Cultural Adaptability Among International Tertiary Students in New Zealand

Running head: MANAGEMENT
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Name of Student:
Name of University:
Author Note

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Literature Review
Section 1 - Introduction
The expansion of globalization and the development of the English speaking countries in the
world attracts several number of international students. The number of the higher research degree
among the international students has currently gone high with New Zealand becoming the hub
for the attraction of the international students from various corners of the globe. The aim of this
research paper is to investigate the concept of the cultural adaptability among the international
tertiary students (Wu, Garza & Guzman, 2015). The research furthermore aims to investigate on
the challenges regarding the intercultural adaptations that is faced by the international tertiary
students specifically belonging from Asian continent in the light of their cultural adaptations to
New Zealand. Students belonging from a non English speaking country like Asia tends to face
several difficulties within the factors such as behavior, social , their languages and in academics.
International students feel challenging towards the adaptation of the culture of the new country
(Mesidor and Sly, 2016).
This section of the research paper will review several literature work done by renowned authors
and primary studies in the light of a theoretical framework. The below sections will include
thorough analysis of the theory of planned behavior and the connection to the current study of
discussion. Section 3, 4 and 5 will describe the impacts of ethnicity over the cultural adaptation,
the importance of communication towards the cultural adaptation in a foreign country and the
resources by host country for accomplishment of the targets of cultural adaptation by the
international student respectively.

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Section 2 - Theoretical Framework
The study will rely over the theory of planned behavior for identification of the beliefs that
influences the international tertiary students to face challenges and cultural adaptability in the
foreign land. The theory of planned behavior is derived from the theory of reasoned action and
multi attribute attitude (Sullivan and Kashubeck-West, 2015). It is a psychological, social theory
explaining the behavioral decisions making procedure of the human beings with the aim of
predicting and understanding the individual behaviors and the control by individual will.
According to the theory of planned behavior, the behavioral intentions of individuals is generally
determined two of the major factors which are subjective norm and attitude. While the attitude
can be subdivided in both positive and negative aspects, the subjective norm is influenced by the
normative thoughts and beliefs of the society.
According to Van Dyne, Ang & Tan (2016), human behavior is often affected by the factors
including objective and external circumstances.

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Figure - The theory of planned behavior model
Source - De Leeuw et al., (2015)
Designed by Ajzen (1991), the above stated theoretical model is often used in the social
psychology for the determination of conscious intended behaviors. The first important element
within the model as shown in the figure is the attitude towards behavior. This includes the extend
to which an individual has positive or negative perceptions together with evaluation of the
behavior in question. The second most important determinant is the subjective norm which is the
social factor that incorporated the perceived pressure for the performance of the action from
closer subject. Finally, the third essential predictor is the perceived behavioral control. This
includes the challenges or comfort an individual might experience while performing together
with the anticipated barriers.