Cultural Differences in Perceptions of Intragroup Conflict and Preferred Conflict-Management Behavior A Scenario Experiment

This study focused on cultural differences in perceived relationship and task conflict within groups and preferences for active and agreeable conflict-management behavior. Task conflict (low vs. high) and relationship conflict (low vs. high) were manipulated within subjects in a 2 × 2 × 2 (culture) mixed design. Japanese (n = 100) and American (n = 121) undergraduate students rated each scenario with respect to task conflict, relationship conflict, and preferred conflict-management behavior. Results showed that task and relationship conflict were mistaken for each other in both cultures; however, Americans misattributed strong task conflict to relationship conflict more than Japanese. Cultural differences in preferred conflict management also emerged. Japanese preferred active conflict management more than Americans in the strong (vs. weak) task conflict situation when relationship conflict was low (vs. high), whereas Americans preferred active conflict management more than Japanese when relationship conf...