Acculturation of expatriate executive managers was examined in the sample of 16 sojourners transferring managerial know-how to companies in Czechia, using a structured longitudinal interview survey including in depth personal interviews. The interviews were conducted six and eighteen months after the arrival of respondents in Czechia. The respondents were contacted as they became available during the period 2006 to 2010. The results indicate that acculturation of sojourners in Czechia proceeded, as expected according to the international literature, broadly in line with the Hofstede’s acculturation “U“ curve (Hofstede 1997). The qualitative analysis points to a number of problems, the sojourners had to deal with during their acculturation including: dependence on communication in English, while recognising potential advantages associated with the knowledge of Czech language, cultural distance - particularly the uncertainty arising from the inability to correctly predict Czech behaviour, lack of openness limiting the Czech ability to form a broader world view, lack of mutual respect between the Czech co-workers, a degree of Czech xenophobia and underestimation of certain predictors of successful acculturation such as social engagement with the Czech hosts. Research also points to a number of helpful coping strategies.
The article aims to introduce and explore the concept of „transculturation". Unlike the affiliated concept of „acculturation", capitalized widely in anthropology, sociology and other branches of social Sciences, the concept of transculturation had until recently commanded little attention outside the limited area of Latin American studies. The concept, originally formulated in the 1940s by Cuban sociologist Fernando Ortiz, accentuates the mutual character of cultural interaction, the active participation of „subordinate" groups in the process, as well as the unique character of the resulting cultural formation. That is,
the processes of enforced cultural exchange (for example, through colonial expansion) are preceived as not only destructive, but also Creative. While the concept of transculturation had commonly been applied within the frame of American or African history and anthropology, the present article proposes the advantages and possibilities of its use in the study of (Central) European millieu - be it in the study of German-Jewish-Czech interaction in the nineteenth century, or in the study of Protestant-Catholic cultural exchange after the year 1620.