The Quest for Understanding and Connection: Theoretical Perspectives on Communication

In cross-cultural encounters, employees may adjust their culturally normative communication style to reduce anxiety, to fit in, and to be understood. We discuss theoretical perspectives on cross-cultural communication adaptation and highlight social, cognitive, emotional, motivational, behavioral, and identity factors that influence how and why intercultural communicators adapt to one another. We focus on workplace communication and suggest that future research more closely examine adaptation in nonverbal communication cues that often do not translate across cultures.