Intergenerational Communication Insecurity and Ethnic Identity Negotiation in Hybrid Higher Education

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-607-9_8How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Communication Insecurity; Ethnic Identity; Hybrid Learning; Identity Negotiation Theory; Intergenerational Communication

Abstract

The paper seeks to explore the issue of intergenerational communication insecurity in a hybrid higher education environment, which dissolves the boundaries between real and virtual spaces. The goal of this paper is to reveal the mechanisms of ethnic identity negotiation to mitigate intergenerational communication insecurity between students (digital natives) and lecturers (digital immigrants). The qualitative case study method of conducting this research is based on the Identity Negotiation Theory (INT) to explore ethnic minority students’ management of their communication anxiety. The results reveal that considerable cognitive loads lead to students becoming “cultural chameleons,” activating local values such as “shyness culture” for ethnic identity security, whereas ethnic differences in digital literacy lead to defensive silence. Ultimately, this paper contributes to providing a solution for institutions to create social presence and dialectical spaces for psychologically safe environments to ensure the sustainability of hybrid environments for inclusive learning. The theoretical contribution of this paper extends the INT framework in a trans-digital world by incorporating ethnic identity as a tool for psychosocial risk mitigation.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Gina Dwi Fristaloka
AU  - Melly Maulin Puwaningwulan
AU  - Desayu Eka Surya
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/06
TI  - Intergenerational Communication Insecurity and Ethnic Identity Negotiation in Hybrid Higher Education
BT  - Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Business, Economics, Social Sciences & Humanities – Humanities and Social Sciences Track (ICOBEST-HSS 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 79
EP  - 93
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-607-9_8
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-607-9_8
ID  - Fristaloka2026
ER  -