Interpersonal conflict at work: Age and emotional competence differences in conflict management

Abstract

Previous research has illustrated that older workers have high emotional competence (EC) that could enable them to effectively manage interpersonal conflict. However, it is still unclear whether age, potentially via EC, also influences a variety of conflict management behaviors. To address this question, we present a systematic review of the literature on the direct relationships between age, EC, and conflict management, and on EC as a potential mediator. We classify conflict management behaviors using the dual concern model (e.g., De Dreu, Evers, Beersma, Kluwer, & Nauta, 2001), and identified 15 studies on age-related conflict management, and 14 studies on EC and conflict management. Unfortunately, we found that none of the previous studies examined EC as a mediator between age and conflict behaviors. Overall, our review does reveal a positive age trend for EC, avoiding, compromising, and problem-solving, and a negative age trend for forcing. Additionally, EC seems to be positively related to problem-solving, compromising, and yielding. We discuss potential moderators and the role of EC as a potential mediator.