International Journal of Intercultural Relations

26 (2002) 679–694

Predicting multicultural effectiveness of

international students: the Multicultural
Personality Questionnaire
Jan Pieter Van Oudenhoven*, Karen I. Van der Zee
Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Grote Kruisstraat 2/1, Groningen 9721 TS,
The Netherlands

Abstract

The present study considered the reliability and validity of the 78-item revised version of the
Multicultural Personality Questionnaire, a multidimensional instrument aimed at measuring
multicultural effectiveness of expatriate employees and students. The questionnaire includes
scales for cultural empathy, open-mindedness, emotional stability, social initiative and
flexibility. Participants were native and foreign students of an international business school
(N ¼ 171) in the Netherlands. The MPQ scales appeared to be more strongly predictive of
adjustment of international students as compared to native students. Moreover, the
instrument was able to explain variance in students’ adjustment beyond self-efficacy.
r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Multicultural effectiveness; Multicultural Personality Questionnaire; International students;

Open-mindedness; Cultural empathy; Flexibility; Social Initiative; Emotional stability

1. Introduction

In today’s global business environment, executive work is becoming more

international in orientation. Increasingly, employees have to be able to operate
within foreign cultures. As a consequence business schools, in particular, have
become more aware of the need to internationalize their curricula and their
customers. Many schools recruit students from all over the globe. The students leave

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +31-50-3636426; fax: +31-50-3636304.

E-mail address: j.p.l.m.van.oudenhoven@ppsw.rug.nl (J.P. Van Oudenhoven).

0147-1767/02/$ - see front matter r 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 4 7 - 1 7 6 7 ( 0 2 ) 0 0 0 4 1 - X
680 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

their familiar surroundings to spend several years in a different culture; not all of
them perform effectively within an environment with different norms and rules (e.g.,
Ryan & Twibell, 2000). Because of the high financial costs associated with failures
and the threat it poses to students’ sense of well-being and to their self-esteem it is
important to gain insight into the factors that are associated with a successful
international education. The present study examined personality characteristics that
may be associated with the success or failure of international business students.
Several dimensions have been related to successful adaptation of expatriates,
primarily of expatriate employees. Nevertheless, few attempts have been made to
develop sound and valid instruments aimed at measuring them. Most studies heavily
rely on expert evaluations of the relevance of dimensions assumed to be important
for overseas success. And, although several authors have stressed the potential
usefulness of personality scales for predicting international success (e.g., Deller,
1997; Ones & Viswesvaran, 1997), empirical research in this field based on reliable
scales is scarce. The few attempts that have been made use general personality
questionnaires for the Big Five, which, as Hough (1992) suggests, may be too broad
to successfully predict occupational or educational criteria (see also Ashton, 1998).
The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (MPQ) was developed as a
questionnaire aimed at measuring multicultural effectiveness. An instrument for
multicultural effectiveness may be used for the selection and training of international
students, and employees who have a job with an international scope, whether in an
expatriate assignment or in a job dealing with international issues more generally
(Schaeffer, 1985). The MPQ has scales for cultural empathy, open-mindedness,
emotional stability, flexibility and social initiative (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven,
2000). The MPQ scales are more tailored to predictions regarding multicultural
success than general personality questionnaires. In large, the MPQ questions refer to
behavior in multicultural situations, making the relation between test behavior and
the aspired job or academic career transparent, thereby enhancing the face validity of
the instrument. Even the MPQ scales that closely correspond with Big Five-scales are
designed to cover more specifically those aspects that are of relevance to
multicultural success.

1.1. The MPQ scales

Cultural empathy, also referred to as ‘sensitivity’ (e.g., Hawes & Kealy, 1981), is
probably the most frequently mentioned dimension of cultural effectiveness (Arthur
& Bennett, 1995; Cleveland, Mangone, & Adams, 1960; Ruben, 1976). Ruben (1976)
defines cultural empathy as ‘‘the capacity to clearly project an interest in others, as
well as to obtain and to reflect a reasonably complete and accurate sense of another’s
thoughts, feelings, and/or experiences’’. In other words, this dimension refers to the
ability to empathize with the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of members from
different cultural groups.
Second, open-mindedness refers to an open and unprejudiced attitude towards
outgroup members and towards different cultural norms and values. Arthur &
Bennett (1995) classify open-mindedness among the relational skills and use items
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 681

concerning nonjudgmentalness, racial/ethnic tolerance, and tolerance to measure

this dimension. In addition, Harris (1973) found ‘interest in the local people’ as one
of the predictors of success. Finally, Hammer, Gudykunst, and Wiseman (1978) and
Ronen (1989) mention ‘freedom from prejudice’ as an important attitude associated
with multicultural effectiveness.
The dimension of emotional stability is less often referred to in the literature in
relation to multicultural effectiveness. Emotional stability refers to a tendency to
remain calm in stressful situations versus a tendency to show strong emotional
reactions under stressful circumstances. In her research among expatriates, Tung
(1981) identifies emotional stability as an important dimension for overseas success
across different functions. Hammer et al. (1978) mention ability to deal with
psychological stress as a key dimension of intercultural effectiveness. Also, in a study
by Abe and Weisman (1983) and in a review of Church (1982), the ability to deal
with stress indeed appeared to be a crucial dimension.
The fourth dimension is flexibility. Several authors have stressed the importance of
this dimension (Arthur & Bennett, 1995; Gullahorn & Gullahorn, 1963; Hanvey,
1976; Ruben & Kealey, 1979; Smith, 1966; Torbiorn, 1982). The international assignee
has to be able to switch easily from one strategy to another because the familiar ways
of handling things will not necessarily work in a new cultural environment. Flexibility
seems particularly important when the assignee’s expectations of the situation in the
host country do not correspond with the actual situation. Elements of flexibility, such
as the ability to learn from mistakes and adjustment of behavior whenever it is
required, are associated with the ability to learn from new experiences, in particular.
This ability to learn from experiences appears to be of critical importance to
multicultural effectiveness (Spreitzer, McCall, & Mahoney, 1997).
The assignee will also have to develop new social skills in the host country
(Furnham & Bochner, 1986). Social initiative is defined as a tendency to approach
social situations in an active way and to take initiatives. Several researchers have
pointed at the relevance of the ability to establish and maintain contacts (Hawes &
Kealy, 1981; Kets de Vries & Mead, 1991) and to take initiatives (McCall, 1994;
Spreitzer et al., 1997). For example, Hawes and Kealy (1981) stress the importance of
interaction with people from the host country and of making friends among the
locals. McCall (1994) mentions ‘The courage to make things happen’ as a clue in the
early identification of international executive potential (see also Spreitzer et al., 1997).
More convincingly, empirical evidence underlines the relevance of this dimension
(Abe & Weisman, 1983; Hammer et al., 1978). In a study by Hammer et al., in which
they asked cross-culturally effective students to assess the importance of a large
number of dimensions, communication skills and the ability to establish inter-
personal relationships appeared as crucial dimensions to multicultural effectiveness.
In an earlier test of the MPQ among student samples first support was obtained
for the reliability and validity of the instrument. Support was obtained for the
internal structure of the instrument and the reliability of the scales. Relationships
with related personality constructs were in the expected direction. Moreover, the
instrument discriminated between students with multicultural experience (such as
working experience abroad, travel experiences, and interaction with individuals from
682 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

a different cultural background) and students without such experience and had
predictive value above the Big Five personality factors (Van der Zee & Van
Oudenhoven, 2000). Although these studies showed that the MPQ did discriminate
between students with and without multicultural experience, providing some support
for its concurrent validity, there was no evidence yet for its predictive value.
Therefore, the present study was aimed at further validation of the instrument. It
was examined whether the instrument was able to predict students’ success to adjust
to an international environment. For that purpose a group of native and foreign
students of an International Business School in the Netherlands filled out a
questionnaire including the MPQ before the academic program started; half a year
later they filled out a second questionnaire on how they were adjusted.
What constitutes successful adjustment of international students? In order to be
able to study the value of the MPQ it was important to clearly define our criterion,
that is the concept of multicultural effectiveness. Kealy and Ruben (1983) distinguish
three domains in which the international employee should be effective. First, they
distinguish professional competence, defined as the technical knowledge and skills
needed to exercise the daily tasks and responsibilities in the international function.
The second dimension is psychological adjustment, which concerns the ability of the
international employee to be happy and satisfied with his or her situation.
Intercultural interaction is the final dimension that is defined as interest in and
being able to deal with people from another culture. When we replace professional
competence with academic competence, these three dimensions provide a gateway to
understanding the factors that are important to students’ multicultural effectiveness.
Therefore, in the present study we focused on academic performance, indicators of
overall well-being and, finally, social interaction.
A basic assumption underlying the MPQ is that the instrument has specific
predictive value with respect to multicultural settings. However, it can be argued that
nowadays, with fast and ongoing changes within organizations and their
environment, dimensions such as ‘flexibility’, ‘adaptability’ and ‘innovation
potential’ in general become increasingly important (Herriot & Anderson, 1997)
and that as a consequence, the MPQ scales predict adjustment in general and not
adjustment in multicultural settings in particular. In order to establish to what extent
the instrument is predictive of multicultural adjustment rather than adjustment in
general, the results of the foreign students were compared with those of the native
students. The two groups are highly comparable: both seek an international business
career and they have started the academic career at the same time and at the same
place. The main difference, however, is that the foreign students have recently come
to the Netherlands where they have to adjust themselves to a different culture
without access to their familiar social network, whereas the native students start their
academic career in a familiar cultural setting with full access to their social network.
This means that attending the international business school is much more of a
multicultural experience for the foreign students than it is for the native students.
Therefore, if the MPQ predicts foreign students’ adjustment better than that of
native students, this will be seen as support for the claim that the MPQ is an
instrument tailored to measure multicultural effectiveness.
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 683

In addition, the present study examined the predictive value of the MPQ above
and beyond self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is a concept which concerns a person’s belief in
his or her ability to accomplish a task (Bandura, 1997). ‘yPeople with high self-
efficacy approach difficult tasks as challenges to be mastered rather than as threats to
be avoided. They develop interest in what they do, set challenges for themselves and
sustain strong commitments to them. They concentrate on how to perform
successfully rather than on disruptive personal concerns when they encounter
problems. They attribute their failures to lack of knowledge and skill, faulty
strategies, or insufficient efforts, all of which are remediable. They redouble their
efforts in the face of obstacles and soon recover their self-assurance after setbacks.
This outlook sustains motivation, reduces stress and lowers vulnerability to
depression...’ (Bandura, 1999, p. 184). This description refers to a general ability
to adapt to or cope with difficult situations. Indeed, self-efficacy has been related to
individuals’ adjustment to unknown and stressful situations, such as their ability to
cope with stress (Ferris et al., 1996), communication competence (Rubin, Martin,
Bruning, & Powers, 1993), interpersonal behavior (Fan & Mak, 1998), and cross-
cultural adjustment (Harrison, Chadwick, & Scales, 1996). The last mentioned
authors conclude on the basis of their study that persons with high general self-
efficacy expressed significantly greater degrees of general, interaction, and work
adjustment than those with low self-efficacy. In the present study we tried to obtain
support for the predictive value of the MPQ scales beyond this general and well-
known concept of self-efficacy.

2. Method

2.1. Participants

Findings with respect to the reliability, means and standard deviations of the
English version of the MPQ among international students were based on a sample of
305 students of two international business schools (one in France, and one in the
Netherlands). Forty-six percent were male; 56% were female. The average age was
21 (SD=2.82). Thirty-five percent of the students were Dutch, 21% French, 16%
German, the remaining 28% consisted of 24 nationalities.
Among a subsample of 171 students from the International Business School in the
Netherlands data concerning our criterion variables were collected. The age of these
students varied between 16 and 31 years (M ¼ 20:36; SD=2.49). Forty-eight percent
of the students were male, 52% were female. Students came from 24 different
countries: 53% of the sample were of Dutch nationality, 18% were German, 24%
came from other European countries and the remaining 5% of the students came
from Asia, America and Africa. Students filled out a questionnaire, including the
MPQ at the beginning of the academic term and a second questionnaire, consisting
of criterion variables after approximately 6 months. Sixty-four percent of the
students (N ¼ 110) returned the second questionnaire; 49 of them were Dutch, 61
had another nationality. The majority of the students that did not fill out the second
684 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

questionnaire had left the school because of academic underachievement or because

they were not traceable.

2.2. Instruments

Two questionnaires were administered, one at the start of the academic term, and
one approximately 6 months later. The questionnaires consisted, in addition to some
general biographic questions and the MPQ, of indicators of self-efficacy, overall
well-being, and social interactions. All participants filled out the English version of
the questionnaire.
The Multicultural Personality Questionnaire (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven,
2000) was only administered at the start of the academic period. For each MPQ
dimension items were construed describing concrete behaviors or tendencies. The
scale for cultural empathy (14 items) measures the ability to empathize with the
feelings, thoughts and behaviors of individuals from a different cultural background
versus an inability to do so, for example: ‘‘Finds it hard to empathize with others’’
(). Cronbach’s a was 0.78. The 14-item open-mindedness scale referred to an open
and unprejudiced attitude towards different groups and towards different cultural
norms and values (‘‘Finds other religions interesting’’ (+)). This scale had an a of
0.78. The dimension emotional stability (20 items), operationalized as the tendency to
remain calm in stressful situations versus a tendency to show strong emotional
reactions under stressful circumstances, was measured by items such as ‘‘Suffers
from conflicts with others’’ (–). Cronbach’s a was 0.83. A high score on the flexibility
scale (12 items) refers to a tendency and ability to adjust one’s behavioral strategies
to different or more restricted circumstances within a foreign culture. A low
score signifies the inability to do so and a tendency to stick to familiar behavioral
strategies. This scale contains items such as ‘‘Works mostly according to a strict
scheme’’ (). This scale had an a of 0.72. Finally, the 17-item social initiative
scale (Cronbach’s a ¼ 0:87) referred to a tendency to approach social situations
in an active way and to take initiatives, for example: ‘‘Is easy-going among
groups’’ (+).
The items were phrased according to certain rules regarding the form and phrasing
of questionnaire items (Hofstee, 1991): items were formulated in the third person
and, as much as possible, terms referred to concrete observable behavior. In
addition, items were avoided that mainly exist of an adjective (‘‘Is shy’’), a noun (‘‘Is
a coward’’), a verb (‘‘Blushes’’), or a combination of these. Participants could give
their answers on a 5-point scale, running from not at all applicable [1] to totally
applicable [5]. It took participants approximately 10 min to complete the entire
questionnaire of 78 items. Scale scores were obtained by taking the unweighted mean
of the item scores, after first recoding the 32 items that were mirrored.
Second, a ten-item indicator of self-efficacy was used (Schwarzer, 1992). A 4-point
scale was used ranging from [1]=‘not at all true’ to [4]=‘exactly true’. A sample item
for this scale is ‘‘I always manage to solve difficult problems if I try hard enough’’.
Cronbach’s a for this scale reached a value of 0.74. This measure too was only
administered at the start of the academic program.
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 685

Third, as an indicator of academic performance global ratings were obtained from

the Business Schools of all 171 students who participated in the study. Four
categories were used. The lowest category referred to students who had to leave
school because of underperformance. The second category consisted of students who
were allowed to continue their school career, but who had made insufficiently
progress to start in the second year. Students were assigned to the third category if
they were allowed to start in the second year but still had to fulfill requirements of
the first year. To the highest category, finally, belonged those students that passed to
the second year and had fulfilled all requirements. Scores were given on a 4-point
scale with [1] representing the lowest category and [4] representing the highest
category. For reasons of privacy of the students, it was not possible to obtain more
detailed information about their academic results.
Overall well-being. Three indicators of overall well-being were included in the
study. First, as an indicator of subjective well-being the Satisfaction With Life Scale
(SWLS; Diener, Emmons, Larsen, & Griffin, 1985) was included. This 5-points scale,
consisting of five items, was administered at two moments. An example of an item is
‘‘In most ways my life is close to my ideal’’. Answers could vary from [1]=strongly
disagree to [5]=strongly agree. Reliabilities were a ¼ 0:70 for the pre-measure and
a ¼ 0:79 for the post-measure.
In addition, scales for physical and mental health from the RAND 36-item Health
Survey (RAND Health Sciences Program, 1992) were included. The physical health
scale consisted of six items, for example: ‘‘I seem to get sick a little easier than other
people’’. Answers could vary from [1]=definitely true to [5]=definitely false.
Reliabilities were a ¼ 0:68 for the pre-measure and a ¼ 0:76 for the post-measure.
The psychological health scale, consisting of nine items, was also a 5-point scale ranging
from [1]=all the time to [5]=none of the time. An example of an item is: ‘‘Did you feel
worn out?’’ Reliabilities at the two moments were a ¼ 0:81 and 0:82; respectively.
Social interactions Two indicators of social interactions were included, negative
social experiences and peer support. Both indicators were subscales derived from
factor analysis on the 64-item Social Support List-Interaction (SSL-I) (Van
Sonderen, 1993). The indicator of lack of negative social experiences consisted of
four items (a ¼ 0:74). An example of the lack of negative experience scale was ‘‘Does
it ever happen to you that people treat you unjustly’’. The peer support scale
consisted of 16 items (e.g., ‘‘Does it ever happen to you that people are affectionate
towards you’’). For this scale, Cronbach’s a reached a value of 0.90. For both scales
participants could give their answers on a 4-point scale with answer categories from
[1]=seldom or never to [4]=very often.

3. Results

3.1. Means, reliabilities and intercorrelations of the MPQ scales

Scale means, reliabilities and scale intercorrelations were computed for the MPQ
scores for the total group of 305 business students (Table 1). Scale means were all
686 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

Table 1
Means, standard deviations, internal consistencies and scale intercorrelations for the MPQ scales and self-
efficacy (N ¼ 305)

M SD a 2 3 4 5 6

1 Cultural empathy 3.77 0.40 0.78 0.63 0.08 0.55 0.16 0.37
2 Openmindedness 3.72 0.40 0.78 0.27 0.48 0.30 0.35
3 Emotional stability 3.21 0.44 0.83 0.34 0.23 0.45
4 Social initiative 3.52 0.51 0.87 0.29 0.34
5 Flexibility 3.19 0.44 0.72 0.14n
6 Self-efficacy 3.00 0.35 0.74
n
po0:05; Scale intercorrelations >0.15 were significant at po0:01:

slightly above the midpoint of the scale. Particularly, for cultural empathy and open-
mindedness high means were found, pointing at a possible susceptibility of these two
scales to social desirability bias. Nevertheless, scale reliabilities were all sufficiently
high. As Table 1 shows the scales were not independent. The highest correlation was
found between open-mindedness and cultural empathy, which could be expected
based on the theoretical relatedness of both constructs.
Next, we were interested in differences in scale scores between the foreign students
and native students. Table 2 shows the means for both groups. MANOVA revealed a
significant effect of group on the scale scores, including self-efficacy, F ð6; 163Þ ¼
2:77; po0:05: Remarkably, for all scales except for cultural empathy and self-
efficacy, means were slightly higher for the native students. Table 3 presents the
mean scores on the indicators of adjustment for the two groups of students.1 Only
with respect to subjective well-being at the start of the program did the foreign
students score—slightly—lower than the native students, but they scored higher on
the measure of academic achievement.

3.2. Predictive validity of the MPQ scales

The main interest of the present study was in the predictive value of the MPQ
scores against a number of success criteria. Whereas results at T1 only concern
variables that were measured simultaneously, results at T2 enable us to answer the
question whether MPQ scales can really predict students’ adjustment over a period
of time. Therefore, we only mention the results at T2. Regression analyses showed
that the MPQ scales together explained 13%, F ð5; 104Þ ¼ 3:16; po0:05; of the
variance in physical health. Next, they explained 17% of the variance in mental
health, F ð5; 104Þ ¼ 4:15; po0:01; and thirdly they explained 12% of the variance in
subjective well-being, F ð5; 104Þ ¼ 2:88; po0:05: Three indicators of adjustment,
academic achievement, absence of negative social experiences, and peer support,
were only measured at T2, because they could not yet be assessed at the very start of
1
Due to an administration error at the start of the program 15% of the respondents did not answer the
questions on physical health, mental health, and subjective well-being at T1.
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 687

Table 2
MPQ results for native and foreign students (N ¼ 171)

Native students Foreign students

M a SD M SD F ð1; 169Þ

1 Cultural empathy 3.76 0.42 3.66 0.43 n.s.

2 Openmindedness 3.80 0.44 3.61 0.45 8.42**
3 Emotional stability 3.36 0.42 3.19 0.43 7.86**
4 Social initiative 3.59 0.53 3.44 0.54 3.99*
5 Flexibility 3.26 0.43 3.06 0.44 8.14**
6 Self-efficacy 2.99 0.38 2.96 0.38 o1

Significance levels: *po0:05; **po0:01:

Table 3
Results for the indicators of adjustment for native and foreign students

Native students Foreign students

M SD M SD F df

Physical health (T1) 3.79 0.72 3.77 0.61 o1 1, 139

Physical health (T2) 3.78 0.64 3.78 0.66 o1 1, 108
Mental health (T1) 3.72 0.61 3.75 0.52 o1 1, 139
Mental health (T2) 3.63 0.57 3.54 0.50 o1 1, 108
Subjective well-being (T1) 3.61 0.55 3.37 0.67 5.19* 1, 139
Subjective well-being (T2) 3.57 0.64 3.43 0.68 1.20 1, 108
Peer support 2.86 0.54 2.70 0.49 2.59 1, 106
No negative social experiences 3.63 0.44 3.63 0.45 o1 1, 106
Academic functioning 2.64 1.19 3.19 1.21 8.96** 1, 167

Significance levels: *po0:05; **po0:01:

a new academic career. The MPQ scales did explain academic achievement to a
modest extent (7% of the variance), F ð5; 163Þ ¼ 2:58; po0:05; and peer support to a
larger extent (15% of the variance), F ð5; 102Þ ¼ 3:64; po0:01: The MPQ scales could
not predict negative social experiences. All together results show that the MPQ scales
have predictive value for adjustment of students in a multicultural setting 6 months
after the start of the program.
In addition, the incremental predictive value of the MPQ beyond self-efficacy was
determined. Self-efficacy was significantly related to all MPQ variables and most
strongly to emotional stability (Table 1). Nevertheless, controlling for self-efficacy
did not have any effect on the adjustment indicators mentioned above (physical
health, mental health, subjective well-being, and social support). Only the predictive
value of the MPQ on academic achievement ceased to be significant, although
self-efficacy itself was not significantly related to academic achievement. Apparently,
the present findings cannot be explained away by a mediating effect of self-efficacy.
It was assumed that the MPQ scales are particularly predictive of foreign students’
adjustment. The pattern of raw correlations, presented for native and foreign
688 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

students separately,2 between the MPQ scales and the indicators of adjustment offers
a more detailed picture of the relative importance of the indicators, and of the
differential predictive value of the MPQ scales for the two groups of students. The
correlations show that among native students emotional stability is significantly and
positively related to physical health at the two measuring points, and for mental
health after 6 months. Also, social initiative is positively related to the native
students’ subjective well-being at T1. In none of these cases, however, the
correlations are significantly different from those regarding the foreign students.
In contrast to the four significant relations for the native students, we find 20
significant correlations for the foreign group of which 14 regard their adjustment
after 6 months. Fischer’s z-tests on the differences between the transformed values of
the correlations (see Cohen & Cohen, 1983) indicated in 16 cases significantly higher
correlations between the MPQ scales and the adjustment criteria for the foreign
students as compared to the native students. The positive correlations suggest that
the MPQ scales predict foreign students’ adjustment at T2 to a considerable degree.
Indeed, regression analyses show predictive values for mental health (29% explained
variance), F ð5; 50Þ ¼ 4:09; po0:005; subjective well-being (19% explained variance),
F ð5; 50Þ ¼ 2:33; po0:10; and social support (30% explained variance), F ð5; 50Þ ¼
4:21; po0:005: Fischer’s z-tests on the differences between the transformed values of
the multiple correlations (given by the square root of R2 ) (see Cohen & Cohen, 1983)
did not yield differences between native and foreign students with respect to the
predictive value of the MPQ for physical health and subjective well-being. We did
find, however, that the MPQ was significantly more predictive of mental health and
peer support among foreign students.

4. Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to further assess and validate the
Multicultural Personality Questionnaire. It represents the first empirical study on
the English version of the MPQ. All five dimensions yielded sufficient reliabilities in
spite of the fact that most respondents were not native English speakers. When only
native speakers were included in the analysis reliabilities rose slightly. Scale means
were all slightly above the midpoint of the scale. Particularly for cultural empathy
and open-mindedness high means were found, pointing at a possible susceptibility of
these two scales to social desirability bias. On the whole, the scales were moderately
interrelated. The highest correlation was found between cultural empathy and open-
mindedness, which could be expected based on the theoretical relatedness of both
constructs and is consistent with earlier studies with the Dutch version in which we
also failed to find separate factors for both constructs (Van der Zee & Van
Oudenhoven, 2000). They were nevertheless maintained as separate scales. Although
the ability to empathize with others is related to openness to new idea’s or different
2
Eight foreign students were excluded from this analysis because they had stayed in the Netherlands for
too long a period (between 20 and 243 months) to be considered real foreign students.
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 689

cultural backgrounds, it is clearly a different concept. Moreover, both cultural

empathy and open-mindedness seem to be the MPQ dimensions that are most
specific to intercultural effectiveness as opposed to professional effectiveness, in
general. Therefore, it is important to have separate measures for both dimensions.
Relating the MPQ data to indicators of adjustment, the instrument was able to
predict the students’ adjustment. MPQ scales could to a considerable extent predict
physical health, mental health, subjective well-being, and peer support. Interesting is
the growing importance of cultural empathy and social initiative relative to
emotional stability as predictor of foreign students’ adjustment (see Table 4). When
students have recently arrived in the Netherlands they probably experience distress
facing a new and challenging situation. Not surprisingly, therefore, foreign students
in comparison to native students report a lower subjective well-being at the start of
the academic program. At that moment emotional stability is extremely important to
keep up their mental health. The unstable persons, in particular, experience distress.
After a couple of months they have probably accommodated to the new situation
and resultantly, their negative feelings associated with the ‘culture shock’ (Oberg,
1960) have diminished. Stable individuals will probably appraise the new situation as
less stressful and will therefore show less negative emotional reactions to it upon
arrival in the new country (Berry, 1970; Lazarus & Folkman, 1984). After 6 months,
building up a social network becomes an important task. The abilities to empathize
with the feelings, thoughts and behaviors of members from different cultural groups
and to socialize (social initiative) then become crucial dimensions next to emotional
stability. These abilities help to obtain support and maintain or regain their sense of
health.
It is assumed that the MPQ scales are predictive of adjustment to new and
unknown intercultural situations. Hence, they should be predictive of foreign
students’ adjustment, in particular. In general, the MPQ scales are indeed clearly
more predictive of foreign students’ than of native students’ adjustment. After 6
months foreign students had been long enough in the new country to have
experienced the problems related to living in a different culture. The honeymoon
phase is over after 6 months and the disenchantment phase has started (Oberg, 1960;
Ryan & Twibell, 2000). Some of the foreign students are very effective in coping with
this disenchantment, while others are not. For native students at an international
school in their home country not too much has changed. For them abilities to cope
with intercultural situations are consequently less influential for their general
adjustment.
The MPQ scales were slightly predictive of academic performance. The less
emotionally stable students were, the higher their academic performance. This
finding is consistent with earlier findings among international students (Mol, Van
Oudenhoven, & Van der Zee, 2001). Emotionally unstable individuals seem to worry
about many things (Costa & McCrae, 1992) and worries about passing or failing
their exams may lead them to spend more effort passing them. The relation is weak,
however, and ceases to be significant when we control for self-efficacy. In this case,
certainly, more research is needed to disentangle the possible effects on academic
achievement.
Table 4
Raw correlations between the MPQ scales and self-efficacy and the adjustment criteria at both time points

Physical health Mental health Subjective well-being Peer Absence of Academic

support negative social functioning
experiences
T1 T2 T1 T2 T1 T2

Native students
1 Cultural empathy 0.06 0.00 0.09 0.16 0.17 0.14 0.13 0.07 0.04
2 Openmindedness 0.03 0.01 0.05 0.09 0.11 0.14 0.01 0.05 0.04
3 Emotional stability 0.28* 0.40** 0.15 0.31** 0.07 0.02 0.05 0.24 0.22
4 Social initiative 0.09 0.12 0.02 0.15 0.26* 0.03 0.21 0.06 0.06
5 Flexibility 0.11 0.10 0.03 0.09 0.14 0.26 0.12 0.10 0.12
6 Self-efficacy 0.10 0.15 0.01 0.28 0.12 0.12 0.15 0.19 0.21

Foreign students
1 Cultural empathy 0.28* 0.33* 0.22 0.38** 0.23 0.36** 0.41** 0.04 0.01
2 Openmindedness 0.31* 0.19 0.15 0.29* 0.29* 0.32* 0.23 0.20 0.11
3 Emotional stability 0.21 0.19 0.70** 0.41** 0.11 0.31* 0.41** 0.29* 0.10
4 Social initiative 0.24 0.19 0.31* 0.45** 0.19 0.35** 0.43** 0.15 0.04
5 Flexibility 0.23 0.11 0.46** 0.39** 0.04 0.12 0.11 0.14 0.10
6 Self-efficacy 0.25 0.27 0.22 0.34* 0.15 0.28* 0.25 0.05 0.01

Significance levels: *po0:05; **po0:01; significantly higher correlations (tested one-sidedly) for foreign students are presented in bold.
690 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694
 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694 691

Foreign students did better academically than native students. This is partly
caused by the larger attrition among native students. The costs of leaving school are
probably less high for native students. Some of them may even have switched to a
successful alternative academic career without losing much time or without losing
their grant.
As we expected, self-efficacy was related to students’ adjustment to some extent.
When we controlled for self-efficacy, however, our personality dimensions were able
to predict additional variance in success of adjustment, with the exception of
academic achievement. The MPQ scales apparently are able to predict adjustment
criteria above self-efficacy. On the other hand, when we control for the effect of the
MPQ scales, self-efficacy did not have any additional predictive value.
One unexpected finding seems noteworthy. The data revealed lower levels on the
MPQ among foreign students in comparison to native students. We can think of two
possible explanations. In the first place, the higher level of distress may be
responsible for the pattern of relatively low means among foreign students. Although
personality is assumed to be relatively stable, earlier research has revealed an
elevating influence of stress on, for example, levels of neuroticism (Vollrath, 2000).
The reaction to the MPQ may represent a habitualized cognitive-behavioral
expression of each trait to the specific environment. Costa and McCrae (1994)
denote such habitualized expressions of personality as characteristic adaptations.
These characteristic adaptations are subject to the influence of both basic personality
tendencies and the environment and may change over time. Unfortunately, we did
not collect MPQ data at T2. This would have provided insight into changes on the
MPQ findings associated with developments in students’ adaptation to the new
environment. It must be noted that earlier findings suggest that the MPQ results are
highly stable (Van der Zee & Van Oudenhoven, 2000), but these findings are based
on native students who in majority were not going abroad, nor had any plans to do
so in the future. Another explanation is that culture may have had an impact on scale
scores. For example, students from eastern countries may be less inclined to describe
themselves in a self-enhancing way and this may lower their scores (see Markus &
Kitayama, 1991; Yoshida, Kojo, & Kaku, 1982). Further research is needed on the
cultural comparability of findings on the MPQ.
The findings with respect to the predictive value of the instrument are based upon
samples of students. Students provide an interesting group because, as compared to
the general population, they have a higher chance of being sent abroad. As a result of
their high educational level and the current focus on globalization within higher
education student samples will show less variation in scale scores and will probably
obtain higher scores on multicultural effectiveness than the general population.
Therefore, there is no reason to assume that the findings from the present study
present a flattered picture of the predictive power of the instrument. On the contrary,
as a result of range restriction both on the predictor side and on the criterion side
(for example, social interactions will vary less among students than among the
general population), the present study rather presents a conservative test of the
predictive power. Still, the findings with respect to norm values obtained from this
group cannot be generalized to more heterogeneous groups.
692 J.P. Van Oudenhoven, K.I. Van der Zee / Int. J. of Intercultural Relations 26 (2002) 679–694

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Lucie Rugers and Jaan Kets of the Hanzehogeschool and Ina
Marten of the University of Groningen for their help in conducting this study.

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