Intercultural interaction willingness: a PLS-PM approach to influencing factors and its mediation effect

For international students, interaction with host nationals greatly influences their adjustment to the host country. Their willingness to interact is subject to the influence of multiple factors. Partial least squares path modeling (PLS-PM) was employed in this study to explore three key research questions. Firstly, we sought to determine whether language proficiency, culture, racism and discrimination, and environment could affect international students’ willingness to interact with their Chinese peers. Secondly, we investigated whether interaction willingness was positively correlated with social connection. Thirdly, we examined whether interaction willingness had a mediation effect on intercultural communication. The measurement models and structural models were assessed using consistent PLS-SEM algorithm (PLSc) and consistent PLS-SEM bootstrapping. The assessment results indicated that the models exhibited a satisfactory goodness of fit. Path analysis results showed that (1) language proficiency, culture, and environment exhibited a positive correlation with interaction willingness, while racism and discrimination exerted a negative correlation; (2) interaction willingness was positively correlated with social connection and (3) the variable of interaction willingness was identified as a mediating variable in the correlation between independent variables (i.e. language proficiency, culture, racism and discrimination, and environment) and the dependent variable (i.e. social connection). The findings indicate that multilingualism, length of stay, and empathy from host nationals may contribute to willingness of international students to interact with Chinese students by reducing barriers of language, culture, and discrimination. It is therefore evident that a supportive environment is crucial for interaction and the development of social connection.