Towards a Framework of Individuals' Responses to Language Asymmetry

Understanding the consequences of multilingualism is a fundamental issue in international business research. However, few studies have assessed how individuals actively respond to and navigate through multilingual contexts. This chapter complements this literature in two ways. First, we investigate the responses of individuals that are confronted with a continually changing linguistic context, and thus need to constantly renegotiate their responses to the language asymmetry experienced. Second, our analysis suggests that individuals’ responses to language asymmetries are not only determined by their language skills, but also by what we call language reflexivity. Doing so, we demonstrate that reflexive individuals are aware of their situatedness in a particular language context and are able to (at least partially) overcome constraints resulting from language asymmetries.