Who suffers pluralistic ignorance of conflict avoidance among Japanese? Individual differences in the value of social harmony

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine individual differences in the susceptibility to pluralistic ignorance of avoidance among Japanese by measuring the value of social harmony. Design/methodology/approach – Two studies were conducted to examine the effects of a concern for social harmony on pluralistic ignorance of conflict avoidance among Japanese, hypothesizing 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. 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.