Knowing the Taboos, Improve Intercultural Communication: A Study at Terengganu, East Coast of Malaysia

Information about a taboos of different ethnic groups could help to understand each other's sensitivity especially at the workplace in order to avoid any misunderstandings. Thus, this paper investigated the taboos in relation to intercultural communication among University Malaysia Terengganu personnel from three ethnic backgrounds. The research employed a mix-method approach, the combination of online survey and in-depth interview. Data were sequentially analysed using SPSS and thematic analysis. The interview findings indicate that Malay personnel do not know much about the taboo of other ethnic groups compare to their colleague from different ethnicity and concludes that Malay personnel should be more open towards others values.