Abstract
While previous research has identified emotional intelligence and cultural values as central determinants of conflict handling styles, little is known about the mechanism through which emotional intelligence and cultural values impact individuals’ preferences for specific conflict handling styles. Based on a multinational dataset including 1,527 individuals from ten different cultural clusters, the current study aims to integrate these two literature streams by examining the influence of cultural value dimensions on conflict handling styles through individuals’ emotional intelligence. The results of structural equation modeling and mediation analysis show that in particular uncertainty avoidance and long-term orientation influence individuals’ preferences for the conflict handling styles of compromising, obliging, and integrating through emotional intelligence. Furthermore, we find that collectivism has a direct negative effect on the preference for a dominating style and that power distance has a direct and positive effect on the preference for an avoiding and a dominating style. Our study contributes to a more comprehensive and more integrative understanding of earlier research.