between people.
Culture is known to have a primary role in shaping people’s knowledge, behaviour, psychology and social relationships (Neuliep, 2015). Culture not only refines people’s activities, but also the ordinary, everyday things in people’s lives, such as greeting others, eating, and showing feelings (G. H. Hofstede et al., 2010). Chinese culture is shown in
people’s daily life and is embedded within their social interactions (G. H. Hofstede et al.,
2010). In the Chinese culture, the guanxi phenomenon involves being indirect when talking to others and being moderate when facing people in a superior position, reflecting the Confucian ideas of harmony and hierarchy (Buttery & Leung, 1998; Sussman, 2011). These ways of dealing with others represent the Chinese cultural norms and values, which are very different from those of Western countries (Buttery & Leung, 1998; G. H.
Hofstede et al., 2010; Sussman, 2011). Chinese culture is also described as having the characteristics of collectivism and high power distance, which contrast with the individualism and low power distance of typical Western countries. The former stress the interest of the group and accept inequality between people as part of the hierarchical levels of the Chinese social structure, whereas the latter focus on individuals’ interest and believes that inequality is not normal and fair (G. H. Hofstede et al., 2010).
The returnees’ confusion and frustration with regard to dealing with other people from
their own culture indicated changes in their cultural identity and the conflict between different cultures. As returnees came back with the newly acquired cultural norms and values from their host countries, it is no wonder that they found their behaviours and thinking did not fit into the home culture and they had to readjust themselves again. According to Sussman (2000), when individuals are immersed in a new social environment, where behaviours and thinking are different from their own cultural context, individuals begin to be aware of the profound influence of their own culture on their behaviours. Realising that their set of cultural cognitions and behaviours are no longer appropriate within the new cultural context, individuals may modify their behaviours to fit into the new culture. As a result of this adjustment or adaptation, the individuals encounter some disturbance in their self-concept during repatriation and their cultural identity changes become salient when individuals return back and face their home culture again. The individual has to modify their behaviour and thinking once again, to fit into the home culture. The returnees in this current study realised that their thinking and behaviours were different from others in their home culture, saying that the way of
relating with others in the Chinese culture was “complicated” and “indirect”. These “complicated” and “indirect” ways of interacting with others are common norms of
Chinese cultures; but not the cultural norms of the Western way. For these returnees, when they came back to their home culture context which has the characteristics of collectivism and high power distance, they were still bearing some Western cultural values with them. When they evaluated their personal values and behaviours in the prevailing cultural norm in their home country, they found that their newly formed cultural identity included thinking and behaviours that did not fit in any more. They had
to change their thinking norm from “I” to “we”. They had to put the groups’ interest
before their own interest. When facing the complicated interpersonal relationship between individuals, especially the relationship between superior and subordinate, the
Western values they acquired overseas made them feel stressed and confused. That is why most returnees reported having difficulties re-adapting to the Chinese organisational and sociocultural culture. This meant that cultural clashes during re-entry life were inevitable for some returnees.
This feeling of “not fitting in” reflects what Sussman (2000, p. 365) calls the “subtractive
and additive” cultural identities of individuals. Sussman explains that during cultural contact, there are four kinds of cultural identity shifts: subtractive and additive cultural identity change, and affirmative and intercultural identity shifts. With affirmative
cultural identity change, the sojourners’ home cultural identity is maintained and strengthened and returning home may be a welcome relief; with intercultural identity shifts, repatriates experience a sense of being world citizens who can interact appropriately and effectively in many countries or regions, or they feel they belong to both cultures. Previous literature has reported these changed identity features among Chinese returnees when they return to the Chinese cultural context (Gill, 2010; Ip, 2006). This current study is in line with the findings that returnees developed a more objective attitude towards both the Chinese culture and the Western culture. Some returnees reported that they missed their overseas life, particularly the simple relationship between individuals, the relatively direct way of communicating with others, and the much simpler lifestyle there. They experienced stress and uncomfortable interpersonal relations with some colleagues and people from the management level after their return home. However, the study also showed that some returnees had become more open-minded about the Chinese culture. They perceived the differences between Chinese and the Western cultures, and they accepted their home cultural norms and patterns with a more open attitude. These returnees had a more stable and unambiguous cultural identity throughout their transition cycle, thus experiencing a low level of repatriation distress in their re-entry experiences. Some of this study’s returnees reported that they had developed the ability to reach out to the world and no longer belonged to just one place or one culture. They believed they had developed multicultural views because of the international cultural contact, which allowed them to know different possibilities about themselves and the world. In these instances returnees considered themselves now as