Implications of Cross-Cultural Training for Faculty Careers: The Case of Korean Academics. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

A study of the perceptions of Western trained Korean faculty regarding the implications of their cross-cultural training for their careers in academe was done. Personal interviews were conducted with 27 Western-trained faculty members now teaching at 3 private research universities in Seoul, Korea. Principles inherent in the naturalistic inquiry paradigm guided the interviews. Individuals were selected to provide representation across disciplinary fields, academic rank and gender. Research focused on faculty members': (1) experiences as foreign graduate students and their socialization to the professoriate; and (2) perceptions of the impact of their cross-cultural training on their academic careers. Analysis found that most had abbreviated relationships with graduate faculty and advisors from their Western graduate training, most experienced a tension between Westernized expectations which place a value on research versus the Asian institution's emphasis on teaching, and all felt a strong sense of obligation to their current institutions. Overall, the study found that scholars who train in one culture with a defined set of norms and perform in another with its own set of norms serve multiple masters. Included are 16 references. (JB)