CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

7. WORKPLACE AGGRESSION AND CONFLICT 233
cross-culturally. The nature of aggressive acts is also likely to differ due
to cultural constraints on the appropriateness of various behaviors, and
aggression against “different” people may be more likely in nations with
norms that constrain variability (Gelfand, Nishii, & Raver, 2006). Initial
evidence on cross-cultural differences in aggression is emerging (Blader,
Chang, & Tyler, 2001; Bond, 2004), but much more is needed.
One form of workplace aggression that has been studied a great deal
outside of North America is workplace bullying (Einarsen, Hoel, Zapf, &
Cooper, 2003). Unfortunately, many North American scholars have failed
to attend to workplace bullying research in their literature reviews (for a
notable exception, see Keashly & Jagatic, 2003). We strongly urge scholars
to draw from international research on the phenomenon of interest, rather
than limiting reviews to North American studies. In addition, an important
avenue for future inquiry is to pursue a cross-national study on workplace
bullying. To date, it has been difficult to compare studies from different
nations due to a lack of agreement about the terminology, measures, and
criteria for determining whether bullying has occurred (Neuman & Keashly,
2003). Studying multiple nations in one study would permit comparisons
and answer important questions about cross-cultural differences in
the antecedents, nature, and consequences of workplace aggression.
Within-Cultural Diversity and Aggression. Workplace aggression research
has also largely neglected the study of within-cultural diversity, particularly
with regard to who becomes the target and what forms of aggression
individuals from different demographic groups (e.g., gender, race, age,
and nationality) experience. Theory and research on stigma has long recognized
that individuals who are different from others in the context can
become stigmatized and, thus, experience derogation, social isolation, or
abuse because of their “spoiled identities” (Goffman, 1963). Recent evidence
suggested that individuals who are demographically dissimilar are likely
to enact deviant behaviors (Liao, Joshi, & Chuang, 2004), but we are not
aware of research that has drawn from theory on stigma to predict whether
demographically dissimilar group members will become targets of aggression.
Relational demography research on this would be beneficial.
There has also been a surprising lack of attention to how many employees
experience forms of workplace aggression in conjunction based upon
their identity group memberships (e.g., race and gender; Tajfel, 1982; Tajfel
& Turner, 1979). Specifically, although sexual and ethnic harassment are
forms of workplace aggression (Barling et al., 2001; Neuman & Baron,
1996; O’Leary-Kelly, Paetzold, & Griffin, 2000), they have been studied in
isolation, rather than in conjunction with each other or with generalized
aggression (for exceptions, see Barling et al., 2001; Raver & Nishii, 2006).
Research on multiple forms of aggression in conjunction is needed; our
paucity of knowledge about the additive or interactive effects of different
forms of aggression is of particular concern given the fact that workplace
diversity is very much a reality and that many women and racial/ethnic