Conflict management styles : the differences among the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans

By Tae-Yeol Kim, Chongwei Wang, Mari Kondo, Tae-Hyun Kim. 2007

105 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans resolve an interpersonal conflict with their supervisors and how cultural factors explain the differences in conflict management styles.Design/methodology/approach – A survey was conducted involving 275 employees from China, Japan and South Korea. A hierarchical regression analysis and A-matrix hypothesis test were used to analyze the data.Findings – Koreans, compared with the Chinese and Japanese, were more likely to use a compromise style. In addition, the Japanese, compared with the Chinese and Koreans, were less likely to dominate and were more likely to oblige their supervisors. The country differences in obliging and dominating styles were partially explained by goal emphasis (self vs collective) and concern for the self, respectively.Research limitations/implications – While limited to recalling specific incidents and self-reported responses, there is evidence that East Asians differ from each other in resolving their interpersonal conflicts with supervisors. Future research needs to examine East Asian differences in resolving an interpersonal conflict with other targets such as peers and subordinates and using other kinds of conflict management styles such as mediation and arbitration.Originality/value – This is one of few studies that have examined East Asian differences in conflict management styles.

Subfields: Communication, Gender Studies, Sociology and Political Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/69107901a93abfcf25efa0a36cd7ab51ebd80a62

How researchers see this paper

The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.

In Communication

1. Tae-Yeol Kim

In Gender Studies

1. Tae-Yeol Kim
2. Lynne M. Andersson

In Sociology and Political Science

1. Jian Peng
2. Zhen Wang
3. Tae-Yeol Kim
4. Lynne M. Andersson
5. Laurenz L. Meier
6. Lilia M. Cortina

Citations in the corpus

• Top management credibility and employee cynicism: A comprehensive model (2009, background): “In addition, differences in general societal values or norms regulate the relationships between subordinates and supervisors across countries (Kim et al., 2007).”
• Transformational Leadership and Employees’ Reactions to Organizational Change: Evidence From a Meta-Analysis (2020, background): “As posited by Kim et al. (2007), employees in eastern countries (e.g., China, Japan, and South Korea) are more willing to display cooperative behaviors than those in western countries.”
• The moderating role of cultural intelligence in the relationship between cultural orientations and conflict management styles (2018, unknown): “It was explained that individuals with a higher power distance, but not in power positions, tend to be less competitive and confrontational in solving interpersonal conflict with their supervisors (Kim et al., 2007), while individuals holding power tend to be more competitive (Purohit & Simmers, 200”