Latino Definitions of Success: A Cultural Model of Intercultural Competence

The present study sought to examine Latino intercultural competence via two separate methodologies. Phase 1 entailed discovering and generating themes regarding the features of intercultural competence based on semistructured interviews of 15 Latino adults. Phase 2 included conducting a cultural consensus analysis from the quantitative responses of 46 Latino adults to determine the cultural model of intercultural competence. The major results indicated that the participants, despite variations in socioeconomic and generational statuses, shared a common knowledge base regarding the competencies needed for Latinos to successfully navigate different cultures. Overall, the cultural model of Latino intercultural competence includes a set of skills that integrates traditional cultural values along with attributes of self-efficacy. The findings are discussed within a competence-based conceptualization of cultural adaptation and potential advancements in acculturation research

Searching for the Best Neighborhood: Mobility and Social Interactions

The paper seeks to contribute to the social interactions literature by exploiting data on individuals’ self-selection into neighborhoods. We study a model in which households search for the best location in the presence of neighborhood effects in the formation of children’s human capital and in the process of cultural transmission. We use micro data from the PSID which we have merged, using geocodes, with contextual information at the levels of census tracts and of counties from the 2000 US Census. We control for numerous individual characteristics and neighborhood attributes and find, consistently with neighbourhood effects models, that households with children, but not those without, are more likely to move out of neighborhoods whose attributes are not favorable to the production of human capital and the transmission of parents’ cultural traits, and to move into neighborhoods which instead exhibit desirable such attributes.

Searching for the Best Neighborhood: Mobility and Social Interactions

The paper seeks to contribute to the social interactions literature by exploiting data on individual's self- selection into neighborhoods. We study a model in which households search for the best location in the presence of neighborhood effects in the formation of children's human capital and in the process of cultural transmission. We use micro data from the PSID which we have merged, using geocodes, with contextual information at the leves of census tracts and of counties from the 2000 US Census. We control for numerous individual characteristics and neighborhood attributes and find, consistently with neighborhood effects models, that households with children, but not those without, are more likely to move out of neighborhoods whose attributes are not favorable to the productin of human capital and the transmission of parents' cultural traits, and to move into neighborhoods which instead exhibit desireable such attributes.

Attributes of narrative game aesthetics for perceived cultural learning

Previous researches are mostly concerned on non-holistic game aesthetics for learning in various interactive media platforms. There is lack of studies on attributes of narrative games aesthetics which may contribute to perceived cultural learning. Therefore, this study aims to propose a conceptual model of narrative game aesthetics for perceived cultural learning. Three specific objectives were formulated: (i) to determine game aesthetics that contribute to perceived cultural learning in narrative games, (ii) to develop a narrative game based on the determined game aesthetics, and (iii) to produce empirical evidence on the contribution of game aesthetics towards perceived cultural learning. The research methodology comprises of three main phases: conceptual model development, prototype development, and user evaluation. For the first phase, the conceptual model was developed based on previous literature and reviewed by six experts. In the second phase, prototype development was then developed according to the conceptual model. Finally, user evaluation was employed using quasi experiment which involved 43 participants. Data analysis is conducted using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, and observation. Findings indicate that six out of 10 attributes namely image and graphic; layout; shape and form; texture; voice; and music, are significantly correlated to perceived cultural learning. The observation results also indicate that these attributes can amplify game experience for perceived cultural learning. In a nutshell, this study has identified attributes of narrative game aesthetics for perceived cultural learning. It further provides empirical evidence on contributions of these attributes of narrative game aesthetics to perceived cultural learning. The outcome of this study will provide guidelines for narrative game designers and developers whom interested to inculcate cultural learning in their game

Initial Development and Validation of the Mexican Intercultural Competence Scale

The current project sought to develop the Mexican Intercultural Competence Scale, which assesses group-specific skills and attributes that facilitate effective cultural interactions, among adults of Mexican descent. Study 1 involved an exploratory factor analysis (N = 184) that identified 5 factors including Ambition/Perseverance, Networking, the Traditional Latino Culture, Family Relationships, and Communication. In Study 2, a confirmatory factor analysis provided evidence for the 5-factor model for adults of Mexican origin living in the Midwest (N = 341) region of the United States. The general findings are discussed in terms of a competence-based formulation of cultural adaptation and include theoretical and clinical implications

Cultural competence in nursing: A concept analysis

Background: Cultural competence is one of the principal foundations of clinical nursing. It has not yet been clearly defined and analysed and there are different views regarding this issue. Objective: Analyzing the concept of cultural competence in nursing. Design: A concept analysis. Data Sources: The literature was searched using electronic databases including PubMed, ScienceDirect, Scopus, ProQuest, Google Scholar, CINAHL, Wiley, Ovid, Magiran, and SID with no date limitation. Any quantitative or qualitative studies published in English or Persian, which were focused on cultural competence in nursing were included in the study. Review methods: Walker and Avant's strategy for concept analysis was used. The attributes, antecedents, consequences, and uses of the concept were identified. Results: A total of 43 articles were included. The six defining attributes of cultural competence were cultural awareness, cultural knowledge, cultural sensitivity, cultural skill, cultural proficiency, and dynamicity. Antecedents included cultural diversity, cultural encounter and interaction, cultural desire, cultural humility, general humanistic competencies, educational preparation, and organizational support. The consequences of cultural competence were also identified: those related to care receivers, those related to care providers, and health-related consequences. Conclusion: A theoretical definition and a conceptual model of cultural competence were developed. The attributes, antecedents, and consequences of cultural competence identified in this study can be used in nursing education, research, and managerial and organizational planning. © 201

Developing a panarchy model of landscape conservation and management of alpine-mountain grassland in Northern Italy.

This paper explores methods of applying resilience theory to a case study of natural resource management and the cultural landscape of upland and alpine pasture in northern Italy. We identify that the close interaction between alpine pastures and its managers offers a strong fit with the concept of a social-ecological system that maintains the cultural landscape. We first considered a descriptive approach looking historically at socio-economic development in the study area. We explored whether this can be related to resilience phenomena such as regime shifts, thresholds and/or regime stability through adaptive processes. However, we found it difficult at this overarching level to conceptually combine natural and social capital of alpine pastures and their managers in any quantitative way. We also interpreted our data through considering economic, social and ecological information as acting within separate but interacting domains. This led us to construct conceptual models of adaptive cycles to describe the alpine mountain grassland ecosystem of our study site and to conclude that a panarchy model can offer a powerful metaphor for its ecological dynamics. This has practical implications both for the management of Natura 2000 interest and the maintenance of the cultural landscape in which this Alpine interest occurs. We suggest that Resilience theory through its dynamic approach of interacting scales of adaptive cycles offers useful insights into the resource management (of valued cultural and natural attributes) but that care is needed in distinguishing between descriptive metaphor and predictive model or "real" system.natural resource management, natural and social capital

Organizational Alignment through Leadership Proficiency and Human System Interventions

Across many organizations, agencies and programs have been tasked with building, training, and retaining the workforce needed. Yet, only few organizations have succeeded in their efforts by creating a culture in which workforce preferences align and overarching leadership support is provided. Such a cultural transformation requires not only a behavioral shift from employees, but especially from those in leadership positions, in order to break from the typical way that organizations have long encouraged them to behave. Although the importance of leadership has been emphasized in previous literature, no consistent description of leadership attributes or promising application of human system interventions currently exist to tackle those challenges. To understand leadership attributes and its accompanied behaviors within organizational settings, we hypothesized certain leader attributes in form of personality and communication behaviors to have a greater effect on organizational alignment and overall performance. Further, we hypothesized human system interventions in the form of leadership or group coaching to have a greater effect on leadership proficiency and ultimately on organizational alignment. The foundation of this research, here the conceptual model of leadership traits is based on a comprehensive literature review to specify leadership attributes into high-level categories of leadership communication and behaviors to align with employee preferences, thus improving cultural growth, and retention. Through a simulation-based platform the leadership proficiency attributes will be observed during a dynamic design team task. Students from the University of Alabama in Huntsville will be recruited to participate in this study. Both qualitative and quantitative data will be gathered about leader proficiency, efficiency and efficacy during the simulation. Leader qualities may be inevitable in fostering organizational alignment and cultural growth resulting in higher retention and lesser turnover rates. The data obtained will be analyzed to identify a) leadership attributes that support aligning employee preferences and b) the effect of potentially fruitful human system interventions as means for leadership, cultural and performance growth. Moreover, obtained results will be used to develop agent-based models with a focus on the representation of personality dependent attributes in models of agent interactions to display emergent agent behavior. The proposed research will identify attributes of leadership proficiency through experimental design as well as demonstrate how leadership interactions and attributes can be simulated in agent-based modeling. The goal of this research is to provide a state of the art overview of identified leadership attributes supportive towards organizational alignment and cultural growth. This is performed to advance leadership and cultural growth within organizations; and using results of the empirical and theoretical groundwork to develop in the field applications

Incorporating service quality tools into Kansei Engineering in services: A case study of Indonesian tourists

Due to market dynamics and challenges, it is imperative for companies to put their concern on strategic marketing orientation. In facts, products and services of similar quality are ubiquitous in today’s global market. Basically, functionality and usability alone are no longer prominent success factors in product and service innovation because customers today concern themselves more on satisfying their emotions than merely their cognition. Kansei Engineering (KE) has shown its superiority in investigating and modelling customer emotion (“Kansei” in Japanese) for product development. In dealing with customer needs, service quality tools such as quality function deployment (QFD) and the Kano model, have been applied extensively. But none have been able to incorporate and model customer’s emotional needs. Some attention has been given to investigate this but, thus far, there is no formal methodology that can account for customer emotional needs in service design. To fill this niche, this study proposed an integrative framework of KE incorporating the Kano model and QFD applied to services. This study extended the work by Hartono and Tan (2011) and Hartono et al. (2012) and presented a survey on luxury hotel services involving more than a hundred Indonesian tourists as the subject of study. Luxury hotels are reported to have greater strength of emotion than any other hotel segment. This work confirmed that emotion is to be more important than cognition in impacting overall customer satisfaction. Practically, it gives insight on which service attributes deserve more attention with regard to their impact on customer emotion. Indonesian tourists shared a common response to the Kansei word “elegant” which correlates with their common cultural dimension of “power distance”. Performing a Kansei evaluation to understanding cultural backgrounds may yield valuable insights for international tourist marketing strategies and companies’ business sustainability