Influence of International Students’ Empathy on their Attitude towards Other Cultures

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of international students’ empathy on their attitude towards other cultures (ATOC) during inter-cultural communication. Previously, this relationship was addressed by western researchers in the culture-general models of intercultural communication competence (ICC). Until now, it is very hard to find such evidences that can establish the presence of relationship among empathy and ATOC from the non-western context. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of empathy on ATOC from the non-western context of Malaysia. The data was collected through simple random sampling by incorporating survey technique through quantitative research approach. Participants were the international students from University Utara Malaysia. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was incorporated to analyze the data in Analysis of Moment Structure (AMOS). The findings of the study revealed that there is a positive significant effect of empathy on ATOC of the international students of Malaysia. In addition, the findings are evident that empathy of the international student has a strong impact on their positive ATOC. Lastly, this study supported the findings of earlier studies that witnessed that empathy is the predictor of ATOC.