Independent and interdependent construals of self: Explaining cultural patterns of interpersonal communication in multi‐cultural organizational settings

This manuscript aims to explain the cultural interaction patterns in multi‐cultural organizational settings. It focuses on the dimensions of independent and interdependent construals of self, the individual‐level equivalent of individualism and collectivism. Specifically, we investigate the relationship between one's orientation toward independent and interdependent self‐construals and the perceived importance of three interactive constraints in “bind”; organizational communication situations. After being presented with three “bind”; communication situations in an organizational setting, participants rated the perceived importance of each constraint in relation to each situation, then completed scales designed to measure the independent and interdependent dimensions of self‐construals. The results indicated that self‐construals are systematically related to one's perceptions of the importance of clarity, efforts to avoid hurting the other's feelings and avoidance of negative evaluation by the hearer. In addition, although a person's self‐reported cultural identity was not associated with the importance ratings of clarity and the desire to avoid hurting the hearer's feelings, Asians were more concerned about not eliciting negative evaluations than the Euro‐American participants. The implications of the findings for cross‐cultural business communication are discussed.

Key concepts:

• self‐construals
• conversational constraints
• multi‐cultural communication
• organizational communication