CULTURE SHOCK IN THE POST COVID-19 ERA: TOWARD A NEW NORMAL ACADEMIC LIFE

The COVID-19 pandemic has had profound consequences on the
behaviour and habits of people in organisations. The objective of this study is
to analyse the level of culture shock (CS) that university students have
manifested after the period of distance learning (DL) and their physical return
to university facilities. The Mumford (1998) questionnaire for the measurement
of culture shock (CSQ) was implemented. Qualitative and quantitative data
were collected from 341 questionnaires. The survey sample consists of
university students from 5 different Italian universities. The study offers an
innovative application to CSQ questionnaire (1998). Results show that
university students suffer from culture shock when they return to university
facilities after distance learning. Women with an average age above 30, in large
universities, is the category most affected by culture shock. The results can help
universities introduce actions to aid students’ psychological and emotional
well-being.