Engagement and interaction in a culturally diverse higher education setting

Abstract

The increased migration of the last decades has contributed to the generation of diversified societies, raising the need to understand perceptions about cultural diversity and educate on intercultural communication, intending to shrink discrimination. In order to be able to impact and instruct on intercultural competence, professors must possess preparation and development related to interaction in culturally diversified settings. With the aim to recognize the necessity for improving the interaction between professors and students in multicultural environments, this research explores the role of professors’ identity as an antecedent of intercultural competence, further designating their job engagement. The results of the survey with 322 university professors reveal the central role of professors’ commitment to social justice, as the link between their dedication to students’ needs and their own keenness towards continued involvement in working tasks. The implications emphasize the professors’ predisposition to building a productive and harmonious learning environment as a trigger for their enthusiasm, efficacy and commitment while working in culturally diverse environments. Intercultural competence presents the individual commitment to act with respect and avoid issues that could jeopardize communication in a culturally diverse environment, pointing out its importance for personal and professional relationships. In this way, this study observes cultural diversity from the lens of the impact on professors’ engagement, as the critical tool of diversity-competent, aware and sensitive communities in the long run.