This inductive study explores on the basis of 134 semi-structured interviews for the case of Germany, the impact of cultural identity on highly qualified migrants’ cultural and language bridging skills. A particular focus is put on the differentiation between first and second generation migrants. We find that cultural identity impacts migrants’ cultural and language bridging skills, prompting differences not only between generations but also within them. On this basis, we establish two sub-groups of first generation migrants: those with a (heritage culture is dominant) and those with an (often unclear which culture dominates); similarly, we find two sub-groups of second generation migrants: those with an (well-balanced combination of heritage and mainstream culture) and those with an (mainstream culture is dominant). We further ascertain that migrants with an identity possess the highest degree of cultural and language bridging skills and, thus, constitute the best bridging agents in comparison to the other sub-groups. Our study provides a more nuanced understanding of migrants’ cultural identity formation and their impact on skilled migrants’ cultural and language bridging skills. In addition, it demonstrates the need to consider inter- but also intragenerational differences, when studying the impact of highly qualified migrants in organizational contexts.

中文翻译：

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文化认同对第一代和第二代高素质移民的文化和语言衔接技能的影响


这项归纳性研究以德国为例，以 134 次半结构化访谈为基础，探讨了文化认同对高素质移民文化和语言沟通技能的影响。特别关注第一代和第二代移民之间的差异。我们发现，文化认同会影响移民的文化和语言沟通技能，不仅导致代际差异，而且导致代际差异。在此基础上，我们建立了第一代移民的两个亚群：具有a（遗产文化占主导地位）的群体和具有a（通常不清楚哪种文化占主导地位）的群体；同样，我们发现第二代移民有两个亚群：具有（传统文化与主流文化均衡结合）的群体和具有（主流文化占主导地位）的群体。我们进一步确定，具有身份的移民拥有最高程度的文化和语言沟通技能，因此，与其他亚群体相比，他们构成了最好的沟通媒介。我们的研究提供了对移民文化身份形成及其对技术移民文化和语言沟通技能的影响的更细致的了解。此外，它表明在研究高素质移民对组织环境的影响时，需要考虑代际差异和代内差异。