Conflict with outsiders: Disputing within and across cultural boundaries

Two studies examine how people's reactions to conflict resolution efforts by third parties are affected by whether the conflict occurs within or across cultural boundaries. Both test the social categorization hypothesis of the relational model of authority: that third-party decisions will be evaluated more strongly through judgments about the treatment of disputants (relational concerns) in conflicts within groups and more strongly in terms of decisionsfavorability (instrumental concerns) in disputes across groups. The first study tests this hypothesis in a study of conflicts between American employees and their supervisors, whereas the second does so in a study of conflicts involving Japanese and Western teachers. The results of both studies support the predictions of the relational model. In both studies, relational concerns are more important in within-group disputes.