Exploring Perceptions of Goodness Among the Malaysian and Chinese University Students: A Focus Group Study

Abstract

The notion of goodness is implicitly central to the discourse relating to person perception. To date, no empirical research has focused solely upon understanding the notion of goodness and how it’s perceived and discerned in others. Utilizing focus group interviews, this paper explores how people perceive and interpret goodness in collectivist cultures of Malaysia and China. Findings revealed that Malaysian and Chinese participants had somewhat similar notions about goodness. “Concern for others’ welfare” was found to have the most resonance across the two nationalities as a key element in discerning goodness in others. Another category emerging from the findings was labelled as “Goodness a subjective notion” which encapsulated additional interpretations surrounding goodness. Directions for future research are discussed.

Predicting Intercultural Communication in Malaysian Public Universities from the Perspective of Anxiety/Uncertainty Management (AUM) Theory

“…Since its independence in 1957, Malaysia has always been struggling to introduce concepts able to promote "unity in diversity" to form a national identity (Yusof & Esmaeil 2017). Although education policies are expected to play the key role in fostering national integration, existing studies indicate that intercultural communication in higher education institutions is still limited and not up to satisfactory level (Tamam 2013;Tamam et al 2013) To worsen the situation, most university students prefer socializing with their friends and peers from the same ethnic group (Hashmi et al 2017). Instead of being an avenue for uniting students, Malaysian public universities are in danger of being breeding grounds for intolerance, ethnocentrism, and segregated communities (Mustapha et al 2009).…”