The Good News About Honor Culture: The Preference for Cooperative Conflict Management in the Absence of Insults

Abstract

People from honor cultures are generally seen as prone to react aggressively in conflict situations. The current research challenges this view and shows that people from honor cultures react more constructively to a conflict situation than people from dignity cultures, as long as they are not insulted. In an experiment in which 41 honor and 41 dignity participants reacted to a conflict situation with or without insult, we showed that-as long as they are not insulted-people from honor cultures handled potential conflict situations more constructively than people from dignity cultures. Thus, the good news about people from honor cultures is that they are willing and able to handle conflict situations constructively-even more so than people from dignity cultures-as long as they are not insulted.

Dignity, face, and honor cultures: A study of negotiation strategy and outcomes in three cultures

“…We do not assume that cultural norms for negotiation strategy are the same in all contexts. Prior research on face (e.g., Liu et al, ) and honor (e.g., Harinck, Shafa, Ellemers, & Beersma, ) cultures shows that social context plays an important influence on negotiation behavior. For this reason, we develop hypotheses for the specific context of negotiating a new business relationship.…”

When Dignity and Honor Cultures Negotiate: Finding Common Ground

“…In dignity cultures, individuals define themselves primarily by what they think of themselves, emphasizing independence and achievement (i.e., intrinsic self‐worth); in face cultures, individuals mostly care about what others think of them, emphasizing the fulfillment of social roles (i.e., society‐based self‐worth); and in honor cultures, individuals care about both what they think of themselves and what others think of them, emphasizing reputation (i.e., intrinsic and society‐based self‐worth) (Leung & Cohen, ). Accordingly, negotiation scholars increasingly view cultural influences as oriented to either dignity, honor, or face (e.g., Aslani et al., ; Brett & Thompson, ; Harinck, Shafa, Ellemers, & Beersma, ). While some scholars (e.g., Aslani et al., ; Harinck et al., ) have insightfully associated these ideal types with divergent processes and outcomes in cross‐cultural negotiations, whether the categories are fully mutually exclusive remains an unanswered and important question.…”

“…Accordingly, negotiation scholars increasingly view cultural influences as oriented to either dignity, honor, or face (e.g., Aslani et al., ; Brett & Thompson, ; Harinck, Shafa, Ellemers, & Beersma, ). While some scholars (e.g., Aslani et al., ; Harinck et al., ) have insightfully associated these ideal types with divergent processes and outcomes in cross‐cultural negotiations, whether the categories are fully mutually exclusive remains an unanswered and important question.…”

Where to draw the line: honor mindset increases retaliation in response to unfair behavior

“…Finally, while the majority of research on honor has suggested that people from typical honor cultures tend to display a higher tendency for retaliation, they can equally be more cooperative and friendly (Beersma et al 2003;Harinck et al 2013). A recommendation for future research would therefore be to include a social dilemma paradigm that measures cooperation such as the public goods game, to test whether an active honor mindset encompasses the broad scope of 'proper behavior'.…”