Beyond Individualism-Collectivism and Conflict Style: Considering Acculturation and Media Use

Abstract

Opportunities for individuals from varied cultural backgrounds to interact, and therefore conflict, are inherently greater because the technologies, economies, and livelihoods of people of many countries are increasingly interdependent. In light of globalization, it is ever more valuable to understand how culture influences the way people manage conflict. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing people's individualistic-collectivistic culture tendencies and conflict styles, and whether or not acculturation is a moderating factor between individualism-collectivism and conflict style among foreign nationals living within the United States. In addition to acculturation, researchers also measured media use. The data revealed statistically-significant relationships for media-use and acculturation on individualism-collectivism and conflict styles, and supported the idea that acculturation is a moderating factor between individualism-collectivism and conflict style, although this relationship was only significant among those who preferred the dominating conflict style.

Keywords:

• Conflict Style
• Acculturation
• Media Use

Acknowledgements

This manuscript is based on the first author's thesis, which was directed by the second author. The authors would like to thank committee members David Henry, Erin Sahlstein, and Larry Mullen for their assistance.

Notes

1. Although U.S. and international data sets were analyzed separately for other hypotheses and research questions, U.S. and international student data were analyzed together for RQ4 due to power concerns with testing the GLM with the international data set only.