Religious motivation, nepotism and conflict management in Jordan
International Journal of Conflict Management
ISSN: 1044-4068
Article publication date: 15 December 2017
Issue publication date: 14 March 2018
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research paper is to investigate the role of individual and cultural differences, specifically religious motivation and attitudes toward nepotism, in the selection of conflict management styles (obliging, avoiding, forcing, integrating and compromising), in the Middle-Eastern context.
Design/methodology/approach
The research surveyed a sample of 588 individuals (both Muslims and Christians), representative of the Jordanian population. Data were analyzed through multiple ANOVAs and multiple regressions.
Findings
Results suggest that both religious motivation and attitude toward nepotism affect the choice of conflict management styles, while demographic variables, such as age and gender, do not seem to have an effect.
Originality/value
This paper constitutes one of the first attempts to investigate the conflict management style preferences of a Middle-Eastern society and the role of two important cultural variables, namely, religious motivation and attitudes toward nepotism, which have not been previously investigated by conflict management research.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks the Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their helpful and valuable comments. The author thanks Dr Remi Ayoko and Prof John Oetzel for earlier comments and support. A special thanks goes to Lamees Al Maita, Nadeen Fakhoury, and Sinan Jarrad for contributing to the data collection as part of their graduation project at Princess Sumaya University for Technology in Amman, Jordan.
Citation
Caputo, A. (2018), "Religious motivation, nepotism and conflict management in Jordan", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 29 No. 2, pp. 146-166. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-02-2017-0015
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited