Identity and Alterity in Intercultural Business Communications: How Positional Flexibility Fosters Trust Building and Familiarity in the Global South
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2024
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
SSRN
Abstract
The article analyses the grammars of identity/alterity in intercultural business communications between two countries of the Global South, China and Chile. Through a qualitative analysis of two focus groups and several interviews carried out in Beijing and Shanghai, the authors propose that narratives of alterity/identity predominate within the communication exchange. These narratives reify mutual cultural identities, hindering structural hierarchies in the international, allowing for trust building between actors in the Global South. We argue that these interactions take place in a space of difference, where alterity prevails over identification, which allows for the mutual recognition of semi-modernity facilitating business encounters.
Description
Keywords
China-Chile, Global South, Identity/alterity, Intercultural communication, International business, Positional flexibility