TY - JOUR AB - Purpose– The purpose of this paper was to examine individual differences in the susceptibility to pluralistic ignorance of avoidance among Japanese by measuring the value of social harmony. It was hypothesized that the pluralistic ignorance of avoidance will occur more frequently among those with a low regard for the value of social harmony than those with a high regard. Design/methodology/approach– In two scenario studies, the authors had participants rate both their own avoidance and others’ avoidance in conflict situations. In Study 1, the authors measured the value of social harmony by Yamaguch et al.’s (1995) Collectivism Scale, and they originally constructed a scale to measure the value in Study 2. Findings– Consistent with the hypothesis, pluralistic ignorance occurred only among Japanese participants with a low regard for the value of social harmony and not among those who valued it highly. Originality/value– These findings suggest that those who have a different stance from the cultural value feel a normative pressure by the biased perception of others’ behavior due to pluralistic ignorance, which, as a result, works to preserve the predominant cultural value. VL - 25 IS - 3 SN - 1044-4068 DO - 10.1108/IJCMA-04-2011-0033 UR - https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-04-2011-0033 AU - Saito Takashi AU - Ohbuchi Ken-ichi PY - 2014 Y1 - 2014/01/01 TI - Who suffers pluralistic ignorance of conflict avoidance among Japanese? Individual differences in the value of social harmony T2 - International Journal of Conflict Management PB - Emerald Group Publishing Limited SP - 261 EP - 275 Y2 - 2024/03/28 ER -