Aue, Emma (2025) Leader-Employee Relationship Conflict and Employee Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Leaders’ Conflict Management Strategies. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Workplace relationship conflict between leaders and employees can significantly influence employee behaviors and organizational outcomes. This study investigated the association between leader-employee relationship conflict and two key employee work behaviors: organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). Additionally, it examined whether leaders’ active conflict management strategies, problem-solving, and forcing moderate these relationships. Data was collected from 84 teams of one leader and their subordinate employees. Relationship conflict and leaders’ conflict management strategies were measured at Time 1, while employee OCB and CWB were assessed three months later at Time 2. Results showed that relationship conflict was positively and significantly associated with CWB but not significantly associated with OCB. Notably, the use of a forcing conflict management strategy by leaders strengthened the positive association between relationship conflict and CWB. However, problem-solving did not significantly moderate the negative association between relationship conflict and either of the work behaviors. These findings suggest that while constructive conflict management alone may be insufficient to mitigate the adverse effects of relationship conflict, destructive conflict management strategies of a leader might intensify them. The study highlights the importance of conflict dynamics and leader responses for employee behavior, and it provides practical insights for training leaders in effective conflict management to reduce harmful organizational behaviors.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Fousiani, K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Jul 2025 14:03 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Jul 2025 14:03 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/5580 |
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