“We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad
The experiences of individuals returning to the most conservative countries from abroad are not being recorded. The present study explores how Saudi scholars working in the higher education sector readjust and reconnect to their workplace after completing their doctoral scholarships abroad. The stud...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
SAGE Publishing
2020-11-01
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| Series: | SAGE Open |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020970555 |
| _version_ | 1811323702242967552 |
|---|---|
| author | Miriam Alkubaidi Nesreen Alzhrani |
| author_facet | Miriam Alkubaidi Nesreen Alzhrani |
| author_sort | Miriam Alkubaidi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The experiences of individuals returning to the most conservative countries from abroad are not being recorded. The present study explores how Saudi scholars working in the higher education sector readjust and reconnect to their workplace after completing their doctoral scholarships abroad. The study has adopted a narrative approach and used the transformational learning theory to account for reverse culture shock. Six assistant professors (three males and three females) from three Saudi universities were recruited and they underwent 30- to 50-min-long semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis and the developed themes included emotional adaptation to home culture, adaptation to their work in their home culture, adaptation of families to home culture, and reentry coping mechanisms. The results depicted how the participants readjusted to their context after extended study abroad. They returned with new identities shaped by their life and education abroad and by their exposure at university to people from different cultural backgrounds. They had also become used to a more comfortable lifestyle in their host countries. The study concludes that there is a need to prepare and organize programs that could assist Saudi new returnees to readjust and reconnect to their context again. Moreover, it would be useful in helping universities prioritize their staff’s well-being and design rehabilitative courses for new returnees helping them integrate into their workplace. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:00:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-905f0612848246fcb57025bdc750b941 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2158-2440 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-13T14:00:02Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | SAGE Publishing |
| record_format | Article |
| series | SAGE Open |
| spelling | doaj.art-905f0612848246fcb57025bdc750b9412022-12-22T02:44:04ZengSAGE PublishingSAGE Open2158-24402020-11-011010.1177/2158244020970555“We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study AbroadMiriam Alkubaidi0Nesreen Alzhrani1King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaKing Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi ArabiaThe experiences of individuals returning to the most conservative countries from abroad are not being recorded. The present study explores how Saudi scholars working in the higher education sector readjust and reconnect to their workplace after completing their doctoral scholarships abroad. The study has adopted a narrative approach and used the transformational learning theory to account for reverse culture shock. Six assistant professors (three males and three females) from three Saudi universities were recruited and they underwent 30- to 50-min-long semi-structured in-depth interviews. The data were analyzed through thematic analysis and the developed themes included emotional adaptation to home culture, adaptation to their work in their home culture, adaptation of families to home culture, and reentry coping mechanisms. The results depicted how the participants readjusted to their context after extended study abroad. They returned with new identities shaped by their life and education abroad and by their exposure at university to people from different cultural backgrounds. They had also become used to a more comfortable lifestyle in their host countries. The study concludes that there is a need to prepare and organize programs that could assist Saudi new returnees to readjust and reconnect to their context again. Moreover, it would be useful in helping universities prioritize their staff’s well-being and design rehabilitative courses for new returnees helping them integrate into their workplace.https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020970555 |
| spellingShingle | Miriam Alkubaidi Nesreen Alzhrani “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad SAGE Open |
| title | “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad |
| title_full | “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad |
| title_fullStr | “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad |
| title_full_unstemmed | “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad |
| title_short | “We Are Back”: Reverse Culture Shock Among Saudi Scholars After Doctoral Study Abroad |
| title_sort | we are back reverse culture shock among saudi scholars after doctoral study abroad |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244020970555 |
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