IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nas/journl/v116y2019p7642-7649.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Conflict across representational gaps: Threats to and opportunities for improved communication

Author

Listed:
  • Matthew A. Cronin

    (School of Business, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA 22030)

  • Laurie R. Weingart

    (Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213)

Abstract

Often, the senders and receivers of scientific communication have different knowledge bases. While such communication is essential for solving the complex social and technological problems that affect multiple stakeholders, a diversity of knowledge among communicators can create representational gaps (rGaps). rGaps occur when senders make assumptions that receivers do not, creating conflict over the meaning and value of the information communicated. Such conflict could, if managed, promote learning and innovation as communicators reconcile their assumptions. More often, however, rGaps cause conflict to transform from a debate that informs to an argument that divides. Managing rGap conflict so that it does not degrade communication requires relationship building to mitigate the negative by-products of persistent conflict while maintaining appropriate levels of cognitive distinctiveness among diverse stakeholders. Thus, we provide a framework for identifying and leveraging rGaps through managed conflict so that communication between those with different perspectives builds rather than burns bridges.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthew A. Cronin & Laurie R. Weingart, 2019. "Conflict across representational gaps: Threats to and opportunities for improved communication," Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 116(16), pages 7642-7649, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:7642-7649
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.pnas.org/content/116/16/7642.full
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Özgecan Koçak & Phanish Puranam, 2022. "Separated by a Common Language: How the Nature of Code Differences Shapes Communication Success and Code Convergence," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(7), pages 5287-5310, July.
    2. Jacopo A. Baggio, 2021. "Knowledge generation via social-knowledge network co-evolution: 30 years (1990–2019) of adaptation, mitigation and transformation related to climate change," Climatic Change, Springer, vol. 167(1), pages 1-16, July.
    3. Brykman, Kyle M. & O'Neill, Thomas A., 2023. "How conflict expressions affect recipients’ conflict management behaviors," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    4. Ruoying Xie & Jinzhang Jiang, 2022. "Creativity: The Effectiveness of Teacher–Student Conflict," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-10, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nas:journl:v:116:y:2019:p:7642-7649. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Eric Cain (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.pnas.org/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.