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

The acculturation of international students is a significant area of research, particularly in countries like China, the USA, Britain, and Australia, where international students constitute a considerable portion of the student population. International students face numerous challenges during their transition, including linguistic, cultural, lifestyle, academic, and discriminatory stressors. These stressors can negatively impact their psychological well-being and lead to mental health issues. Social connectedness, especially with host nationals, is crucial for mitigating these challenges and fostering positive adaptation. Interaction with host national students offers numerous benefits, including improved language skills, cultural understanding, reduced homesickness, and increased satisfaction and academic success. China's growing international student population highlights the need to understand factors influencing the interaction between international students and their Chinese peers. This study uses the Model of the Acculturation Process as a theoretical framework, examining the influence of language proficiency, culture, racism and discrimination, and environment on international students' willingness to interact, and how that willingness mediates the relationship between these factors and their social connection with Chinese students.

Existing literature highlights the importance of language proficiency for successful intercultural interaction, with higher proficiency leading to enhanced intercultural sensitivity and communication competence. Cultural knowledge is another critical factor, enabling sojourners to understand social norms and engage appropriately with host nationals. Conversely, perceived racism and discrimination significantly impede intercultural interaction and negatively impact students' attitudes and mental health. The environment, encompassing various social settings (academic, social networks, housing, social media), also plays a crucial role in facilitating or hindering intercultural contact. While research on international student adjustment is extensive in various countries, studies specifically focusing on interaction willingness and its mediating role in intercultural communication within the Chinese context remain limited. This study aims to fill this gap.

This quantitative study employed a survey design using PLS-SEM to analyze data from 184 international students at two universities in Shandong Province, China. Participants were diverse in terms of nationality, age, gender, and length of stay. Data were collected through a bilingual questionnaire (English and Chinese), including sections on demographics, interaction preferences, and Likert-scale items measuring language proficiency, cultural knowledge, racism and discrimination, environment, interaction willingness, and social connection. The questionnaire contained 43 initial items; however, 24 were removed after analysis due to low factor loadings or impaired reliability/validity, resulting in 19 final items. Missing values (0.85%) were imputed using mean replacement, and reverse-scored items were appropriately calculated. The study utilized a reflective measurement model tested with SmartPLS 4, employing consistent PLS-SEM bootstrapping with 5000 subsamples and a bias-corrected and accelerated (BCa) bootstrap method for confidence interval calculation. Assessment of the measurement models included indicator reliability, composite reliability, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and goodness of fit. The structural models were tested using path analysis to evaluate direct and indirect effects, examining the mediating role of interaction willingness according to the procedures proposed by Zhao et al. (2010). This involved assessing the significance of both indirect and direct effects, and determining the type of mediation (complementary or competitive) based on the product of direct and indirect path coefficients. Four models were tested, each incorporating one independent variable (Chinese language proficiency, culture, racism and discrimination, environment), the mediator (interaction willingness), and the dependent variable (social connection).

The measurement model exhibited satisfactory goodness of fit, with all constructs displaying adequate reliability and validity. Path analysis revealed that Chinese language proficiency, cultural knowledge, and environment positively influenced both interaction willingness and social connection, while racism and discrimination showed a negative influence. The coefficients for the path from interaction willingness to social connection were significant across all four models (0.566, 0.426, 0.605, and 0.466, all p<0.001 or p<0.01), indicating a positive and significant effect. All indirect effects were statistically significant, demonstrating the mediating role of interaction willingness. Given that direct effects were also significant, the type of mediation was determined to be complementary in all models because the products of the direct and indirect coefficients were positive. The study found that international students reported high Chinese language proficiency, cultural understanding, and low perceived racism and discrimination, generally contributing to their high interaction willingness.

The findings support previous research highlighting the positive relationship between language proficiency and intercultural adjustment. The mediating role of interaction willingness suggests that improved Chinese language skills increase willingness to interact with Chinese peers, fostering stronger social connections. Cultural knowledge also significantly contributes to interaction willingness and social connection, possibly due to longer stays in China and friendships with Chinese students. A supportive environment, particularly the use of online communication platforms like WeChat, enhances interaction opportunities, increasing interaction willingness and social connectedness. Conversely, the negative correlation between racism and discrimination and interaction willingness underscores the importance of creating a welcoming and inclusive environment. The study's results corroborate the idea that positive attitudes towards intercultural interaction contribute positively to intercultural adaptation outcomes. This study advances understanding by illustrating the specific mechanisms through which language, culture, environment, and discrimination influence intercultural communication via interaction willingness.

This study contributes to intercultural communication research by elucidating the mediating role of interaction willingness in the relationship between various factors and social connection among international students in China. The findings emphasize the importance of language proficiency, cultural knowledge, a supportive environment, and the mitigation of racism and discrimination in fostering successful intercultural interactions. Future research should address the limitations of this study, focusing on larger, more diverse samples, longitudinal designs, and a wider range of environmental factors to further refine the model and its generalizability.

This study has several limitations. The sample size is relatively small and may not fully represent the diversity of international students in China. The cross-sectional design limits causal inferences, and the focus on students who had resided in China for at least two years may not generalize to newly arrived students. Furthermore, the range of environmental factors considered was limited and could be expanded in future research.