Measuring intercultural/international outgroup favoritism: comparing two measures of cultural cringe

Abstract

Outgroup favoritism influences cross-group communication. At the intercultural/international level, one’s outgroup favoritism affects one’s communication with members of other cultures. However, our ability to measure outgroup favoritism at the intercultural/ international level is limited. This paper examined the interrelations between and relative validity of two measures of outgroup favoritism (i.e. cultural cringe, [Feather, N. T. (1993). Devaluing achievement within a culture: Measuring the cultural cringe. Australian Journal of Psychology, 45(3), 182–188. doi:10.1080/00049539308259137] and [Hu, Y., & Chen, G. M. (2016). The impact of cultural cringe on consumer behavior in China. China Media Research, 12(4), 75–84]). A sample of 636 Chinese adults completed two questionnaires regarding their cultural cringe. Measures were assessed using measurement modeling. Results suggest these instruments do not measure the same components of cultural cringe as an operationalization of outgroup favoritism. Results revealed some convergence between the measures; however, Hu and Chen’s scale demonstrated better quality. The results suggest that intercultural favoritism needs measurements of indirect and indicative items. The study also found that the Chinese participants did not show a general cultural cringe when comparing Chinese culture with Western cultures, indicating that the phenomenon may be overstated or that there may be social desirability issues involved in measuring cultural cringe.