Do you think like me? Perceived concordance concerning contact and culture maintenance on international students’ intentions for contact with the host-society

An experimental study was conducted to analyse if perceived concordance on intergroup contact and culture maintenance might influence the attitudes and behavioural investment of international students toward the majority members. The mediating role of metastereotypes and some intercultural communication factors (self-disclosure, contact avoidance, and certainty) were investigated. The participants were 114 international students in Italy (mean age = 22.83), who were categorized into different levels of concordance with respect to culture maintenance and intercultural contact. Our findings showed that perceived concordance with respect to culture maintenance influenced international students’ desire for contact with majority members. Conflict avoidance mediated the relationship between concordance with respect to culture maintenance and behavioural investment. No other mediational relationships were statistically significant. This research is one of a small number of studies examining how concordance of acculturation preferences can influence the intergroup attitudes and intentions of international students. Specifically, the most positive outcomes were produced when majority members were perceived as sharing ideas concerning culture maintenance with international students. Interventions that aim to improve majority–minority relations should consider not only the preferences of minority members with respect to acculturation, but also the way minority members perceive the expectations of majority members and, more notably, the interplay between preferences and perceptions.