Thinking like a chameleon: How diversity ideologies differentially enable cultural accommodation

Global business often demands cultural accommodation, acting according to a host country’s norms. However, cultural accommodation is often deterred by the threat people can feel about betraying their heritage cultural identity. We investigate an important yet unrecognized antecedent of cultural accommodation: the ideologies that people hold about diversity, which we propose shape people’s notions that their cultural identity is changeable. Across field, survey, and experimental studies, we examine how the ideology of polyculturalism (which welcomes the mutual influence of cultures over time) reduces identity threat, enabling cultural accommodation. Greater endorsement of polyculturalism by participants is associated with greater cultural accommodation (Study 1), an effect mediated by lower identity threat (Studies 2 and 4). Experimental manipulation of polyculturalism showed the same effect, supporting the …