“Who is my friend?”: The meaning and value of intercultural friendship for Chinese international students during acculturation in Malaysia

Intercultural friendship plays a crucial role in the social and academic adjustment of international students. However, less is known about the meaning and value of such friendship through the eyes of Chinese international students in Malaysia, where the distance between host and home cultures is assumed to be relatively smaller compared to that in Western contexts. This study adopts the Social Exchange Theory and the collectivist cultural dimension as its conceptual framework to examine how Chinese international students interpret the meaning and value of intercultural friendship during their acculturation in Malaysia. Data were obtained from in-depth interviews with 26 Chinese students at a Malaysian university. The findings show that intercultural friendship: (1) fosters emotional well-being, (2) promotes cross-cultural exchange and cultural identity negotiation, (3) provides academic and personal support, and (4) involves navigating intercultural barriers and intracultural diversity. Specifically, this study demonstrates that priority is placed on the emotional values of intercultural friendship over shared culture and other tangible benefits. This study extends Social Exchange Theory by situating the evaluation of costs and rewards within sociocultural and institutional contexts, with implications for strategies to improve the lives of international students.