With increasing global mobility and migration, the influence of culture on individuals is becoming more diverse and some individuals become multicultural due to accumulated intercultural experiences. Multiculturalism at the individual level is therefore defined as “the extent to which someone has knowledge of, identification with and internalization of more than one societal culture” (Vora et al. 2019, p. 506). Both enculturation and acculturation processes can play an important role here. Answering questions about the identity of these multicultural people and the diverse experiences of multiculturalism requires different ways of thinking about culture, intercultural research and education. Only recently has research begun to examine the constructive aspects of multiculturalism and to identify potentials and resources.

The symposium therefore aims to shed light on the challenges, but even more so - in line with constructive interculturality, which sees cultural differences as an enrichment - on the opportunities of this topic and to show new paths for various academic disciplines as well as for practice. The varied and interactive scientific program offers the opportunity for scientists from different (professional) backgrounds to contribute their expertise and become part of a network.

• Forschende verschiedener Disziplinen, Länder und Karierrestufen in einem interdisziplinären und interkulturellen Dialog zusammenbringen,
• aktuelle Forschungsprojekte, -ergebnisse sowie persönliche Erfahrungen mit Bezug zu individueller Multikulturalität präsentieren und reflektieren,
• neue Wege für Forschung und Praxis herausarbeiten und mit konkreten Projekten als Forschungsagenda etablieren.

Mary Yoko Brannen
Professor Emerita from San José State University, California

July 24, 2025, 9:00 - 13:00, ITZ 017

A deep understanding of how culture influences organizational phenomena is of great relevance for science and practice today. However, the limitations and superficiality of existing measures of national cultural differences do not do justice to the complexity of culture with all its interacting spheres. Traditional positivist approaches to understanding culture are therefore not sufficient in order to adequately capture the complexity of cultural phenomena in international organizations.

Ethnography, on the other hand, with its two essential elements - fieldwork, including its central methodological building block of participant observation, and its focus on culture - seems to be a more effective approach to gaining insights into such cultural phenomena embedded at the micro level.

In this workshop, Professor Brannen will draw on her newly published book “Ethnography in International Business: Learning from the Field” (Cambridge University Press, 2025) to guide participants from the initial steps of matching research questions with an appropriate ethnographic research design through to theory development and provide guidance for writing up.