Unlock Growth: How Understanding Cultural Mindsets Can Boost Your Small Business

By Jing Betty Feng, Associate Professor at the Department of Business Management, Farmingdale State College, USA

As a small business owner in Europe, you’re navigating an increasingly diverse market. To truly thrive, it’s not enough to simply acknowledge diversity; you need to understand how cultural mindsets impact your team and your customer relationships. A research from based on Asian Americans reveals valuable insights into how embracing cultural understanding can boost your business’s success. Although the study is based on the U.S. environment, it may also relevant in a European cultural context.

One key concept is cultural essentialism: the belief that people from a particular culture all share the same fixed characteristics. This mindset can create invisible barriers within your team, preventing some employees from reaching their full potential. More specifically, cultural essentialism can lead to employees feeling constrained by cultural expectations, less willing to adapt to the workplace’s dynamics, and ultimately, limit their opportunities for leadership positions.

The research highlights the importance of bicultural identity integration (BII), particularly in employees who identify with more than one culture. BII refers to how individuals manage their multiple cultural identities. A person with a strong BII sees their different cultural backgrounds as integrated parts of who they are, rather than sources of conflict. When team members see their identities as integrated rather than conflicted, they are better able to adapt and thrive in multicultural environments, which in turn helps them achieve their career goals.

So, what does this mean for you as a small business owner? Here’s how you can leverage these insights:

• Promote a “Culture as a Social Construct” Mindset: Encourage your team to see culture as something fluid and adaptable, not a rigid set of rules. Create open-mindedness, cultural intelligence, and cross-cultural communication skills through workshops and training.

• Facilitate Intercultural Interaction: Create opportunities for your employees to interact and collaborate with individuals from different cultural backgrounds. This could involve team-building activities, cross-departmental projects, and social gatherings that celebrate the richness of cultural diversity.

• Recognize the Value of Bicultural Employees: Understand that team members who are comfortable navigating multiple cultures can be invaluable assets. They can help you connect with diverse customer segments, bridge communication gaps, and foster a more inclusive work environment.

• Examine your Diversity Programs: Ensure your diversity programs genuinely increase openness to other cultures rather than focusing on differences.

• Encourage Adaptability: Encourage your employees to maintain flexible identities in order to react in manners consistent with their cultural environment. This does not mean abandoning one’s cultural heritage, but rather being able to adapt one’s behavior and communication style to different cultural contexts.

• Tackle Systemic Barriers: Ensure your company’s hiring and promotion procedures are equitable and inclusive. Offer mentorship and sponsorship opportunities to encourage the advancement of all team members.

• Incorporate DEI Initiatives: Implement the insights from the study into broader DEI initiatives within the organization for a holistic approach to fostering an inclusive environment.

• Use the Strengths of Bicultural Individuals: Acknowledge and utilize bicultural individuals’ ability to navigate between cultures, as they can serve as valuable cultural brokers within the organization.

By fostering a workplace that values cultural understanding and adaptability, you’ll unlock the full potential of your team, strengthen your customer relationships, and position your small business for sustainable growth in today’s diverse European market.

Reference for exploring this topic further:

Chiou, A. Y., & Feng, J. B. (2024). East Asian American cultural essentialism. Frontiers in Organizational Psychology, 2, 1337393.

Disclaimer: The author used NotebookLM to convert the research article to the blog post but reviewed and validated the content.