Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology 2015, Vol. 46(1) 88–100 © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022022114551051 jccp.sagepub.com Article Cultural Differences in Perceptions of Intragroup Conflict and Preferred Conflict-Management Behavior: A Scenario Experiment Aya Murayama 1 , Carey S. Ryan 2 , Hiroshi Shimizu 3 , Koichi Kurebayashi 2 , and Asako Miura 1 Abstract This study focused on cultural differences in perceived relationship and task conflict within groups and preferences for active and agreeable conflict-management behavior. Task conflict (low vs. high) and relationship conflict (low vs. high) were manipulated within subjects in a 2 × 2 × 2 (culture) mixed design. Japanese (n = 100) and American (n = 121) undergraduate students rated each scenario with respect to task conflict, relationship conflict, and preferred conflict- management behavior. Results showed that task and relationship conflict were mistaken for each other in both cultures; however, Americans misattributed strong task conflict to relationship conflict more than Japanese. Cultural differences in preferred conflict management also emerged. Japanese preferred active conflict management more than Americans in the strong (vs. weak) task conflict situation when relationship conflict was low (vs. high), whereas Americans preferred active conflict management more than Japanese when relationship conflict was high— regardless of task conflict. Finally, Americans preferred agreeable conflict-management behavior more than Japanese when both types of conflict were low. Keywords intragroup conflict, relationship conflict, task conflict, cultural difference Working within small groups is a part of everyday life. Employees might discuss how to sell new products, or students might be assigned to work on group projects. And group members often disagree; they may have different interpersonal styles and thus experience conflict in performing the task or they may disagree about the desired outcome and the tasks that are required to achieve it. Such conflicts may affect interactions among group members as well as group performance (Amason, 1996; Jehn & Mannix, 2001). Understanding the factors that affect group conflict and the ways that people attempt to manage it are thus important to identifying ways to enhance group performance. 1 Kwansei Gakuin University, Nishinomiya, Japan 2 University of Nebraska, Omaha, USA 3 Hiroshima University, Japan Corresponding Author: Aya Murayama, Department of Psychological Science, Center for Applied Psychological Science, Graduate School of Humanities, Kwansei Gakuin University, 1-155 Uegahara, Nishinomiya-city, Hyogo 662-8501, Japan. Email: murayama@kwansei.ac.jp 551051JCC XX X 10.1177/0022022114551051Journal of Cross-Cultural PsychologyMurayama et al. research-article 2014 at UNIV OF NEBRASKA OMAHA LIB on December 29, 2014 jcc.sagepub.com Downloaded from