Mystery of Leader-Follower Conflict Management Style: Whether Collaborative CMS Always Leads to Good

Abstract

Recent theoretical work has developed theories regarding the relationship between conflict management styles (CMS) and employee emotional responses. This study extends the literature by exploring the psychological costs linked with enacting a certain CMS, especially collaborative CMS, since it is regarded as the most effective strategy when handling conflict. Rather than being examined in isolation, collaborative CMS of supervisors need to be considered as a boundary condition, exploring the distinct CMS-anxiety relation. Based on 571 employees in 84 work teams, we found support that when supervisor collaborative CMS is low, there is a curvilinear (U-shaped) relationship between employee collaborative CMS and job-related anxiety. We contend that job-related anxiety will reach the lowest level when members with a moderate level of collaborative CMS. However, when supervisor collaborative CMS is high, collaborative CMS is negatively correlated to job-related anxiety. Further, drawing upon conservation of resource theory, we hypothesize and test that job-related anxiety plays a role of mediator between employee collaborative CMS and subsequent deviant behavior (i.e., surface acting and work withdrawal). Our findings have crucial theoretical and practical implications for dispositional factors that shape individual emotions and facilitate negative outcomes in teams.