Intercultural Communication Competence among Cabin Crew of Select Airlines in the Philippines (original) (raw)

This study investigated the intercultural communication competence of cabin crew of select airlines in the Philippines and examined how the demographic factors influence their competency in intercultural communication. Specifically, this gauged the competency of the cabin crew in terms of the affective process (intercultural sensitivity), the cognitive process (intercultural awareness), and the behavioral process (intercultural adroitness). Through a mixed-method research design, an adapted survey-questionnaire and interviews were used to gather pertinent data from 30 cabin crew members, having 10 per Airline Company. The results revealed that the cabin crew of select airlines are all competent towards intercultural communication as explicated in the Intercultural Communication Competence model of Chen and Starosta (2004). Accordingly, Cebu Pacific is the airline company with the most competent cabin crew followed by Philippine Airlines and Air Asia. Of the three dimensions gauged, intercultural adroitness appeared to be highly demonstrated which proved that Filipino cabin crew are trained to have good message skills, appropriate self-discloser, behavioral flexibility, interaction management and social skills. The least accordant, however, was intercultural awareness which suggested that Filipino cabin crew must increase their cultural awareness and self-awareness may there be gaps and holes in their training programs. The three significant demographic factors that could greatly affect the intercultural communication competence of the cabin crew are gender, age, and having foreign peers. Findings of the study led to a conclusion that the cabin crew members play a significant role in the Philippine aviation industry in maintaining high quality service through intercultural communication competence.