Asians overseas: Multiple social networks, dual cultural selves and bicultural integration/efficacy of immigrants in the new era of globalization and transnationalism

Given the spread of globalization and ease of long-distance travel and communication, immigration nowadays is less a clean break from home and more a form of living and working in which transnational connectivity between destination and home plays an increasingly prominent role. However, acculturation and migration research has overlooked immigrants’ transnational network. This study investigated the transnational network of Chinese immigrants in the United Kingdom from Hong Kong (N = 272), its connection with localized social networks, and the three networks’ theoretical causal relationships with bicultural selves and bicultural integration/efficacy. Two structural equation models tested the hypothesized relationships of social networks with bicultural selves and bicultural integration/efficacy. Both models were equally fit and together they showed that social networks were both causes and effects of bicultural selves and bicultural integration/efficacy. The two localized social networks (UK British and UK Chinese) were positively related to their corresponding cultural selves, whereas the transnational network of Hong Kong compatriots, jointly with the British network, were positively related to bicultural integration/efficacy.