Cross-Cultural Adjustment of International Students in China: The Impact of Educational Services and the Role of Gender
Keywords:
Educational Services, International Students; Cross-Cultural Adjustment, Gender, Personal-Emotional Adjustments, Social Adjustments, Academic Adjustments.Abstract
To investigate how educational services (ES) and gender influence international students’ cross-cultural adjustment (CCA), the study sampled 411 participants including 210 females and 201 males from Chinese universities. Data were collected using questionnaires and analyzed by SPSS and Smart-Pls. The findings suggest that international students' views on ES significantly impact their personal-emotional adjustments (PEA), social adjustments (SA), and academic adjustments (AA). Notably, female students face more challenges on SA and AA. Gender significantly moderates the influence of ES on both SA and AA. However, this moderating effect of Gender is not observed in the relationship between ES and PEA. These findings emphasize the influence of ES on international students' CCA and propose to higher educational institutions the need for gender-sensitive strategies.