Motives of side-taking by lay third parties

This study is conducted to get a better understanding of what motivates the side-taking reactions of lay third parties in a conflict. As the studies of Gross, Mason & McEachern (1958) and van de Vliert (1981) show, side-taking is one of the most common reactions of a third party to a conflict The third party of interest in this study is the lay third party. Lay third parties are defined as: ‘those who are confronted with an interpersonal conflict among others; but do not have an intention for how to handle the conflict’. The assumption of this study is that side-taking is motivated by a moral motive, a relationship motive and a self-interest motive. To test this assumption 18 structured interviews were conducted, in which respondents had to report a work conflict in which they were outsiders, and in which they took sides with one of the conflict parties. Results show that the side-taking behaviour of the respondents was motivated by morality, relationships and self-interest, with morality being the most important motive