The role of third-party mediation and face and favor in executive–legislative relations and conflict

Abstract

This paper explores the role of third-party mediation in particular and the extent to which four conflict management strategies, i.e., third-party mediation, integration, distribution, and avoidance in general, exist and affect conflict resolution in the Taiwanese government’s executive^legislative relations. Additionally, third-party media-tion mianzi (face) and renqing (favor) in relation to Chinese culture are explored. Two independent samples were included in this study. The first included 235 legislative members and their assistants working within the legislative branch. The second included 301 legislative liaisons from the executive branch in Taiwan. The results indicated that four conflict strategies had been used in legislative^executive relations, namely integrative, distributive, non-confrontational, and third-party mediation, with mediation being the least frequently used. Third-party mediation, across two independent samples, was shown to have the strongest correlations with non-confrontation/avoidance versus integration and last distribution. Face and favor, then, were first associated with distribution, then third-party mediation, avoidance, and finally integration.