Exploring intercultural sensitivity in bicultural and multicultural Reddit users: The role of both identity (or individual) and contextual (or social) factors

Abstract

The Internet has revolutionized communication, enabling interactions between individuals from diverse cultures. This is especially true for social media which encourages participation in millions of online communities on a wide range of topics, such as Reddit. Research has largely neglected the intricate relationship between new media and intercultural issues. This study aims to address this gap by exploring the use experience of bicultural and multicultural individuals on Reddit and investigating the impact of identity-level (identity categorization, compartmentalization, and integration) and contextual-level (identification with the online network, online intergroup contact frequency and quality) factors on intercultural sensitivity. A sample of 241 bicultural (n = 90) and multicultural (n = 151) Reddit users (females = 100, 41.49%) participated in the study. Hierarchical regression results showed that both identity-level and contextual-level factors significantly contributed to intercultural sensitivity. Specifically, on the identity-level, integration was positively related to intercultural sensitivity, while compartmentalization was negatively associated with it. Additionally, on the contextual-level, identification with the online network and high-quality online intergroup contact were associated with greater intercultural sensitivity. This research highlights the importance of understanding how intercultural dynamics unfold within social media platforms and provides insights for fostering intercultural sensitivity in online communities.