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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine whether conflict management styles are able to predict actual behaviors in business negotiation in two different countries.Design/methodology/approachSubjects were recruited from both Canada and China to participate in a laboratory study. Three simulated business negotiations were used for participants to negotiate deals in both countries in order to compare the validity of conflict management styles in predicting negotiation behaviors.FindingsThis study shows that conflict management styles are valid predictors of actual negotiation behaviors in Canada, but not in China. The results also show that Chinese people use a more avoiding approach and demonstrate a higher level of integrativeness during business negotiation simulations, while Canadians use a more compromising approach and show a higher level of distributiveness.Practical implicationsPractical implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the usefulness of self‐reported conflict management styles for negotiation researchers and practitioners in training seminars and in terms of the effectiveness of first offer as one negotiation strategy to achieve better negotiation outcomes.Originality/valueThis study is particularly pertinent, given that the relationship between conflict management styles and actual behaviors in negotiation receives little attention and that even less attention is given to this relationship in a cross‐cultural context.

China has been one of the most important markets for western firms, but negotiating with the Chinese is quite a challenging task. Researchers have been investigating the distinctness in Chinese negotiation and conflict management styles, but have yet to provide solid evidence for it. An attempt is made in this study to illustrate how Chinese people approach conflicts, and thus how this affects their negotiation behaviours during business negotiation, which provides an empirical test of Chinese conflict management styles and their impact on negotiation outcomes. Results show that compromising and avoiding are the most preferred methods of conflict management in China, while accommodating and competing lead to more satisfaction during business negotiation. Managerial implications and future studies are then discussed.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of assertiveness in determining negotiation outcomes in two different cultures and thus to help understand the cultural differences in the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes in the West and East, where assertiveness is often viewed quite differently.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from four simulated negotiations of varying degrees of complexity ranging from the most distributive to the most integrative. Over 400 business students were recruited as subjects from a Western culture and an Eastern culture, namely Canada and China, to participate in the simulations in order to test the cultural differences in the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes.FindingsThe results provide support for the effects of assertiveness on both economic outcome and affective outcome, and thus confirm the importance of assertiveness as a negotiator trait; the relationship between assertiveness and negotiation outcomes is found to be culture dependent whereby assertiveness is associated with economic outcome and affective outcome for Canadians, but only with affective outcome for the Chinese.Practical implicationsThis study provides important guidelines for negotiation practitioners. Relevant training and development programs could be designed for international managers to improve their effectiveness when they negotiate with the Chinese who often place more emphasis on affective outcome and on negotiation process.Originality/valueNegotiation skills become more important in the increasingly globalized world market and research on negotiation needs to provide more knowledge for scholars and negotiation practitioners. This paper attempts to enrich our understanding of negotiation in two different cultures and to provide insights on cross‐cultural differences in negotiation process.

PurposeThe 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/approachSelf‐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.FindingsThis 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/valueWhile 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.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of middle managers in the corporate entrepreneurship process that drives new capability development. Middle managers are highlighted as key entrepreneurial agents because of their special position in an organization.Design/methodology/approachThe paper draws on existing capability development and corporate entrepreneurship literature and develops a conceptual model and research propositions that are illustrated through three examples from a Chinese private firm.FindingsThis paper contends the dual role of middle managers, both as change implementers to follow pre-set rules of an existing corporate entrepreneurship system and as change initiators to bring new rules to improve the existing system.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is conceptual in nature, advancing the understanding of middle managers' role in corporate entrepreneurship. The paper provides directions for future empirical research.Practical implicationsThe interactions between middle managers and other organizational agents are discussed in the propositions. This paper suggests the importance of empowering middle managers to facilitate changes in complex internal environments.Originality/valueThe paper provides a unique theoretical contribution by introducing the interface-based, multi-level conceptual model of corporate entrepreneurship toward new capability development.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to map the intellectual structure of conflict management studies and to investigate the key themes, concepts, and their relationships of conflict management literature in the past decade.Design/methodology/approachCitation and co‐citation analysis and social network analysis were used to trace the development path of conflict management research. The data were collected by searching the SSCI databases, based on 556 journal articles which were published between 1997 and 2006, and their cited references were analyzed and profiled.FindingsThe paper shows that conflict management literature focuses on three key themes: workplace conflict and conflict management styles, cultural differences in conflict management, and conflict management in practice. In addition, research on group conflict and work performance has gained momentum in recent years.Originality/valueThe intellectual structure of conflict management literature has received little attention in spite that a large number of studies have been done on conflict management. This paper will expose researchers to a new way of profiling key themes and their relationships in conflict management area, which will help academia and practitioners understand better contemporary conflict management studies.