ETHNOCENTRISM AND INTERCULTURAL WILLINGNESS TO COMMUNICATE: A STUDY OF MALAYSIAN PRIVATE UNIVERSITY

Abstract

Universities are considered as a great platform to polish students’ intercultural communication skills as they learn to interact with students from different cultural background on a deeper level than school. However, past studies revealed that intercultural communication among university students are still limited; students are reluctant to participate in intercultural communication beyond the classroom settings due to ethnocentrism. This study investigated the relationship between ethnocentrism and intercultural willingness to communicate among Chinese and Indian undergraduates from a private university in Malaysia. A total of 75 Chinese and 75 Indian respondents (N = 150) were recruited to participate in this study. The Generalized Ethnocentrism (GENE) and Intercultural Willingness to Communicate (IWTC) scales were adopted and modified to assess respondents’ level of ethnocentrism and level of intercultural willingness to communicate, respectively. Data were coded, entered, and analysed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 22. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a moderate significant negative correlation between ethnocentrism and intercultural willingness to communicate; higher the level of ethnocentrism, lower the level of intercultural willingness to communicate. The implications of the findings are discussed.