Face Negotiation Theory - Studies On The Theory

Studies On The Theory

Like many theories, Face Negotiation Theory has been tried and tested to prove the theory works in the real world. There are two studies that aimed to prove the fundamentals of the theory. Both studies took concepts from the theory to investigate how “facework” and face negotiation applied in conflict across cultures.

Study 1: Face Concerns in Interpersonal Conflict

This study by the author of the theory Stella Ting-Toomey and, Department of communication and Journalism at the University of New Mexico, John G. Oetzel was done in order to discover if face was indeed a factor in determining “culture’s influence on conflict behavior” (Ting-Toomey & Oetzel, 2003). There were 768 people from four different countries who partook in the study. The cultures represented were China, Germany, Japan, and the United States. China and Japan representing the collectivist countries and Germany and the United States as the individualist countries. Each contributor was given a survey in which they were to explain interpersonal conflict. The largest findings are as follows.

1. “Cultural individualism-collectivism had direct and indirect effects on conflict styles.”
2. “Independent self-construal related positively with self-face and interdependent self-construal related positively with other-face.”
3. “Self-face related positively with dominating conflict styles and other-face related positively with avoiding and integrating styles.”
4. “Face accounted for all of the total variance explained (100% of 19% total explained) in dominating, most of the total variance explained in integrating (70% of 20% total explained) when considering face concerns, cultural individualism-collectivism, and self-construals.”

Study 2: Face and Facework in Conflicts With Parents and Siblings

This study implemented by the author of this theory Stella Ting-Toomey, John Oetzel, Martha Idalia Chew-Sanchez, Richard Harris, Richard Wilcox, and Siegfried Stumpf observed how facework in conflict with parents and siblings is affected by culture, self-concept, and power distance. There were 449 people from four different countries and cultures that participated. Germany, Japan, Mexico, and the United States were the countries used in the study. The survey looked at 3 apprehensions of face and 11 behaviors of “facework”. The results are as follows.

1. “Self-construals had strong effects on face concerns and facework with independence positively associated with self-face and dominating facework and interdependence positively associated with other- and mutual-face and integrating and avoiding facework behaviors.”
2. “Power distance had small, positive effects on self-face, other-face, avoiding facework, and dominating facework.”
3. “National culture had small to medium effects with individualistic, small power distance cultures having more self-face and mutual-face and using more dominating and integrating facework and less avoiding facework.”
4. “Germans have more self-face and used defending more than U.S. Americans.”
5. “Japanese used more expression than Mexicans.”
6. “Individuals in conflict with parents were more likely to use respect and expression and less likely to use aggression, pretend, and third party than individuals in conflict with siblings.”