Japanese Students’ Group Identification, Social Tolerance and Motivation for Intercultural Communication

Abstract—Abstract—In the last two decades, the number of non-native Japanese residents in Japan has increased dramatically. Accepting more foreigners is part of the globalization at the worldwide level, which requires Japanese natives to be tolerant and understand other cultures in order to become a “multicultural” society. This study aims to investigate the relationship between Japanese students’ group identification, social tolerance towards foreigners, and motivation for intercultural communication, considering the effects of social support networks (SSNs) formed through face-to-face (FTF) and instant messaging (IM) interactions. We conducted a self-reported questionnaire, and 200 responses became the analyzed data. The following results were observed. (a) The results of multiple regression analysis showed that respondents’ age, English language abilities, experiences in studying abroad, and social tolerance all had significant effects on motivation for intercultural communication. (b) The structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis showed that their group identification had positive effects on their social tolerance, which helped promote motivation for intercultural communication through the mediating effects of their SSNs via IM. The findings support the possibility that improving Japanese students’ social tolerance towards foreigners will be helpful in motivating their intercultural communication, and usage of IM is an effective way to achieve that improvement.

Index Terms—Key Words—Japanese students, group identification, social tolerance, motivation for intercultural communication.

Shaoyu Ye is with the Faculty of Library, Information and Media Science, University of Tsukuba, 3058550 Japan (e-mail: shaoyu@slis.tsukuba.ac.jp). Erika Uchida is with the University of Tsukuba, 3058550 Japan (e-mail: s1513116@u.tsukuba.ac.jp).

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Cite: Shaoyu Ye and Erika Uchida, "Japanese Students’ Group Identification, Social Tolerance and Motivation for Intercultural Communication," International Journal of Culture and History vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 125-133, 2017.