COMPLAINANTRESPONDENT DIFFERENCES IN PROCEDURAL CHOICE

• Published in: The International journal of conflict management 1993-03, Vol.4 (3), p.199-222
• Main Authors: Peirce, Robert S., Pruitt, Dean G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1044-4068
• DOI: 10.1108/eb022726

This research concerned preference and choice among six procedures commonly used to resolve disputes. Two experiments revealed that, compared to complainants, respondents liked inaction and disliked arbitration. However, the most striking findings concerned general preferences among the procedures consensual procedures negotiation, mediation, and advisoryarbitration were best liked, followed by arbitration, with inaction and struggle least liked. Further analysis suggested that perceptions of selfinterest and societal norms underlie these procedural preferences, with the latter perceptions apparently more important. An examination of choices among the procedures revealed that negotiation was by far the most common first choice of action. If negotiation failed to resolve the conflict, the following escalative sequence of actions was typically endorsed mediation, then advisory arbitration, then arbitration, and finally struggle.