Shared Indonesia–Malaysia Identity and Cultural Openness as Strategic Communication: An Experimental Study among Malay-Malaysian Professionals

Maya Diah Nirwana, Rachmat Kriyantono, Ali Mashuri, Muhammad Lukman Hakim

Abstract


Although regional mobility and immigrant animosity persist, Indonesia and Malaysia offer renewed opportunities for fostering cross-border tourism. This study examines how communication strategies centred on a shared Indonesia–Malaysia identity and cultural openness can reduce immigrant animosity and encourage creative tourism engagement among the majority group—Malay-Malaysian professionals. Grounded in Social Identity Theory and strategic communication as a purposive, identity-framing process, a one-way between-subjects experimental design was employed with 94 Malay-Malaysian professionals (N = 94). The experimental group received a stimulus highlighting shared cultural, religious, and linguistic heritage, while the control group engaged in a neutral reflection task. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM-AMOS) revealed that promoting a shared identity significantly reduced perceptions of immigrant population threat and animosity (β = -0.322, p = 0.027, 95% CI [-0.695, -0.002], subsequently decreasing the avoidance of Indonesian creative village tourism products (R² = .70). Cultural openness amplified this effect (β = -0.222, p = 0.032, 95% CI [-1.463, -0.045]), while perceived authenticity communication did not significantly moderate the relationships. These findings offer fresh insights into how identity-based and culturally empathetic communication can strengthen tourism marketing strategies. Theoretically, these findings advance integrating Social Identity Theory into strategic tourism communication, elucidating how majority-group identity narratives operate through threat and animosity mechanisms to reduce behavioural avoidance. Practically, the results provide strategic guidance for tourism marketers and policymakers by demonstrating that identity-based appeals must be coupled with the cultivation of cultural openness to generate sustainable creative tourism products.

 

Keywords: Experimental design, Malay-Malaysian professionals, Social Identity Theory, shared Indonesia–Malaysia identity, strategic tourism communication.

 

https://doi.org/10.17576/JKMJC-2026-4203-20


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References


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