Dynamics of Ethnocentrism among Senior College Students: Implications to ASEAN Economic Community

Global economic interdependence is inevitable. This phenomenon became more pronounced as ASEAN countries head off to economic integration in 2015. The Philippines as a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) views the reality of economic integration and interdependence as becoming even more imminent as it moves closer to become integrated into one community in 2015 (Riguer, 2012). The Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities (PACU) has been consistently raising a more specific concern during its two successive annual conferences: that of the preparedness of college graduates as they poise to be an inevitable part of this free flow of services and free flow of skilled labor -- two of the core aspects of ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) establishment (AEC Blueprint, A2, A5). How holistically prepared are our graduates in meeting this economic integration? While preparations are undergoing for the needed skills, are they also prepared psychosocially? Studies have observed subsequent psychological processes such as ethnocentrism as well as openness to ideas and consumer products as a result of global economic turbulence due to increasing interdependence (Shankarmahesh, 2006; Cameron, Kocum, Berry, 2012). This study looked into ethnocentrism and socio-cultural orientations among college students in two biggest universities in a selected city in Northern Mindanao. Causal-comparative research design was used. Using survey questionnaires as the main data gathering tool, data were collected from 267 randomly selected senior college business students. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis via Amos 20 feature of SPSS 16 was used to establish the path coefficients. Results indicate a good fit was revealing significant paths on openness, cultural conservatism, and materialism to ethnocentrism. Findings of this study substantially inform institutional curricular reform decisions to augment current institutional efforts in preparing college students as future labor force for global interdependence.

Keywords: Ethnocentrism, Economic integration, Global interdependence