Abstract
Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) stresses that future time perspective (FTP) affects one’s goals and behaviors. In the work context, older workers’ occupational future time perspective (OFTP) also impacts their work-related behaviors. Two studies investigate whether the two components of OFTP, namely, focus on opportunities and on limitations, could account for the age differences in the use of conflict strategies at work. Study 1 comprises 416 Hong Kong Chinese workers aged between 20 and 68 years who completed an online questionnaire measuring their OFTP and habitual use of five conflict management strategies (integrating, compromising, obliging, avoiding, and dominating). In Study 2, 268 managerial employees and professionals were asked to recall a real-life workplace conflict that happened in the past six months and their use of the five conflict strategies in this incident. The results of Study 1 showed a negative indirect effect of age on all five conflict strategies through focus on opportunities, whereas a positive indirect effect of age was observed on obliging, avoiding and dominating strategies through focus on limitations. These age-related patterns are largely replicated in Study 2. These findings suggest that aging workers’ increased perception of limitations make them utilize less constructive strategies when facing conflict at work.
Highlights
Interpersonal conflict is characterized by the situation in which disagreement between two or more interdependent parties is encountered, resulting in an experience of negative emotions (Barki and Hartwick, 2004)
Gender was not correlated with the two occupational future time perspective (OFTP) dimensions or the five conflict strategies, it was excluded from the following analyses
Focus on opportunities and focus on limitations were inputted to the model simultaneously as parallel mediators, and education and occupation were controlled as covariates as they were significantly correlated with the two dimensions of OFTP or conflict strategies
Summary
Interpersonal conflict is characterized by the situation in which disagreement between two or more interdependent parties is encountered, resulting in an experience of negative emotions (Barki and Hartwick, 2004). The ways to handle conflicts considerably affect the relationship with co-workers (Dijkstra et al, 2009) and work-related outcomes (Lazarus, 2014). Examining how different individual factors predict working adults’ conflict management is crucial. Research from lifespan development reveals that younger and older adults exhibit different preferences for handling interpersonal conflicts (Blanchard-Fields et al, 2004; Fingerman et al, 2008; Davis et al, 2009; Yeung et al, 2015). Given the steady population growth of older workers in Hong Kong’s labor force and other developed countries, the topic regarding the age differences in conflict management at work deserves additional attention. Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen et al, 1999; Carstensen, 2006) postulates that one’s goal orientation and behaviors change with age due to the increasingly limited perception
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