scholarly journals The Influence of Tertiary Education Disciplines on Self-Construals and Conflict Management Tendencies

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sheila X. R. Wee ◽  
Wan Yee Choo ◽  
Chi-Ying Cheng

While cultural difference on self-construal are well-documented, how acculturation to a new cultural environment could change an individual’s self-construal remains under-explored. In this research, how tertiary education disciplines could be associated with the endorsement of self-construals which, in turn, affect students’ conflict management tendencies were explored. Study 1 revealed that across the United States and Singapore, college students from business and social science disciplines exhibited the trend of endorsing more independent and interdependent self-construal respectively, regardless of the different dominant self-construals in the two countries. Study 2 explored how tertiary education disciplines is associated with individuals’ conflict management tendencies via the endorsement of different self-construals among Singaporeans. Findings showed that individuals from business discipline possess a more independent self-construal and in turn endorsed more of a competing conflict management style than those from social sciences. Different disciplinary cultures could link to conflict management tendencies via the endorsement of self-construals, yielding significant theoretical and practical implications.

2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 12
Author(s):  
Jamil Al Wekhian

Multiple studies have shown that culture, religiosity, and gender influence people’s behavior in managing their conflict; however, there has been little investigation of the impact of the acculturation process on these variables utilized by second generation Arab Muslim immigrants in the United States. My study follows a sequential explanatory model with a mixed methods approach, and specifically explores the conflict management styles utilized by second generation Arab Muslim immigrants in the U.S. and how their culture, gender, and religiosity contribute to these processes. Data was collected by conducting 112 online surveys and 12 face-to-face semi-structured interviews, with the sample population stemming from the Arab Muslim communities in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis, Missouri. Binary logistic regression and Chi-square tests were used to analyze this quantitative data through SPSS while thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The resulting analysis showed that second generation immigrants tended to be more individualistic, have a lower level of religiosity, and utilize and utilize dominating as a conflict management style to handle their interpersonal conflict. Level of religiosity had a significant relationship with the obliging, compromising, integrating, avoiding, and dominating conflict management styles. Gender had a significant association with the obliging, compromising, avoiding, and dominating conflict management styles. Finally, culture had a significant predictive relationship with obliging, integrating, compromising, and dominating conflict management styles.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamil Al Wekhian

<p>Multiple studies have shown that culture, religiosity, and gender influence people’s behavior in managing their conflict; however, there has been little investigation of the impact of the acculturation process on these variables utilized by first generation Arab Muslim immigrants in the United States. My study follows a sequential explanatory model with a mixed methods approach, and specifically explores the conflict management styles utilized by first generation Arab Muslim immigrants in the U.S. and how their culture, gender, and religiosity contribute to these processes. Data was collected by conducting 145 online surveys and 12 face-to-face semi-structured interviews, with the sample population stemming from the Arab Muslim communities in Columbia, Kansas City, and St. Louis, Missouri. Binary logistic regression and Chi-square tests were used to analyze this quantitative data through SPSS while thematic analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The resulting analysis showed that first-generation immigrants tended to be more collectivistic, have a higher level of religiosity, and utilize a wider variety of conflict management styles including obliging, compromising, integrating, and avoiding. In addition, gender had a significant relationship only with the avoiding conflict management style, while level of religiosity had a significant relationship with the obliging, compromising, integrating, and dominating conflict management styles. Finally, culture had a significant predictive relationship with integrating and avoiding conflict management styles.</p>


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 177-185
Author(s):  
Daniela Moza ◽  
Laurențiu Maricuțoiu ◽  
Alin Gavreliuc

Abstract. Previous research established that an independent construal of the self is associated with higher self-esteem, which, in turn, is associated with increased happiness. Regarding the directionality of these relationships, theoretical arguments have suggested that self-construal precedes self-esteem and that self-esteem precedes happiness. However, most research in this area is cross-sectional, thus limiting any conclusions about directionality. The present study tested these relationships in 101 Romanian undergraduates using a 3-wave cross-lagged design with a 6-month time lag between every two waves. Structural equation modeling analyses revealed that self-esteem is an antecedent of both happiness and dimensions of independent self-construal (i.e., consistency vs. variability and self-expression vs. harmony). In other words, one’s positive evaluation of self-worth precedes one’s self-perception as being a happy and independent person. The findings are discussed with respect to the theoretical and practical implications, along with limitations and suggestions for future research.


2012 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 222-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Hansen ◽  
Tom Postmes ◽  
Nikita van der Vinne ◽  
Wendy van Thiel

This paper studies whether and how information and communication technology (ICT) changes self-construal and cultural values in a developing country. Ethiopian children were given laptops in the context of an ICT for development scheme. We compared children who used laptops (n = 69) with a control group without laptops (n = 76) and a second control group of children whose laptop had broken down (n = 24). Results confirmed that after 1 year of laptop usage, the children’s self-concept had become more independent and children endorsed individualist values more strongly. Interestingly, the impact of laptop usage on cultural values was mediated by self-construal (moderated mediation). Importantly, modernization did not “crowd out” traditional culture: ICT usage was not associated with a reduction in traditional expressions (interdependent self-construal, collectivist values). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.


Author(s):  
Walter D. Mignolo

This book is an extended argument about the “coloniality” of power. In a shrinking world where sharp dichotomies, such as East/West and developing/developed, blur and shift, this book points to the inadequacy of current practices in the social sciences and area studies. It explores the crucial notion of “colonial difference” in the study of the modern colonial world and traces the emergence of an epistemic shift, which the book calls “border thinking.” Further, the book expands the horizons of those debates already under way in postcolonial studies of Asia and Africa by dwelling on the genealogy of thoughts of South/Central America, the Caribbean, and Latino/as in the United States. The book's concept of “border gnosis,” or sensing and knowing by dwelling in imperial/colonial borderlands, counters the tendency of occidentalist perspectives to manage, and thus limit, understanding. A new preface discusses this book as a dialogue with Hegel's Philosophy of History.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8335
Author(s):  
Jasmina Nedevska

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool as societies steer towards sustainable development. Although the litigation mainly takes place in domestic courts, the implications can be seen as global as specific climate rulings influence courts across national borders. However, while the phenomenon of judicialization is well-known in the social sciences, relatively few have studied issues of legitimacy that arise as climate politics move into courts. A comparatively large part of climate cases have appeared in the United States. This article presents a research plan for a study of judges’ opinions and dissents in the United States, regarding the justiciability of strategic climate cases. The purpose is to empirically study how judges navigate a perceived normative conflict—between the litigation and an overarching ideal of separation of powers—in a system marked by checks and balances.


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