Rieck, Nicolas (2026) Leader Age and Constructive and Destructive Avoidance in Leader-Employee Conflict: The Mediating Role of Leader Emotion Management. Master thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Leader-employee conflicts are structural features of organizational coordination. Consequently, the way leaders manage these conflicts is a critical element of effective leadership. While active conflict management strategies of leaders are well-studied, avoidance is often treated as a uniform option, obscuring the distinction between constructive cooling-off and destructive withdrawal. This study investigated the role of leader age in these distinct avoidance conflict management strategies, examining Emotion-Management Ability (EMA) as a mediator based on Socio-emotional Selectivity Theory. It was hypothesized that older leaders, possessing higher EMA, would engage more in constructive avoidance and less in destructive avoidance. A two-wave vignette study (N = 316) with leaders from UK measured age and EMA at Time 1, and avoidance responses of leaders to conflict with employees seven days later. Results indicated a significant negative association between EMA and destructive avoidance of leaders. Furthermore, higher leader age was indirectly associated with lower destructive avoidance through EMA. However, contrary to expectations, no significant associations were found for constructive avoidance. These findings suggest that while EMA effectively buffers against destructive avoidance, it does not automatically translate into constructive avoidance. The study highlights the need for a differentiated view of conflict avoidance and underscores the role of emotional competencies in leadership. Keywords: leader-employee conflict, constructive avoidance, destructive avoidance, leader age, emotion management ability
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Supervisor name: | Fousiani, K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | Work, Organizational and Personnel Psychology (WOP) [Master Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jan 2026 07:22 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jan 2026 07:22 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/6082 |
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