Abstract:

Guided by a sociocultural critical systems perspective, this systematic scoping review analyzes how the scholarship conceptualizes culture in intercultural work teams in higher education. Following the five-stage framework of scoping reviews data was collected from Scopus and reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Pre-established inclusion criteria resulted in 13 empirical studies included for qualitative analysis. The findings indicate that successful intercultural teams create a new shared culture with iterative feedback and individual reflexivity. A recommendation for future research is to explore the idea of interculture as a networked activity system and its relationship with mediating boundary objects including technology. Another key finding is that most research decided outcomes from one (usually Western English centric) perspective, demonstrating that, in English research, inclusion of other viewpoints is needed for a deeper and `thick` understanding of the implications of culture on work teams.

Keywords:

Higher Education, Intercultural Work Teams, Networked Activity System.