General Alignment and Overt Support in Biased Mediation

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Abstract
This experiment examined the influence of mediators' interests and outcome recommendations on disputants' perceptions and behavior. A distinction (following Pruitt, 1983) was made between two types of mediator bias: general alignment and overt support. In the general alignment variable, participants dealt with a mediator who was aligned either: (a) with them - mediator outcomes were positively correlated with their own, or (b) against them - mediator outcomes were negatively correlated with their own. In the overt support variable, participants were confronted with a mediator who made outcome recommendations that were overtly favorable, even handed, or unfavorable. The results indicate that disputants mistrusted favorable recommendations from unfavorably aligned mediators; this “Trojan horse effect” also led to lower ratings of mediator acceptability. The results suggest that favorable mediator alignment may cushion the impact of overt, unfavorable recommendations from that mediator. Broader theoretical and organizational implications are discussed.

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