The association between implicit culture beliefs and intercultural sensitivity: anticipated intergroup exclusion and stigma as underlying processes

Abstract South Asians and Chinese mainlanders are two distinct cultural minority groups in the Hong Kong context. Grounded in theories and findings on implicit beliefs, this study examined the mediating roles of anticipated intergroup exclusion and stigma toward these cultural minority groups in the link between implicit culture beliefs and intercultural sensitivity. A total of 192 university students aged between 18 and 26 years old ( M = 21.18; SD = 1.82) residing in Hong Kong participated in this study. Participants completed self-report questionnaires that assessed fixed versus malleable beliefs about cultural attributes, anticipated intergroup exclusion towards South Asians and Chinese mainlanders, stigma towards South Asians and Chinese mainlanders, and intercultural sensitivity. Path analysis and bootstrapping were applied to test the mediation model. Results showed that fixed implicit beliefs about cultural attributes were related to anticipated intergroup exclusion, greater stigma towards cultural minority groups, and lower intercultural sensitivity. However, only greater stigma towards South Asians, but not towards Chinese mainlanders, was then significantly associated with lower intercultural sensitivity. Taken together, the present study revealed the partial mediating roles of anticipated intergroup exclusion and stigma towards cultural minorities (i.e., South Asians and Chinese mainlanders) between implicit culture beliefs and intercultural sensitivity in the context of Hong Kong. In addition, the strengths of associations among anticipated intergroup exclusion, stigma, and intercultural sensitivity differed as a function of cultural groups.