The Intercultural Conflict Style Inventory: A Conceptual Framework and Measure of Intercultural Conflict Approaches

Abstract

Grounded in the pragmatics of human communication perspective, the current study examined how disagreements and emotion function across cultural context in resolving conflict. Specifically, the research effort developed the Intercultural Conflict Style (ICS) Inventory, a 36-item measure of intercultural conflict style based on two core dimensions: Direct vs. Indirect approaches to dealing with disagreements and Emotionally Expressive vs. Emotionally Restrained patterns for dealing with the affective dimension of conflict interaction. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) found the proposed two-factor model was a good fit to the data. Analysis of the CFA findings identified a final set of 18 Direct/Indirect items and 18 Emotional Expressiveness/Restraint items. The Direct/Indirect scale obtained a coefficient alpha of .73 and the Emotional Expressiveness/Restraint scale achieved .85 reliability. Validity testing of the scales found no significant effects by gender, education or previous intercultural living experience. Suggestions for additional research using the ICS Inventory are offered and a practical intercultural conflict style model is proposed based on high/low levels of Directness and high/low levels of emotional expressiveness.

Keywords: culture, conflict styles

JEL Classification: D74