Presentation Schedule
Coping with Cross-cultural Ambiguity and Foreign Language-related Variables: Insights from Undergraduates in Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand (100536)
Session Chair: Mikyong Kim-Goh
Wednesday, 25 March 2026 16:45
Session: Session 5
Room: Room 703 (7F)
Presentation Type: Oral Presentation
This study aimed to investigate how undergraduate students cope with cross-cultural ambiguity, focusing on two key foreign language-related variables: self-perceived communication competence and foreign language self-efficacy. A total of 305 undergraduate students from three countries: Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand, participated in this study. Based on the literature suggesting a relationship between Hofstede’s cultural dimension of uncertainty avoidance and tolerance of ambiguity, this study first compared the participants’ ability to cope with ambiguity in cross-cultural situations. The results of an ANOVA with post hoc comparisons revealed significant differences among the three groups: Indonesian students scored the highest, followed by Thai students, while Japanese students scored the lowest. Based on the results, we conducted separate structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses for each country to examine the impact of two foreign language variables on students’ ability to cope with cross-cultural ambiguity. Additionally, regarding the relationship between the two foreign language variables, it was hypothesized that self-perceived communication competence in a foreign language influences foreign language self-efficacy. The fit indices of the SEM analyses for each of the three countries fell within acceptable ranges. However, the relationships among the three key variables differed across the countries. Only the Japanese students showed a significant effect of perceived foreign language communication competence on coping with ambiguity. In contrast, for only the Indonesian and Thai students, foreign language self-efficacy significantly influenced coping with ambiguity. These findings suggest that approaches to enhancing coping with ambiguity may differ depending on socio-cultural context, highlighting important practical implications.
Authors:
Yusuke Yamazaki, International University of Japan, Japan
Michiko Toyama, Bunkyo University, Japan
Thitiwat Attrapreyangkul, University of Technology Lanna, Thailand
Roby Ubed, Polytechnic of State Finance STAN, Indonesia
Yoshitaka Yamazaki, Bunkyo University, Japan
About the Presenter(s)
Yusuke Yamazaki is currently prepaing to pursue a PhD in Organizational Behavior in the United States.
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