Compliance-Gaining in Multicultural Groups: an Exploratory Study

Date of Graduation

Spring 1995

Degree

Master of Arts in Communication

Department

Communication

Committee Chair

Gloria Galanes

Abstract

This study is an exploratory study of how members of multicultural groups engage in compliance-gaining messages. While studies have focused on cross-cultural comparisons to draw conclusions about cultural patterns in small groups, these conclusions are necessarily speculative because few studies have examined how culturally-based patterns of communication change within actual multicultural groups. Particpants in this study were observed during group meetings and interviewed individually about their experiences. The present study was undertaken to discover the relationship between culture and the compliance-gaining process, and to examine how group members interact and adapt their compliance-gaining strategies while in multicultural groups. Data indicated that individuals utilize the compliance-gaining strategies of the dominant culture to regulate group interaction. Data also revealed three distinct relationship types between culture of origin and the dominant culture in which the group exists.

Subject Categories

Communication

Copyright

© Shannah R Alloway

Citation-only

Dissertation/Thesis

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