Whose side are you on? Relational orientations and their impacts on side-taking among Dutch and Chinese employees

Informal relationships often influence employees who intervene in an interpersonal conflict between colleagues. We investigate and report the effects of relational orientations (reciprocity orientation and communal orientation) on employee preference of choosing sides between an acquaintance and a friend in a workplace dispute in The Netherlands and China. A scenario study was conducted among 104 Dutch and 105 Chinese employees. As hypothesized, the results indicate that employees, especially Dutch employees, with an interest-concerned reciprocity orientation tend to side with the acquaintance who has a greater potential to return the favour. By contrast, employees, especially Chinese, with a sharing-concerned communal orientation tend to side with their workplace friend. Explanations and implications of the findings are discussed.