Abstract

Background/purpose – The extent and mechanisms through which studying abroad influences international students’ opinions towards the host country and its people remain a relatively understudied area. Drawing upon intergroup contact theory and Bourdieu’s concept of “habitus,” this study aims to fill this gap by examining the impact of studying in Shanghai on the opinions of Thai tertiary-level students towards China and the Chinese people.

Materials/methods – This study employed a counterfactual method to assess the influence of studying in China on the attitude change of Thai students. To evaluate this impact, two pre-pandemic samples were collected, one from Thailand and the other from China.

Results – The double-robust IPWRA estimator used in the study found that direct experience with the Chinese people and China’s development in Shanghai significantly improved the Thai students’ attitudes towards China and the Chinese people by around 20%. Moreover, individuals whose fathers were involved in business or regularly navigate market risks and opportunities exhibited a higher sensitivity to changes in their opinions towards China. However, individuals whose fathers possess cultural capital and had stable employment demonstrated a heightened sensitivity to changes in their attitudes towards the Chinese people.

Conclusion – Both intergroup contact conditions and students’ social origins were key factors that influenced nuanced attitude changes of international students towards their host country and its people.

Keywords: international student, intergroup contact, public diplomacy, overseas experience, attitude change.

Abebe, D. S., Lien, L., & Hjelde, K. H. (2014). What we know and don’t know about mental health problems among immigrants in Norway. Journal of Immigrant and Minority Health, 16(1), 60-67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10903-012-9745-9

Aldrich, J., Lu, J., & Kang, L. (2015). How do Americans view the rising China? Journal of Contemporary China, 24(92), 203-221. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2014.932148

Allport, G. W., Clark, K., & Pettigrew, T. (1979). The nature of prejudice. Basic Books. (Original work published 1954).

Altbach, P. G. (2019). The Coming “China Crisis” in Higher Education. International Higher Education, 98, 20-22. https://ejournals.bc.edu//index.php/ihe/article/view/11197

Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3-4), 290-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315307303542

Atkinson, C. (2010). Does soft power matter? A comparative analysis of student exchange programs 1980–2006. Foreign Policy Analysis, 6(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1743-8594.2009.00099.x

Bao, J. (2004). Chinese in Thailand. In M. Ember, C. R. Ember, & I. Skoggard (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Diasporas: Immigrant and Refugee Cultures Around the World (pp. 751-759). Springer.

Berry, J. W., Poortinga, Y. H., Pandey, J., Segall, M. H., & Kâğıtçıbaşı, Ç. (1997). Handbook of cross-cultural psychology: Theory and method (Vol. 1). Berry.

Bislev, A. (2017). Student-to-student diplomacy: Chinese international students as a soft-power tool. Journal of Current Chinese Affairs, 46(2), 81-109. https://doi.org/10.1177/186810261704600204

Bourdieu, P. (1977). Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge University Press.

Brown, L., Edwards, J., & Hartwell, H. (2010). A taste of the unfamiliar. Understanding the meanings attached to food by international postgraduate students in England. Appetite, 54(1), 202-207. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2009.11.001

Busbarat, P. (2016). “Bamboo Swirling in the Wind”: Thailand’s Foreign Policy Imbalance between China and the United States. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 38(2), 233-257. https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/70/article/628458

Chittithaworn, C., Islam, M. A., Keawchana, T., & Yusuf, D. H. M. (2011). Factors affecting business success of small & medium enterprises (SMEs) in Thailand. Asian Social Science, 7(5), 180-190. https://doi.org/10.5539/ass.v7n5p180

Chu, Y.-H., Kang, L., & Huang, M.-H. (2015). How East Asians View the Rise of China. Journal of Contemporary China, 24(93), 398-420. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2014.953810

Collins, F. L. (2010). Negotiating un/familiar embodiments: investigating the corporeal dimensions of South Korean international student mobilities in Auckland, New Zealand. Population, Space and Place, 16(1), 51-62. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.576

CP Group. (2020). Qiye Fenbu. http://www.cpgroup.cn/Companys.aspx?catID=2&subcatID=25

Davis, F. J. (1971). The two-way mirror and the U-curve: America as seen by Turkish students returned home. Sociology & Social Research, 56(1), 29-43. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1972-10732-001

Doxey, G. V. (1975). A causation theory of visitor-resident irritants: Methodology and research inferences. In The Impact of Tourism: Travel and tourism research associations sixth annual conference proceedings (pp. 195-198). Travel and Tourism Research Association.

Farrer, J. (2010). ‘New Shanghailanders’ or ‘New Shanghainese’: Western Expatriates’ Narratives of Emplacement in Shanghai. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 36(8), 1211-1228. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691831003687675

Fincher, R., & Shaw, K. (2009). The unintended segregation of transnational students in central Melbourne. Environment and Planning A, 41(8), 1884-1902. https://doi.org/10.1068/a41126

Galchenko, I., & Van De Vijver, F. J. (2007). The role of perceived cultural distance in the acculturation of exchange students in Russia. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 31(2), 181-197. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.03.004

Gallarotti, G. M. (2022). Pedagogical offensives: soft power, higher education and foreign policy. Journal of Political Power, 15(3), 495-513. https://doi.org/10.1080/2158379X.2022.2127276

Gilboa, E. (2008). Searching for a Theory of Public Diplomacy. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 616(1), 55-77. https://doi.org/10.1177/0002716207312142

Guo, S., & Fraser, M. W. (2014). Propensity score analysis: Statistical methods and applications (Vol. 11). Sage.

Guo, Y., & Guo, S. (2017). Internationalization of Canadian higher education: Discrepancies between policies and international student experiences. Studies in Higher Education, 42(5), 851-868. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2017.1293874

Güvendir, E. (2017). Turkish students and their experiences during a short-term summer visit to the U.S. Study Abroad Research in Second Language Acquisition and International Education, 2(1), 21-52. https://doi.org/10.1075/sar.2.1.02guv

Han, D., Chen, D., & Fang, C. (2013). Images of the United States: Explaining the attitudes of Chinese scholars and students in the United States. Chinese Journal of International Politics, 6(2), 183-207. https://doi.org/10.1093/cjip/pot007

Han, Y., Gulanowski, D., & Sears, G. J. (2022). International student graduates’ workforce integration: A systematic review. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 86, 163-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2021.11.003

Hedrick-Wong, Y., & Choong, D. (2016). Global destination cities index. Mastercard Worldwide. https://www.mastercard.com/news/media/1m1dffxp/mastercard-global-destination-cities-index-report-2016.pdf

Hewison, K. (2018). Thailand: an old relationship renewed. The Pacific Review, 31(1), 116-130. https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2017.1357653

Hosgorur, T., & Aysel, I. (2022). Trends for the Segregation Practices of International Students: A Review of Higher Education in Turkey. Educational Process: International Journal, 11(1), 86-104. https://doi.org/10.22521/edupij.2022.111.6

Huang, M.-H., & Chu, Y.-H. (2015). The Sway of Geopolitics, Economic Interdependence and Cultural Identity: why are some Asians more favorable toward China’s rise than others? Journal of Contemporary China, 24(93), 421-441. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2014.953842

Huang, Y. (2016). Understanding China’s Belt & Road initiative: motivation, framework and assessment. China Economic Review, 40, 314-321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2016.07.007

Jöns, H., & Hoyler, M. (2013). Global geographies of higher education: The perspective of world university rankings. Geoforum, 46, 45-59. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2012.12.014

Kim, J. (2016). Public relations and public diplomacy in cultural and educational exchange programs: A coorientational approach to the Humphrey Program. Public Relations Review, 42(1), 135-145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.09.008

King, G., & Zeng, L. (2007). When can history be our guide? The pitfalls of counterfactual inference. International Studies Quarterly, 51(1), 183-210. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2478.2007.00445.x

Kingminghae, W., & Lin, Y. (2019). Understanding Post-study Migration Plans of International Students through the Lens of Family Business Strategies: Evidence from Thailand-to-China Students. Journal of Population and Social Studies [JPSS], 27(4), 288-306. https://so03.tci-thaijo.org/index.php/jpss/article/view/158154

Kwon, R., & Hughes, E. (2018). Multiculturalist policies in an age of immigration: Do multiculturalist policies influence negative immigrant attitudes toward homosexuality? Ethnicities, 18(5), 655-691. https://doi.org/10.1177/1468796817752013

Lee, M.-G., & Hao, Y. (2018). China’s Unsuccessful Charm Offensive: How South Koreans have Viewed the Rise of China Over the Past Decade. Journal of Contemporary China, 27(114), 867-886. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2018.1488103

Li, J., & Xue, E. (2022). “The rising soft power”: An educational foreign exchange and cooperation policy conceptual framework in China. Educational Philosophy and Theory. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2022.2060814

Lomer, S. (2017). Soft power as a policy rationale for international education in the UK: a critical analysis. Higher Education, 74(4), 581-598. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0060-6

Lu, H. (1999). Beyond the neon lights: Everyday Shanghai in the early twentieth century. Univ of California Press.

Lukin, A. (1999). Russia’s image of China and Russian-Chinese relations. East Asia, 17(1), 5-39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12140-999-0002-3

Marcu, S. (2015). Uneven mobility experiences: Life-strategy expectations among Eastern European undergraduate students in the UK and Spain. Geoforum, 58, 68-75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2014.10.017

Meier, G., & Daniels, H. (2013). Just not being able to make friends: social interaction during the year abroad in modern foreign language degrees. Research Papers in Education, 28(2), 212-238. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.629734

Miller, C., & Taylor, H. (2017). Can economic interests trump ethnic hostility? Trading ties versus outgroup hostility in Australian perceptions of China as a security threat. International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, 17(1), 67-99. https://doi.org/10.1093/irap/lcw001

Miller, N. (2002). Personalization and the promise of contact theory. Journal of Social Issues, 58(2), 387-410. https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-4560.00267

Ministry of Education PRC. (2018). Statistics of Overseas Students in China 2015 (2018年来华留学统计). Retrieved 05.26 from http://www.moe.gov.cn/jyb_xwfb/gzdt_gzdt/s5987/201904/t20190412_377692.html

Mohamad, M. M., Sulaiman, N. L., Sern, L. C., & Salleh, K. M. (2015). Measuring the validity and reliability of research instruments. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 204, 164-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.08.129

Nye, J. S. (2004). Soft power: The means to success in world politics. Public affairs.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2020). Education at a Glance 2020: OECD Indicators. https://doi.org/10.1787/69096873-en

Paradise, J. (2012). International Education: Diplomacy in China. Brown Journal of World Affairs, 19(1), 195-205.

Pettigrew, T. F. (1998). Intergroup contact theory. Annual review of psychology, 49(1), 65-85. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.psych.49.1.65

Pew Research Center. (2012, September 18,). Pew Global Attitudes Project 2012 U.S.-China Security Perceptions Project Survey of U.S. Public & Foreign Policy Experts. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2012/09/18/about-the-u-s-china-security-perceptions-project/

Pew Research Center. (2014, July 14). Chapter 4: How Asians View Each Other. In Global opposition to U.S. surveillance and drones, but limited harm to America’s image. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2014/07/14/chapter-4-how-asians-view-each-other/

Phillips, W. J., Asperin, A., & Wolfe, K. (2013). Investigating the effect of country image and subjective knowledge on attitudes and behaviors: US Upper Midwesterners’ intentions to consume Korean Food and visit Korea. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 49-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2012.04.003

Pimpa, N. (2005). A family affair: The effect of family on Thai students’ choices of international education. Higher Education, 49(4), 431-448. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-004-2825-6

Punyaratabandhu, P., & Swaspitchayaskun, J. (2018). The Political Economy of China–Thailand Development Under the One Belt One Road Initiative: Challenges and Opportunities. The Chinese Economy, 51(4), 333-341. https://doi.org/10.1080/10971475.2018.1457326

Quinton, W. J. (2019). Unwelcome on campus? Predictors of prejudice against international students. Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 12(2), 156-169. https://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/dhe0000091

Selltiz, C., & Cook, S. W. (1962). Factors influencing attitudes of foreign students toward the host country. Journal of Social Issues, 18(1), 7-23. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4560.1962.tb02567.x

Silver, L., Devlin, K., & Huang, C. (2019, December 5). China’s Economic Growth Mostly Welcomed in Emerging Markets, but Neighbors Wary of Its Influence. Pew Research Center https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2019/12/05/chinas-economic-growth-mostly-welcomed-in-emerging-markets-but-neighbors-wary-of-its-influence/

Skinner, G. W. (1957). Chinese Society in Thailand: An Analytical History. Cornell University Press.

Solhaug, T., & Kristensen, N. N. (2020). Gender and intercultural competence: analysis of intercultural competence among upper secondary school students in Denmark and Norway. Educational Psychology, 40(1), 120-140. https://doi.org/10.1080/01443410.2019.1646410

StataCorp, L. (2015). Stata treatment-effects reference manual. Stata Press. https://www.stata.com/manuals14/te.pdf

Tong, C. K. (2010). Identity and ethnic relations in Southeast Asia: Racializing Chineseness. Springer.

Tredoux, C., & Finchilescu, G. (2007). The contact hypothesis and intergroup relations 50 years on: Introduction to the special issue. South African Journal of Psychology, 37(4), 667-678. https://doi.org/10.1177/008124630703700401

Wike, R. (2017, April 4). Americans’ views of China improve as economic concerns ease. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2017/04/04/americans-views-of-china-improve-as-economic-concerns-ease/

Wooldridge, J. M. (2007). Introductory Econometrics: A Modern Approach (3rd ed.). Tsinghua University Press.

Wooldridge, J. M. (2010). Econometric analysis of cross section and panel data. MIT press.

Wu, W. (2004). Cultural strategies in Shanghai: regenerating cosmopolitanism in an era of globalization. Progress in planning, 61(3), 159-180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2003.10.002

Yamazaki, M., Kuramoto, N., Nakamura, S., & Yokoyama, T. (2000). Formation of attitudes of Asian students toward the Japanese and other cultures: Understanding in terms of ethnicity. Japanese Journal of Educational Psychology, 48(3), 305-314. https://doi.org/10.5926/jjep1953.48.3_305

Yeo, A., & Gloria, E. (2023). National Identity and the Limits of Chinese Public Diplomacy in the Philippines. Journal of Contemporary China, 32(139), 35-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/10670564.2022.2052438

Yousaf, S., Fan, X., & Laber, F. (2020). Branding China through the internationalization of higher education sector: an international students’ perspective from China. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 30(2), 161-179. https://doi.org/10.1080/08841241.2019.1710890

Yun, S.-H. (2014). Do international students’ direct experiences with the host country lead to strong attitude-behavior relations? Advancing public diplomacy research and beyond. International Journal of Communication, 8, 787-809. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/2418

Zhou, Y., Jindal-Snape, D., Topping, K., & Todman, J. (2008). Theoretical models of culture shock and adaptation in international students in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 33(1), 63-75. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075070701794833

Zhu, H. Z., & Lou, S. (2011). Development and reform of higher education in China. Chandos.