Interacting in a Pidgin Culture: Managing Rapport in Intercultural Communication

In discussions on workplace culture, research has been largely focused on
the mono-cultural workplace, with a lack of empirical studies in intercultural settings. This article explores participants’ behaviour in terms of managing rapport in a multi-cultural workplace in Mainland China, comparing this with the reported conventions of the participants’ home cultures. Initial findings suggest that participants conform to a pidgin culture that is neither their home cultures nor the local culture. The term “pidgin culture” is used to account for such situations where new cultural norms are created and shaped through regular interactions among participants from different cultural backgrounds.