Explore the impact of collectivism on conflict management styles: A Turkish study

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of collectivism on conflict management styles in Turkey and to help conflict management researchers and practitioners better understand conflict and conflict management in an international context. Design/methodology/approach: Self-administered questionnaires with the ROCI scale were used in this study. Data were collected by surveying 244 managerial employees from both public and private organizations. Factor analysis and regression analysis were then used to explore the relationships between conflict management styles and different aspects of collectivism. Differences in demographic factors were also discussed. Findings: This study shows Turkish people are more likely to use collaborating style, instead of compromising or avoiding as expected from a collectivistic culture. Further, different aspects of collectivism have different effects on Turkish conflict management styles: the importance of competitive success leads to preferences for competing style; the value of working alone leads to less collaboration; the norms of subordination of personal needs to group interest are positively related to more collaborating and accommodating; and the beliefs of the effects of personal pursuit on group productivity are positively related to more compromising. Originality/value: While Turkey has become more important in world markets, very few studies have been conducted to explore Turkish conflict management styles. This paper examines the ranking of preferences in conflict management methods in Turkey, as well as the impact of collectivism on different conflict management styles, which extends the understanding of cross-cultural differences in conflict management.