This survey investigated cross-cultural communication at Innoson Vehicles Manufacturing Company (IVM), a multinational corporation, Nnewi, Anambra State, Nigeria. It was anchored on Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions, Hall’s High-Context vs. Low-Context Communication, and Cultural Intelligence Theories. Eight objectives and oral interviews guided the survey. Multistage sampling was used to select the sample size for the study. At the first stage, through purposive sampling, IVM was selected for the cross-cultural communication studies. The population of study comprised all the 1,800 staff at the Nnewi plant. At the second stage, the population was divided into four subgroups according to job function and nationality. 10% of the population of each subgroup was taken, yielding a sample of 194 as follows: Management & Administration (15), Technical & Engineering (25), Production and Technical Staff (139), and Foreign Technical Partners (15). The four variables tested were language barriers, cultural differences, communication strategies, and employee performances. Results indicated that language and cultural differences had a significant effect on technical instructions and effective communication between Nigerian staff and foreign technical partners; cultural differences negatively affected teamwork and collaboration; effective cross-cultural communication significantly improved employee performance, output and productivity; the most effective communication strategy at IVM was constant training of staff on cross-cultural communication and interpretation and translation support. The study recommended that cultural intelligence and constant staff training will foster interaction and improve communication, collaboration, teamwork, and productivity.

Keywords: cross-cultural communication, Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, cultural intelligence, multinational corporations, high and low contexts communication.