Research has shown that people are more defensive to criticism when it stems from an outgroup member, compared to an ingroup member (the intergroup sensitivity effect: ISE). We conducted two online vignette experiments to examine the ISE in the context of an organizational merger and the role of merger motives for the ISE. We predicted that the ISE would also emerge in mergers and acquisitions (M&As), but people would respond less negatively to criticism from the outgroup when the motive for the merger is described as achieving synergies rather than growth. In Experiment 1 (N = 452), which did not mention any motives behind the acquisition, a significant ISE emerged. Experiment 2 (N = 587) again showed an ISE regardless of the merger motive. In both experiments, the ISE was mediated by perceptions of the outgroup criticism as less legitimate and constructive. Overall, this research points to the intergroup sensitivity effect as a relevant phenomenon during post-merger integration.

中文翻译：

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并购中的集团间敏感性效应：测试并购动机的作用

研究表明，与内群体成员相比，当批评来自外群体成员时，人们对批评更具防御性（群体间敏感性效应：ISE）。我们进行了两个在线插图实验，以在组织合并的背景下检查 ISE 以及合并动机对 ISE 的作用。我们预测 ISE 也会出现在并购 (M&A) 中，但是当合并的动机被描述为实现协同效应而不是增长时，人们对外部团体的批评的反应会减少。在实验 1（N  = 452）中，没有提到任何收购背后的动机，一个重要的 ISE 出现了。实验 2 ( N = 587) 再次显示出 ISE，无论合并动机如何。在这两个实验中，ISE 都受到外界批评不那么合法和建设性的看法的影响。总体而言，这项研究指出，集团间敏感性效应是并购后整合过程中的一个相关现象。