Permanent Connections Around the Globe:Cross-Cultural Differences and Intercultural Linkages in POPC

The chapter positions POPC behavior in today’s globalized communication context and explores the connections between POPC and two different understandings of cultural identities. First, cultural identity is seen as a generalized disposition that structures POPC behavior. From this perspective, differences in POPC behavior between low-context and high-context cultures and between cultures with an independent versus interdependent self-construal are described. Second, cultural identities are conceptualized as shifting and negotiated qualities of POPC processes. Such identities and the associated values, habits, and rules are renegotiated in permanent cross-border POPC linkages between people from different cultural backgrounds. In conclusion, future perspectives for culturally sensitive POPC research are developed.