Mitigating the risk that peer-initiated task conflict escalates into diminished helping: roles of passion for work and collectivistic orientation

Abstract

This study unravels the link between employees’ exposure to peer-initiated task conflict—defined as the extent to which they perceive that coworkers systematically contest and attack their opinions—and their engagement in helping behavior. Beliefs about interpersonal conflict might mediate this link, and two personal resources, passion for work and collectivistic orientation, arguably have moderating roles. To test these predictions, this study relies on survey data from employees who work in the banking sector, which confirm that peer-initiated task conflict diminishes helping behavior, because the focal employees come to believe coworkers are responsible for their emotion-based quarrels. Employees’ passion for work and collectivistic orientation buffer this harmful dynamic. Organizations thus should recognize that exposure to overcritical colleagues can undermine voluntary work behaviors, as well as consider how they might help reduce the force of this negative dynamic by enabling employees to find ways to draw from their supportive personal resources.

Keywords:

• Collectivistic orientation
• conservation of resources theory
• helping behavior
• interpersonal conflict
• passion for work
• task conflict

Notes

1 One item (“To me, pleasure is spending time with my peers”) was removed because of its low reliability.

2 The survey explained that the staff category pertained to employees who had no supervisory responsibilities, the supervisor category referred to employees who held some supervisory responsibilities, and the management category pertained to employees with significant supervisory responsibilities.

3 The survey indicated that the front-office category pertained to employees who interacted with customers directly; the back-office category instead described employees who did not have such interactions.

4 In line with the proposed theoretical framework, we estimated two models that included moderating effects of passion for work and collectivistic orientation on the relationship between peer-initiated task conflict and beliefs about interpersonal conflict, respectively, but not between beliefs about interpersonal conflict and helping behavior. A robustness check affirmed that the two personal resources did not affect the second path.

5 The detailed results of this analysis are available on request.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Dirk De Clercq

Dirk De Clercq is Professor of Management in the Goodman School of Business at Brock University, Canada. His research interests include entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, and cross-country studies.

Renato Pereira

Renato Pereira is Professor of General Management in ISCTE Business School at Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Portugal. He is also a Researcher in the Emerging Markets Research Center at ISCIM, Mozambique. His research interests include entrepreneurship, innovation, and international business, with a particular focus on Africa.