The behavior strategies in interpersonal conflict among students: cross-cultural research

Abstract

The empirical study results on the cultural specificity of the conflict behavior strategy choice of Russian and German universities’ students in the context of the learning environment are presented. The sample represented by 195 respondents of which 114 people are Russian students and 81 people are German students. To explore strategies of conflict behavior the author’s questionnaire based on a survey method and content analysis was developed. The following conflict situations were considered: conflict between two students; conflict between student and teacher; conflict between student and parents. Cross-cultural comparison of the samples demonstrated that Russian and German students in a situation of conflict with students and teachers prefer to use different strategies of conflict behavior. For Russian respondents this strategy is the avoiding, and for the German ones is the collaborating. There are no significant differences in preferences strategies in a situation of conflict with parents between the two groups. Although the Russian students most frequently use the accommodation strategy and the German students use the collaboration. In addition, the Russian respondents choose the model of behavior depending on the situation and the German students act regardless of the conditions and opponents. There are significant relations between such culture dimensions as individualism (horizontal and vertical), masculinity, power distance, long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance, and the choice of the conflict behavior strategies. For Russian students the choice of strategy in almost all situations is significantly associated with the level of masculinity and individualism, and for German ones the choice is associated with a long-term perspective. These results reveal the significance of such predictor of conflict behavior as culture.