Using superordinate goals to enhance social integration among students

• Main Authors: Feras, Qawasmeh, Fontaine, Rodrigue Ancelot Harvey
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ABM Publications 2021
• Subjects: HF5387 Business ethics
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/89192/7/89121_Using%20superordinate%20goals%20to%20enhance%20social%20integration%20among%20students.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/89192/; http://www.abmjournal.org/index.php/ijhpm/article/view/40

The research motivation comes from our observation of a weak social integration between local (Malay) and International students at the International Islamic University Malaysia. It is based on a social experiment where a situation of superordinate goals (i.e., goals that can’t be achieved unless two groups work together) was introduced. Using observation and open-ended questionnaire, it was found that before the experiment took a place, 45% of international students had negative perceptions toward Malays while 37% of Malay students had negative perceptions toward international students. When participants got socially integrated during the experiment, 97% of Malay and international students had positive perceptions of each other. The experiment had two stages. The first where there was no need to communicate with the other group. The second stage was where all groups needed each other to fulfil specific tasks. It was found that the time consumed to communicate with another group in the first stage was 9%. However, in the second stage, 41% of the time was used to communicate with the other group. The wider implications of this study are explored in the discussion.