Acculturation strategies among professional Chinese immigrants in the Australian workplace

A survey study of 214 professional immigrants born in mainland China was undertaken to examine their adaptation into the Australian workplace. It investigates the predictors of acculturation strategy selection including language proficiency, education experience in the host country, work-related experience outside the home country, and social support at work. Cluster analysis showed that professional Chinese immigrants have a predominant preference to maintain their home culture while logistic regression revealed that a model combining higher levels of English proficiency and social support at work predicted higher levels of acculturation. Findings also revealed that social support at work is the better indicator of acculturation among this immigrant group. The article concludes with practical implications for organizations and managers and research directions for future work.