Individualism-collectivism as a boundary condition for effectiveness of minority influence in decision making

Results of this experiment demonstrate that individualists and collectivist s react differently to minority influence, Based on the distinction between objectivity and preference norms in the minority influence literature, we hypothesize that individualism and collectivism influence (A) responses to minority influence (focusing on the target of influence) and (B) effectiven ess of minority influence (focusing on the influence agent). Our results re plicate past research and demonstrate improved decision quality for individ uals exposed to a minority perspective. Moreover, minority influence target s with high horizontal individualism and low horizontal collectivism made h igher quality decisions. Influence targets with high vertical collectivism demonstrated higher quality decisions when the influence agent held a high status position in the group. Results also demonstrate that influence agent s with high vertical individualism experienced less role stress than those with low vertical individualism. Finally, influence agents with low role st ress were more effective in influencing the decision making of others. We d iscuss our findings in terms of boundary conditions to the minority influen ce process. (C) 2000 Academic Press.