How to Support Employees With low Campaign for own Interests When Solving Conflicts? Interactional Justice as Buffer

Abstract

Numerous studies have attempted to explain the destructive results of interpersonal conflicts in the context of work for health-related variables. If poorly managed, conflicts can have negative effects on employees' well-being, such as burnout and psychosomatic complaints, particularly in the case of relationship conflicts (De Dreu & Weingart, 2003a). According to Dual Concern Model, an individual's style in handling conflicts can be categorized along two basic dimensions: the first pertains to the concern for self, while the second the concern of others. Using 402 public employees in Malaysia we explored the relationship of conflict styles with stress and job satisfaction. Results indicated obliging, a conflict style that have low concern for self while high for others influence stress. Employees that are unquestioningly oblige to others’ requests adversely impact their stress by creating a sense of frustration. Interestingly, dominators, who have the opposite concern of self and others than the obligers, also experience high level of stress. This is because that those who focus on their own concerns will act in a way that ensures that conflicts are resolved by presenting their interests and making sure that their needs are addressed. Contrarily, integrating that is associated with effective decision making, is positively related to job satisfaction. Furthermore, based on Social Exchange Theory interactional justice might be able to buffer the negative effects of conflict management styles. As expected, interactional justice moderates the relationship between avoiding and job satisfaction. As avoiders fail to satisfy their conflict goals by evading the conflict issues, supervisors’ assistance in exhibiting high interactional justice, can buffer their job satisfaction for those who hesitate to campaign for themselves. Ultimately, these employees will perform productively and make greater contribution to the organization.