Final Report Summary - CONFLICT AVOIDANCE (Cross-cultural misunderstandings of conflict avoidance: A multi-method test of the roles of attributions and communication enhancement)
The aims of my research were to investigate perceptions of conflict avoidance between Arab and Jewish individuals in Israel. In particular, I was interested in attributions made for the conflict avoidance given different norms for communication, and whether attributions would influence behavior when negotiating and managing conflict. As such, I conducted several experimental studies using negotiation paradigms, as well as field research to examine these questions.
Experimental Study 1: In this study I tested whether, in a negotiation with an Arab vs. Jewish counterpart, Jewish Israelis would make more negative attributions for avoidance behavior from an Arab rather than a Jewish counterpart (the counterpart was always a man). I did not find any significant differences in attributions made for avoidance behavior depending on whether Jewish Israelis anticipated negotiating with an Arab vs. a Jewish Israeli. Overall, I also did not find significant differences in the amount of information that Jewish Israelis intended to share with a Jewish vs. Arab Israeli negotiator, though there was significant moderation by gender, such that Jewish Israeli women reported a greater likelihood to share information with an Arab Israeli negotiation counterpart than Jewish Israeli men.
Experimental Study 2: Given that the results of my previous study were different from what I had hypothesized and the significant moderation by gender, I subsequently decided to run a slightly different study and examine negotiation performance, as well as attributions made for performance, in a study with Jewish and Arab Israeli participants. Based on the results of the previous study, I focused particularly on the attributions made by and performance of Jewish Israeli women when negotiating with Arab Israeli vs. Jewish Israeli partners. The negotiation exercise was a business deal role play. Jewish Israeli women performed significantly better in the negotiation with Arab Israeli male than with Jewish Israeli male partners. Jewish Israeli women also reported that Jewish male partners were significantly more powerful during the negotiation than Arab male partners, and this differential perception of power mediated the performance findings. In addition, Jewish Israeli women reported greater use of a “give and take” strategy during the negotiations with Arab compared to Jewish Israeli counterparts. Finally, Arab male negotiators reported higher use of avoidant conflict management strategies during the negotiation than Jewish male negotiators, and likewise, Jewish male negotiators reported a slightly higher use of forcing conflict management strategies than Arab male negotiators.
Field Study: Arab Israelis do not typically hold key roles and nor are they represented at a proportional rate to that of Jewish Israelis in businesses in Israel. The healthcare industry is one area in which there is a more equal distribution of Arab Israelis in professional roles. Therefore, I conducted field research at a psychiatric hospital in Israel, in which approximately 30% of the staff (including doctors and nurses) are Israeli Arab, meaning that they report their native language as Arabic. After interviewing and consulting with staff, I collected two surveys (6 months apart) related to conflict management strategies typically used with patients during difficult interactions, as well as empathy vs. control strategies, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. In time 1, data was collected from 127 employees. In time 2 data was collected from 92 employees. In the time 1 survey data, there were differences in conflict management strategies between Arab and Jewish Israelis. Arab Israelis reported significantly greater use of compromising, problem solving, and forcing than Jewish Israelis. Surprisingly, there was no difference in the use of an avoidant strategy, though this may be due to the context – it would be unusual to use an avoidant strategy when managing a psychiatric patient. Overall, however, I did not find that ethnicity (Arab vs. Jewish) significantly moderated the variables of interest, indicating that professional identity may trump ethnicity in the workplace.
Experimental Study 1: In this study I tested whether, in a negotiation with an Arab vs. Jewish counterpart, Jewish Israelis would make more negative attributions for avoidance behavior from an Arab rather than a Jewish counterpart (the counterpart was always a man). I did not find any significant differences in attributions made for avoidance behavior depending on whether Jewish Israelis anticipated negotiating with an Arab vs. a Jewish Israeli. Overall, I also did not find significant differences in the amount of information that Jewish Israelis intended to share with a Jewish vs. Arab Israeli negotiator, though there was significant moderation by gender, such that Jewish Israeli women reported a greater likelihood to share information with an Arab Israeli negotiation counterpart than Jewish Israeli men.
Experimental Study 2: Given that the results of my previous study were different from what I had hypothesized and the significant moderation by gender, I subsequently decided to run a slightly different study and examine negotiation performance, as well as attributions made for performance, in a study with Jewish and Arab Israeli participants. Based on the results of the previous study, I focused particularly on the attributions made by and performance of Jewish Israeli women when negotiating with Arab Israeli vs. Jewish Israeli partners. The negotiation exercise was a business deal role play. Jewish Israeli women performed significantly better in the negotiation with Arab Israeli male than with Jewish Israeli male partners. Jewish Israeli women also reported that Jewish male partners were significantly more powerful during the negotiation than Arab male partners, and this differential perception of power mediated the performance findings. In addition, Jewish Israeli women reported greater use of a “give and take” strategy during the negotiations with Arab compared to Jewish Israeli counterparts. Finally, Arab male negotiators reported higher use of avoidant conflict management strategies during the negotiation than Jewish male negotiators, and likewise, Jewish male negotiators reported a slightly higher use of forcing conflict management strategies than Arab male negotiators.
Field Study: Arab Israelis do not typically hold key roles and nor are they represented at a proportional rate to that of Jewish Israelis in businesses in Israel. The healthcare industry is one area in which there is a more equal distribution of Arab Israelis in professional roles. Therefore, I conducted field research at a psychiatric hospital in Israel, in which approximately 30% of the staff (including doctors and nurses) are Israeli Arab, meaning that they report their native language as Arabic. After interviewing and consulting with staff, I collected two surveys (6 months apart) related to conflict management strategies typically used with patients during difficult interactions, as well as empathy vs. control strategies, job satisfaction, and emotional exhaustion. In time 1, data was collected from 127 employees. In time 2 data was collected from 92 employees. In the time 1 survey data, there were differences in conflict management strategies between Arab and Jewish Israelis. Arab Israelis reported significantly greater use of compromising, problem solving, and forcing than Jewish Israelis. Surprisingly, there was no difference in the use of an avoidant strategy, though this may be due to the context – it would be unusual to use an avoidant strategy when managing a psychiatric patient. Overall, however, I did not find that ethnicity (Arab vs. Jewish) significantly moderated the variables of interest, indicating that professional identity may trump ethnicity in the workplace.