Interorganizational Conflict Research Articles

How to Achieve Better Cooperation and Performance in Construction Projects: A Perspective of Interorganizational Conflict Profiles

How to Achieve Better Cooperation and Performance in Construction Projects: A Perspective of Interorganizational Conflict Profiles

How to Foster Project Citizenship Behavior in Construction Industry: Organizational Culture Matters

Seller's project citizenship behavior has recently received much attention due to its role in promoting project success and improving the performance of both the overall project and of each stakeholder. However, previous studies have paid insufficient attention to how organizational culture affects a seller's project citizenship behavior, especially in the context of interorganizational conflicts. Therefore, this study explores the influence mechanism of three dimensions of seller's organizational culture with spillover effects (social responsibility, customer orientation, and innovation) on employees’ project citizenship behavior, and investigates the moderating role of interorganizational conflict (task conflict, relationship conflict, and conflict profiles) in the relationship between organizational culture and project citizenship behavior. Based on 248 surveys gathered from the Chinese construction industry, the empirical results show that the social responsibility and customer orientation of a seller's organizational culture have a significant positive impact on the project citizenship behavior of its employees. Meanwhile, interorganizational task conflict negatively moderates the relationship between customer orientation and project citizenship behavior, while relationship conflict positively moderates it. Moreover, the conflict state profile with low task conflict and high relationship conflict is most conducive to enhancing the positive impact of customer orientation on project citizenship behavior. This article reveals the impact of the spillover effect of a seller's organizational culture on its employees’ project citizenship behavior, contributes to organizational culture theory in terms of its spillover effect and the impact on promoting the development of project citizenship behavior, and provides practical guidance for construction practitioners.

The effect of NPD complexity on NPD performance via inter-organizational collaboration and conflict

PurposeThis study develops a conceptualization of NPD (new product development) complexity and explores how inter-organizational collaboration and conflict influence NPD performance.Design/methodology/approachAn empirical examination tests the proposed relationships in the context of Korean manufacturing firms, which currently engage in NPD projects with their key partners. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine the hypotheses.FindingsThe findings suggest that a higher level of NPD complexity simultaneously calls for inter-organizational collaboration and conflict, and these two factors influence NPD performance in a conflicting manner: inter-organizational collaboration serves as a driver, and inter-organizational conflict acts as a barrier against NPD performance.Originality/valueThis study provides answers to the academic and practical calls by providing how NPD complexity should be managed in a way to increase NPD performance. This study provides insight into how manufacturing firms form inter-organizational collaboration practices and why they need to mitigate inter-organizational conflict.

보건·복지 공무원의 역량 강화를 위한 교육적 요구도 분석

The purpose of this study is to analyze the educational needs of health and welfare officialswho have changed after COVID-19 to strengthen their competencies and improve their practicalwork skills. To fulfill the purpose of the study, 30 educational needs were identified throughthe analysis of previous studies and FGIs with 12 health and welfare officials organized byposition. Based on these, a questionnaire was created and sent to health and welfare officialsthrough an online platform to receive responses, with a total of 240 participants. The collecteddata was analyzed using the Borich Needs Formula and The Locus for Focus Model, and theeight areas with overlapping factors among the priorities derived from both methods werepresented as the top priorities. The top priority educational needs identified were digitalcompetencies, communication skills tailored to subject characteristics,, understanding andpracticing health and welfare services, disaster and crisis command and management in localcommunities, integrated practices in health and welfare services, counseling techniques foraddressing grievances, understanding and mediating inter-organizational conflict, andself-leadership. These results can be used as a basis for establishing an educational system todevelop the capacity of health and welfare officials and improve their professionalism.

Inter-organizational conflict in the participatory web

Abstract Social, professional and political imaginaries are increasingly produced, contested and negotiated in and across online platforms. Adopting a socio-narrative perspective, this paper explores the ways in which collectivities of interpreters use communication technologies in the construction of, and competition over, their organizational identity, practice and space. It focuses on Babels, which organized activist interpreting in social forums, and AIIC, the international association of conference interpreters, and their use of babels.org and aiic.net. It analyzes the narrative ‘position’ of these collectivities through the prism of their Web 2.0 homepage design, and individual members’ enactment of, or departure from, these positions (narrative ‘locations’) in the context of an inter-website and interorganizational conflict. The study shows that the participatory web mediates and shapes how collectivities publicly project, enact and contest competing imaginaries of the profession, of the interpreting community, and of society at large.

The influence of conflict event strength on interorganizational cooperation: Moderating roles of contractual complexity and trust

Interorganizational conflicts are unavoidable in business management. Existing studies generally focus on the impact of conflict intensity and/or frequency. This strand simplifies conflict conceptualization and overlooks the rich meaning of conflict strength. Based on event system theory, this study takes an event-oriented perspective and explores the effects of conflict event strength (including novelty, criticality, and disruption) on interorganizational cooperation as well as the moderating impacts of contractual complexity and trust. Contractual complexity is classified into control and coordination, and trust into goodwill and competence trust. The results of the questionnaire survey reveal that the novelty of conflict events is negatively related to cooperation, while criticality and disruption exert a positive influence. Contractual control, goodwill trust, and competence trust weaken the positive impact of criticality/disruption on cooperation. This research enriches not only conflict research in business management but also event system theory, which is a meta-theory.

Assessment of interorganisational conflict in building refurbishment projects using EFA and PLS-SEM

Abstract It is generally known that building refurbishment (BR) projects are more likely to face uncertainties than new building projects. Therefore, uncertainty is an element that may cause interorganisational conflict (IOC). This paper presents a study with three objectives: to evaluate the uncertainty levels, assess the IOC that may arise due to the uncertain nature of BR projects and examine the interrelated dependence relationship between uncertainty and IOC variables. A total of 188 refurbishment projects formed the database for this study. The study applied Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) based on Partial Least Squares (PLS) in the data analysis process. The findings show that uncertainty and IOC BR projects are moderate. Additionally, the uncertainty variable has a positive relationship with the IOC variable; in other words, the higher the uncertainty, the higher is the level of IOC. However, the three factors that emerged as being predictably more uncertain are inadequate space for storage of material and working, difficulty in access to the site and unclear scope of the work.

A bibliometric review of research on interorganizational conflicts in the construction industry: 1989-2021

PurposeThe issue of conflict has been around for a long time. With the development of economic development and the diversification of industries, conflicts have shown a trend of complex development. By reviewing interorganizational conflict in construction, this study aims to identify the formation, development and evolution of conflict and to assist organizational managers in using scientific conflict management tools to deal with and resolve conflict.Design/methodology/approachThis paper considers the following questions: “What is the overall research status of the interorganizational conflict in construction projects?” and “What are the trendy issues in interorganizational conflicts in construction projects?” This study uses R software's Biblioshiny program to describe the overall conflict between organizations to answer question 1. This study uses Netminer – a social network analysis (SNA) software and text mining to explore research trends and answer question 2.FindingsInterorganizational conflict has been one of the most important topics in recent years when it comes to conflict issues. This paper intends to examine interorganizational conflict in construction in an attempt to shed light on four main topics regarding the conflict: the application of conflict theory; factors that induce conflict; the effect of conflict on performance; and methods of conflict management.Research limitations/implicationsThrough a comprehensive analysis of interorganizational conflict, this study helps to increase the understanding of scholars in the field of conflict research. This study suggests future research directions and provides references for managers to improve their conflict management, decision-making and performance.Originality/valueThis study combines bibliometrics, SNA and text mining research methods. Multidimensional and multiperspectival assessments are performed based on the status of the research, its evolution and trends. The results of this study can be used to guide the resolution of conflict in other industries. This study also enriches the scientific theory related to the interorganizational conflict.

Direct and interaction effects of formal and informal institutions on interorganizational conflicts: evidence from Chinese firms

PurposeThis study aims to examine the effects of formal and informal institutional factors (i.e. marketization and guanxi culture) on interorganizational conflicts (IOCs) and their interaction effects.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on IOC literature and an institution-based view, the authors use a sample of 12,022 Chinese firms from the World Bank’s Investment Climate Survey. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to analyze the data.FindingsThe results suggest that guanxi culture has U-shaped effects, but marketization does not negatively affect IOCs. Furthermore, a low level of marketization weakens the U-shaped effect of guanxi culture on IOCs. A moderate level of guanxi culture can enable marketization to reduce IOCs.Practical implicationsThis study provides a better understanding of the management of IOCs. Managers should fully understand the differential effects of the institutional environment in different regions and their interactions by adopting different response strategies.Originality/valueThis study enriches the literature on IOCs’ antecedents and contextual factors by examining the institutions’ direct and interaction effects on IOCs.

How does network position influence project performance in Chinese megaprojects? An inter-organizational conflict-based perspective

PurposeThis study aims to explore the relationship between network position, various types of inter-organizational conflicts and project performance in the context of megaprojects.Design/methodology/approachCentrality and structural holes were used to represent network position. A theoretical model was developed, and a structured questionnaire survey was conducted with construction professionals involved in megaprojects. A total of 291 valid responses were obtained, which were analyzed via structural equation modeling.FindingsThe results showed that centrality negatively impacts project performance, while structural holes do not significantly impact project performance. Centrality negatively affects task conflicts, but positively affects process conflicts and relationship conflicts. Structural holes positively impact task conflicts, but negatively impact both process conflicts and relationship conflicts. Task conflict and relationship conflict exert constructive and destructive effects on project performance, respectively, while process conflict does not significantly impact project performance. Task conflict and relationship conflict play mediating roles. Task conflict weakens while relationship conflict strengthens the relationship between centrality and project performance. Task conflict strengthens while relationship conflict weakens the relationship between structure hole and project performance.Research limitations/implicationsThis study provides a reference for the implementation of network governance, inter-organizational conflict management and project performance management in megaprojects. However, the impact of dynamic changes of inter-organizational conflicts and network position on project performance has not been discussed in the context of megaprojects. Future research may explore the impact of dynamic changes of conflicts and network position on project implementation.Originality/valueThis study increases the current understanding of the impact of network position on project performance. Moreover, a new direction for network governance in the context of megaprojects is provided. This study also verified both the constructive and destructive effects of conflicts and the mediating role they play, thus supplementing the literature on inter-organizational conflict management in the construction field.

Analisis wacana kritis Van Dijk pada pemberitaan media online Lampung “Manajemen konflik kasus kekerasan di UIN Raden Intan Lampung”

This study aims to describe the description of conflict management in cases of sexual violence at UIN Raden Intan Lampung by looking at how organizational leaders identify conflicts, factors that cause conflict, choose strategies in handling conflicts and the impact of conflicts in sexual violence cases. This research is qualitative research with data collection using the documentation of several local online media in Lampung. The results showed that organizational leaders identified sexual harassment conflicts as individual problems that developed into inter-organizational conflicts. The partisanship of the leadership of UIN Raden Intan Lampung on one of the conflicting parties triggered the latent conflict to be brought to the surface and led to an increase in the involvement of others. Cases of sexual harassment are related to situations of social injustice caused by gender differences. The conflict management approach is carried out with a strategy of calming (smoothing), accommodating, avoiding through top management communicators. Organizational rehabilitation efforts by establishing standard operating procedures for student services. Rehabilitation as social and mental reconciliation of female students who are victims has not been a concern in its management.

Mitigating interorganizational conflicts in humanitarian logistics collaboration: the roles of contractual agreements, trust and post-disaster environmental uncertainty phases

PurposeGovernance is the key to establishing effective collaboration among humanitarian logistics partners addressing an ongoing relief work. With a focus on humanitarian interorganizational collaboration, this research draws on governance theories to investigate how conflicts can be mitigated in this challenging setting.Design/methodology/approachThe focus on governance extends attention to the frontiers of contractual agreement, trust and environmental uncertainty to be applied in the humanitarian setting. To develop perspectives, an online survey of 289 field executives working in humanitarian organizations across the globe is conducted. The findings are based on hierarchical regressions.FindingsEnvironmental uncertainty, in humanitarian logistics, is not straightforward, but wields distinctive challenges in the response phase (immediate to the disaster) as well as the recovery phase (beginning of build back) – to loom prospects of conflict between partners. Findings outline that contractual agreement can increase conflict during the response phase (high environmental uncertainty), but mitigate it during the recovery phase (low environmental uncertainty). Furthermore, contractual agreement interactively strengthens the ability of trust to reduce conflict. Yet, trust acting alone shows best outcome to mitigate conflict.Research limitations/implicationsContrary to the established understanding in traditional logistics suggesting the vitality of contracts to easily mitigate challenges posed by environmental uncertainty, the humanitarian setting extends a unique outset for interorganizational governance based on the temporality of response and recovery phases.Originality/valueThis research pioneers to quantitatively examine the setting of humanitarian logistics based on survey. Given the difficulty of data acquisition, the extant research has largely relied on qualitative investigations when considering the agenda of governance.

Conflicts, trust toward the acquirer from emerging economies and post-acquisition cooperation intention

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of inter-group conflicts on the trust toward the acquirer and then further on cooperation intention after acquisitions in cross-border mergers and acquisitions (M&As), in the lens of the social classification theory. Two types of conflicts (realistic conflicts and symbolic conflicts) and a mediating mechanism (trust toward the acquirer) exhibit different effects on cooperation intention. The research further examines two moderating coping strategies (localizing management and assigning trustworthy expatriate managers) and tests their effectiveness in promoting trust toward the acquirer and increasing cooperation intention in cross-border M&As.Design/methodology/approachThe research hypotheses were empirically tested in the context of post-acquisition of Chinese companies' cross-border M&As. In total, 600 questionnaires were provided to the research participants of 37 acquired firms/units from advanced economies of 12 Chinese companies, and 209 valid questionnaires were collected (the response rate is 34.83%). Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to verify data validity and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were employed to test relational and moderating effects.FindingsThis research demonstrates that both realistic and symbolic conflicts can reduce the intention to cooperate, but the latter does not have a significant influence. The results also uncover that whether employees from acquired firms trust in their acquirers mediates the relationship between realistic conflicts and cooperation intention. Moreover, management localization (a measurement of whether local/original managers are retained with a high degree of freedom and autonomy after M&As) and trustworthiness of expatriate managers (a measurement of whether the assigned expatriate managers is trustworthy) positively moderate the relation between realistic conflicts and trust toward the acquirer. In addition, trust toward the acquirer mediates the interaction of realistic conflicts and management localization on the cooperation intention of the acquirers' employees.Originality/valueThis study examines how inter-organizational conflicts influence trust toward the acquirer and then cooperation intentions in the context of Chinese companies' M&A behavior of targets from developed countries and gain supportive evidence, which enriches the literature on the management of international M&As. By introducing two management localization and trustworthiness of expatriate managers into the model, the research deepens our knowledge of how to build trust toward the acquirer in cross-border M&As.

Hazardous Connections: Conflictual Ties, Common Intermediary, and Tie Dissolution

Although the positive role of a common third-party organization in the formation and the maintenance of relationships between two organizations is well documented, recent studies reveal that connections to a common third-party organization may sometimes be perceived as liabilities. In this paper, I explore interorganizational conflict between two organizations as a key driver that propels them to negatively evaluate their existing connections to the common third-party organization. Conceptualizing interorganizational ties as informational conduits, I argue that connections to a common third-party organization may serve as indirect channels of leaking private and sensitive information to the opponent organization in on-going conflict. I hypothesize that organizations will subsequently engage in a defensive strategy to sever their connections to a common third-party organization when it is also connected to the opponents in conflict. I test my idea in the empirical context of corporate litigation events among U.S. public firms and the subsequent termination of their relationships with intermediary firms in the market for political influence (i.e., lobbying firms) between 1998 and 2018.

Inter-Organizational Conflict (IOC) in Building Refurbishment Projects; an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) approach

Over the past years, there has been an expanding intrigued in building refurbishment projects because of the alter in financial conditions and the accentuation on sustainable development. Increasing demand for building refurbishment projects will lead to an increase in organizational interactions in the construction works as building refurbishment works involve interactions among many different organizations and it can cause Inter-Organizational conflict (IOC) among organizations involved in projects. This paper adopted an Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) approach to analyses IOC in building refurbishment projects. For this study, a five-point Likert Scale was adopted to ensure the instruments of the study are reliable. The researcher ultimately sent questionnaires as a web-link and email invitation to 1050 construction firms and 733 architectural firms. The questionnaire sent to managers and professionals from construction and architectural firms in Malaysia. Finally, one-hundred-seventy-nine (179) refurbishment projects formed a database for this paper. The finding of this paper shows the IOC factors that contribute to the improve the performance of building refurbishment project can be conflict during the construction stage, conflict between the client and the consultant, task expectations, basic responsibilities, final duration, project’s goals, conflict between the client and the contractor, final cost, final quality, standards of behaviors, conflict between the contractor and the consultant, interference and conflict during the design stage.

Application of Ashby’s Law of Requisite Variety to Interorganizational Conflicts in Nonprofit Organizations

This study examines conflict that can co-determine the effectiveness of nonprofit organization performance. Based on Ashby’s law of requisite variety, interorganizational conflict is defined in terms of a lack of fit between input variety and variety-handling capabilities. The calculated organizational interaction effectiveness (IE) ratio of 2.04 is used to determine the quality of interactions. “Flexibility” is the dominant category for helpful incidents (49.03%). Within non-helpful incidents (45.67%), however, “Unreliability” is the dominant category. This major source of conflict commonly produces an imbalance between flexibility and reliability as manifest by a mismatch between input variety and variety-handling capabilities.

Analysis of recognition of inter-organizational conflict and actions to address it using dependency expressions

The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors that influence the behavior of addressing conflicts between companies, and focus on comprehending the characteristics of recognizing and addressing conflicts from the perspectives of both the vendor and vendee. For the analysis, a text mining method was used, concentrating on dependency expressions for speech data generated through interviews conducted with a total of 24 people from the vendor and the vendee. The analysis demonstrated that factors such as the interaction with related parties inside and outside the organization, the project being managed, and the importance of the project have an impact on conflict handling.

Inter-organisational conflict resolution strategies at academic level

In any educational institution, conflict is practically inevitable, which is why managers must be prepared at all times to react as early as possible, effectively reducing and resolving the school conflict having many benefits. Thus, the future teachers need to have, in their panoply of professional competences, those skills aiming at managing conflicts in an educational environment so as to build an optimal climate for educational activities. In order to resolve various conflict situations, it is necessary to choose the best resolution strategy, from several strategies dedicated to resolving organizational conflicts. The purpose of this study is to investigate conflict situations in schools, the causes of conflicts perceived by respondents, as well as optimal strategies for resolving these conflicts.

Reluctant innovators? Inter-organizational conflict and the U.S.A.’s route to becoming a drone power

ABSTRACT Few innovations have marked the late-20th and early-21st centuries more than unmanned aerial vehicles, also known as drones. Drones’ current preeminence leads many to assume that their development was teleologically determined by technological advances. The empirical record, however, belies such assumptions and is filled with vicissitudes. The Air Force’s and Naval aviation’s pilot-dominated hierarchies never prioritized drones over manned aircraft of their own accord. Politicians, meanwhile, lacked the expertise to judge what technologies could achieve and therefore could not compel the military to embrace drones. It was, thus, competition from other organizations – the CIA, the Navy’s surface warfare community and the Army –that obliged reluctant aviators to embrace drones. My study’s key original finding is that inter-agency competition impels militaries to embrace technologies that they would otherwise reject. Warfare’s evolution means that non-military bodies – intelligence agencies, interior ministries and paramilitary forces – develop capabilities that rival those of traditional military services in specific domains and these organizations can prove more agile at adopting certain new technologies because of their flatter organizational structures.

Handling inter-organisational conflict based on bargaining power

PurposeThis paper aims to reveal the effects of an organisation’s bargaining power on its negotiating behaviours (including integrating, obliging, compromising, dominating and avoiding) in the context of inter-organisational conflict in construction projects and investigate how organisational power distance orientation moderates the relationship between the organisation’s bargaining power and its negotiating behaviours.Design/methodology/approachThe authors conducted a questionnaire survey among practitioners in the Chinese construction industry with the final sample consisting of 219 responses. A structural equation model was used to analyse the data and test the hypotheses.FindingsThe results reveal that an organisation’s bargaining power is positively associated with dominating and integrating behaviours but negatively associated with obliging and avoiding behaviours. Additionally, bargaining power is found to be negatively associated with compromising behaviour when the organisation has a high power distance orientation. Finally, a higher degree of power distance orientation strengthens the positive effect bargaining power has on dominating behaviour.Practical implicationsThe findings can help practitioners to predict the negotiating behaviours of a counterpart according to its bargaining power and the power distance in its organisational culture. This can then enable practitioners to adjust their strategies accordingly and steer the negotiations towards a win–win outcome.Originality/valueThis study applies the approach-inhibition theory of power to inter-organisational negotiations and empirically tests the relationship between an organisation’s bargaining power and its negotiating behaviours in the context of construction projects. Additionally, this study reveals that organisational power distance orientation moderates this relationship.