The impact of cultural values on students’ communication apprehension in online classrooms: The moderating role of gender

In the post-COVID-19 era, online learning has become an integral part of higher education institutions (HEIs). However, limited evidence suggests that communication apprehension (CA) is a core issue in the lack of engagement in online classrooms. This study seeks to investigate how students’ CA dimensions (i.e., communication participation avoidance and low level of communication confidence) can be predicted by their cultural values using horizontal and vertical individualism/collectivism (HVIC) classification. Moreover, this study examines gender differences as a moderator in the relationship between CA and cultural values. This quantitative survey used an online questionnaire for data collection. A total of 498 samples of data were collected From MBA students studying at the seven most prestigious Iranian business schools. The results of data analysis using SmartPLS4 indicated that the CA levels of MBA students are affected by their cultural values in the HVIC classification (excluding vertical collectivism). Additionally, this study revealed that gender plays a moderating role in the relationships between cultural values and CA dimensions. In general, the results indicated that HEIs should foster a culture that supports individualistic values—such as privacy, independency, self-fulfillment, and individual decision-making—in order to lower CA levels among MBA students.