Modeling conflicts at work: The case of elementary school employees in Croatia

Kostelić, Katarina; Paulišić, Morena; Gonan Božac, Marli Article Modeling conflicts at work: The case of elementary school employees in Croatia Administrative Sciences Provided in Cooperation with: MDPI – Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, Basel Suggested Citation: Kostelić, Katarina; Paulišić, Morena; Gonan Božac, Marli (2023) : Modeling conflicts at work: The case of elementary school employees in Croatia, Administrative Sciences, ISSN 2076-3387, MDPI, Basel, Vol. 13, Iss. 1, pp. 1-31, https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13010020 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/275486 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your personal and scholarly purposes. You are not to copy documents for public or commercial purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. If the documents have been made available under an Open Content Licence (especially Creative Commons Licences), you may exercise further usage rights as specified in the indicated licence. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Citation: Kosteli´c, Katarina, Morena Pauliši´c, and Marli Gonan Božac. 2023. Modeling Conflicts at Work: The Case of Elementary School Employees in Croatia. Administrative Sciences 13: 20. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/admsci13010020 Received: 16 November 2022 Revised: 5 January 2023 Accepted: 7 January 2023 Published: 10 January 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). administrative sciences Article Modeling Conflicts at Work: The Case of Elementary School Employees in Croatia Katarina Kosteli´c * , Morena Pauliši´c and Marli Gonan Božac * Faculty of Economics and Tourism, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula, 52100 Pula, Croatia *Correspondence: [email protected] (K.K.); [email protected] (M.G.B.) Abstract: This paper aims to explore conflict as a process that includes antecedents, management strategy, and outcomes while examining the role of affective states in an elementary school working environment. After a theoretical overview and systematization of the conflict elements, a questionnaire was developed that satisfies internal reliability and construct validity. Conflicts at the workplace were modeled with Bayesian SEM, and the results point out the prominent role of affective states in conflicts. Findings confirmed that (1) affective states affect the conflict management strategy choice; (2) different conflict management strategies lead to different conflict consequences; and (3) different affective states lead to differently perceived conflict consequences/outcomes. In addition, we conclude that conflicts with dominantly positive and negative affective states behave structurally differently. The revealed role of affective states facilitates future intervention possibilities in education about conflict management strategies and control of emotions and affective states. Raising awareness about affective states’ role in the conflict might increase mutual un-understanding and contribute to a healthy school social environment as a safe space for learning, sharing ideas, and joint actions toward a common goal. Keywords: conflict process; causes of conflict; conflict management strategies; consequences of conflict; affective states; reliability; validity; bayesian SEM 1. Introduction Changes in the macro-environment, such as globalization, migration, integration processes, development of ICT, corruption scandals, pandemics, and others, affect all stakeholders’ mental and emotional states, including employees. Many organizations are nowadays committed to developing and maintaining harmony in the workplace, looking for ways to have a satisfied employee in the future that is identified with the organization and its goals. This pushing forward topic affects all managerial functions, from organizational design to leadership styles, but conflict, seemingly contradictorily, is also considered a permanent reality of change that can lead to organizational effectiveness and is a sign of organizational health (Mukhtar et al. 2020). In education management, conflicts may have many origins and arise from relationships with teachers, pupils, parents, and external agencies (Heaney 2001). Inequality, additional workloads, and pressures, along with the ongoing transformation, may induce additional strains, especially if the change is not understood as an improvement of the existing process (Du Plessis 2019). Performance management goes a long way in preventing the build-up of conflict (CIPD 2020). Before organizations can harness the power of theoretical knowledge, they must build an institutional capability of understanding how conflicts and related emotional economy work in their organization and in the wider marketplace. The importance of estimating conflicts in an organization is shown by the development of calculators for the data measure of the financial cost of conflict (Lazan 2015), which include four quantifiable Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci13010020 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/admsci Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 2 of 31 symptoms of conflict such as wasted time, reduced ROI on labor costs, poor decisions resulting from power struggles, and employee attrition. However, the main goal of educational institutions is determined beyond the economic scope; it relates to accumulating knowledge and creating educated and skilled individuals that may contribute to society and the economy (Mileti´c 2020). Therefore, their goal must not be subdued to mere financial indicators or employees’ productivity. In addition, the education sector does not adhere to simple market laws of supply and demand and, as a public service, it creates externalities that influence individuals, such as enriching their lives, and increasing their autonomy, creativity, etc. (Mileti´c 2020). In Croatia, elementary education is a constitutional right of each individual. However, educational institutions are continually facing challenges: decreasing birthrates and emigration, which lead to fewer pupils and an increase in job insecurity; increasing costs, increasing competition and requirements for maintaining an image; increasing requirements for the creation of a stimulating school environment, etc. (Mileti´c 2020); and school reforms (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016,2018). Given the educational institutions’ purpose combined with challenges and requirements, school principals must manage a variety of conflicting demands. The requirement for the professionalization of school principals was recognized only recently but remains to be conceptualized and applied within the reform of school management (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016,2018). A variety of skills is required for school principals, including employee motivation, resource allocation, and their use, increasing inclusion of the student’s parents, and building relationships with their users (pupils) and local and regional communities (Mileti´c 2020). Conflict management is recognized as a necessary skill for managers, and it is equally, if not more, important for school principals. While managers and school principals are often required to manage conflict (De Dreu and Van Vianen 2001) and create a positive culture and change (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016), the conflict may arise at different levels (Gopinath 2011), involving students, teachers, principals, parents, and the community. Those conflicts may affect the organizational culture and the school’s social environment—the same one that envelops the students during their studies—and should transfer the values of trust, democracy, and authenticity (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016). According to the same authors (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016), the educational process involves immersing students in all social processes within the school environment, which requires a transformation of the students’, teachers’, and principals’ roles. The quality of relationships at school has implications for a range of student outcomes, including engagement, retention, and performance (Smyth et al. 2007). Examination of the conflicts within this framework is important, not only because it influences the organization’s climate or may affect performance, but also because their effects can overflow into the pupils’ environment and affect the learning and socialization processes. Research on conflicts often emphasizes one conflict type, its source, or a specific situation. There is an abundance of research investigating work-life conflict and its negative relationship with employees’ health, job performance, and job satisfaction, and a negative effect on employees’ absenteeism (Vignoli et al. 2016;Atteh et al. 2020;Ademola et al. 2021; Mariˇc et al. 2021). Role conflict is also well-investigated (Xu 2019;Wu et al. 2019;Lu and Guo 2019), often with role ambiguity as a cause and stress and burnout as a consequence (Pervez et al. 2022;Iannucci and Richards 2022). Cronin and Bezrukova’s (2019) proposal addresses the importance of interpersonal conflicts, which can arise from an interpersonal relationship or a task and affects work engagement and work performance (Costa et al. 2015;Maltarich et al. 2018;Yuan et al. 2019). Maltarich et al. (2018) introduced a link between relationship and task conflicts to the choice of a cooperative or competitive approach to solving a conflict, which results in different levels of performance. It can also be noticed that previous research rarely connects conflict sources with strategy choices. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 3 of 31 There is also an interest in how conflict management strategies can enhance organizational and employee performance (Castillo 2019;Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021;Ampomah et al. 2022;Shitambasi et al. 2022). The conflict in the school environment also encompasses classroom management (Tsan et al. 2021;Zarar et al. 2021) and mediation in students’ conflicts. Another approach is examining the role of leadership styles and associated conflict management strategies, which can prevent conflict escalation into workplace bullying (Cemalo˘glu 2011). This is relevant because a study in Croatia (Bili´c 2016) revealed that 74% of teachers (N = 175) suffer violent behavior, mostly verbal violence and raised voices, from their pupils, pupils’ parents, or other colleagues, leaving them sad and disappointed. Newer research (Bili´c 2021) revealed that 84% of the school principals in Croatia also endure different forms of inappropriate, uncivilized, or violent behavior from colleagues, superiors, students’ parents, and students. While teaching in itself comprises emotional labor, the emotions, feelings, and affective states may also promote teachers’ agency (Benesch 2018). Moreover, emotions play an important role in the decision-making process by enhancing people’s perception of a situation and strategy choices (Neumann 2017;Gonan Božac and Kosteli´c 2021). It stands to reason that emotions play an equally important role in the conflict processes. Their importance in the conflict has been recognized (Boateng and Agyei 2013, p. 256) and defined at different levels: within-person, individual, dyadic, group, and organizational (Gopinath 2011). However, the inclusion of emotions and affective states in the empirical investigation of conflicts is still scarce. While the interest in conflicts in organizational, and specifically school, environments does not cease, conflict as a process that has its origin and consequences is seldom investigated from an integrated approach (Mitrofanova et al. 2020). By that, we mean that there still lacks a comprehensive empirical examination of the conflict as a process that encompasses a variety of conflict sources, aroused emotions, choices of conflict strategy management, and conflict outcomes. This paper aims to explore the conflict antecedents, management strategy, and outcomes while examining the role of affective states in the process and, thus, contribute to closing the research gap. The theoretical background introduces the basis for theoretical model development. The materials and methods section presents the theoretical foundations for the research instrument and data collection process, followed by questionnaire reliability, validity examination, and modeling procedure. The results summarize the final model, followed by a discussion and conclusions. 2. Theoretical Background Robbins et al. (2016) introduce stages of the conflict. The first stage relates to the circumstances that allow for the emergence of the conflict. The second stage involves the cognitive and affective perception of the conflict. The third stage gives rise to the intention of acting in a certain way, which leads to the fourth stage and intention implementation through the behavior. The fifth stage refers to the consequences. Similarly, Mitrofanova et al. (2020) provide a conceptual framework for social and labor conflict management. While they focus on the strategies chosen by a manager, they examine the conflict through the stages, where the life cycle of a conflict refers to the latent stage, beginning, escalation, and completion of the conflict process. Such a conceptualization enables observation of conflict as a process. While their focus primarily regards the manager’s activities throughout the process, this perspective is specific by its holistic approach to the conflicts. However, both approaches represent a theoretical basis and yet remain to be empirically confirmed. One of the reasons for a delay in the empirical confirmation may be the difficulty of tracking all of the stages. The data collection usually involves a survey, which requires the respondent’s recollection of the events. The respondents might have difficulty remembering all of the circumstances that preceded the conflict or whether their intention was the same as their behavior or not. However, the respondents should be able Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 4 of 31 to classify the source of the conflict based on their recollection. While respondents might not remember their intention and execution of that intention, they will likely have activities (within the strategies) that they usually employ. Therefore, we suggest a simplification of the conflict life cycle into three stages (Figure 1): source of the conflict (conflict elicitation), conflict management (choice of activities), and conflict consequences (outcome). The theory suggests that emotions play an important role in the process and may affect the outcome and strategic choices (Neumann 2017;Gonan Božac and Kosteli´c 2021), but also impact reflection on the conflict consequences, thereby influencing employees’ productivity (Konrad and Mangel 2000;Soleimani and Bolourchi 2021), job satisfaction (Erdamar and Demirel 2016), work efficiency (Rahim 2002) and, consequently, organization climate and performance (Memili et al. 2015;Triguero-Sánchez et al. 2018). This model also aims to capture the mediating role of affective states in the conflict process. It is assumed that the source of the conflict is a trigger that elicits emotions and affective states. Emotions then influence the choice of conflict management strategies and reflection on the conflict consequences. Adm. Sci. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 31 the source of the conflict based on their recollection. While respondents might not remember their intention and execution of that intention, they will likely have activities (within the strategies) that they usually employ. Therefore, we suggest a simplification of the conflict life cycle into three stages (Figure 1): source of the conflict (conflict elicitation), conflict management (choice of activities), and conflict consequences (outcome). The theory suggests that emotions play an important role in the process and may affect the outcome and strategic choices (Neumann 2017; Gonan Božac and Kostelić 2021), but also impact reflection on the conflict consequences, thereby influencing employees’ productivity (Konrad and Mangel 2000; Soleimani and Bolourchi 2021), job satisfaction (Erdamar and Demirel 2016), work efficiency (Rahim 2002) and, consequently, organization climate and performance (Memili et al. 2015; Triguero-Sánchez et al. 2018). This model also aims to capture the mediating role of affective states in the conflict process. It is assumed that the source of the conflict is a trigger that elicits emotions and affective states. Emotions then influence the choice of conflict management strategies and reflection on the conflict consequences. Figure 1. Conflict process. Conflicts can be triggered by a variety of reasons, activities, and circumstances. Some of them are excessive workload, unclear division of tasks, limited resources, unrealistic deadlines, unrealistic expectations, previously unresolved conflicts, differences in personalities and values, lack of trust, misunderstandings, criticism, bad reward systems, or opposing positions or needs for resources (Everard et al. 2004; Mooney et al. 2007; Tao et al. 2018; Robbins and Judge 2013; Canonico 2016). The following step in conflict management is the choice of strategies. The most often used approach to conflict management strategies involves Rahim and Bonoma’s (1979) setting of the strategies in two dimensions—concern for self and concern for others. The operationalization of that approach yielded five main conflict management strategies: cooperation/integrating/problem solving (high concern for others, high concern for self), obliging/yielding (high concern for others, low concern for self), dominating/contending/forcing (low concern for others, high concern for self), avoiding (low concern for others, low concern for self), and compromising (Rahim 2002; Deutsch 1973; De Dreu et al. 2001; Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021). Based on the desired effects, strategies can be observed as efficient (e.g., cooperation and compromise) and inefficient (obliging, dominating, and avoiding) conflict management strategies. The stated strategies may involve different activities: conversation, finding an optimal solution, explaining one’s position, giving a second chance to a coworker to explain their position, calming own emotions so that one can understand the other’s position, ignoring conflicts, reducing contact with the other person, leaving it to a superior to resolve the conflict, or conflict avoidance (Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021; Edmondson and Roloff 2008; Edwards and Walton 2000; Boroş et al. 2010; Levi 2001; Kuhn and Poole 2000; De Dreu et al. 2001; Van de Vliert 1997; De Dreu and Van Vianen 2001; Bar-Tal et al. 2007). Research in Croatia on a sample of three integrated universities showed that the most dominant conflict management strategy was cooperation, followed by avoidance and yielding, while forcing was the least used. The study Figure 1. Conflict process. Conflicts can be triggered by a variety of reasons, activities, and circumstances. Some of them are excessive workload, unclear division of tasks, limited resources, unrealistic deadlines, unrealistic expectations, previously unresolved conflicts, differences in personalities and values, lack of trust, misunderstandings, criticism, bad reward systems, or opposing positions or needs for resources (Everard et al. 2004;Mooney et al. 2007;Tao et al. 2018;Robbins and Judge 2013;Canonico 2016). The following step in conflict management is the choice of strategies. The most often used approach to conflict management strategies involves Rahim and Bonoma’s (1979) setting of the strategies in two dimensions—concern for self and concern for others. The operationalization of that approach yielded five main conflict management strategies: cooperation/integrating/problem solving (high concern for others, high concern for self), obliging/yielding (high concern for others, low concern for self), dominating/contending/forcing (low concern for others, high concern for self), avoiding (low concern for others, low concern for self), and compromising (Rahim 2002;Deutsch 1973;De Dreu et al. 2001;Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021). Based on the desired effects, strategies can be observed as efficient (e.g., cooperation and compromise) and inefficient (obliging, dominating, and avoiding) conflict management strategies. The stated strategies may involve different activities: conversation, finding an optimal solution, explaining one’s position, giving a second chance to a coworker to explain their position, calming own emotions so that one can understand the other’s position, ignoring conflicts, reducing contact with the other person, leaving it to a superior to resolve the conflict, or conflict avoidance (Amie- Ogan and Nma 2021;Edmondson and Roloff 2008;Edwards and Walton 2000;Boro¸s et al. 2010;Levi 2001;Kuhn and Poole 2000;De Dreu et al. 2001;Van de Vliert 1997;De Dreu and Van Vianen 2001;Bar-Tal et al. 2007). Research in Croatia on a sample of three integrated universities showed that the most dominant conflict management strategy was cooperation, followed by avoidance and yielding, while forcing was the least used. The study confirmed Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 5 of 31 that compromise should not be considered a separate strategy when investigating conflict management strategies because the line between problem-solving and compromise was blurred. These two strategies were integrated, and this approach was called “collaboration,” which can also be specific given the complex academic circumstances (Rupˇci´c et al. 2022). If the source of the conflict is in a relationship or a task, an employee may choose a cooperative, competitive, or avoidance conflict management approach (Maltarich et al. 2018). Maltarich et al. learn that the outcomes differ regarding the combination of the conflict type and chosen strategy, but they also heavily depend on the initial conflict management strategy choice (as these can change over time). Robbins and Judge (2013); Tao et al. (2018); Rahim (2002); Deutsch (1980) suggest that managers will choose a conflict management strategy depending on the issues they are addressing, also keeping in mind that conflict management depends on individual beliefs about the interdependence of goals. The most important aspect of preparing for conflicts is creating a psychologically safe communication environment that allows for constructive controversy (Edmondson and Roloff 2008). Hypothesis 1 (H1). The source of the conflict will affect the choice of conflict management strategy. Within the affective events theory (AET), it is proposed that work-related events may elicit emotions and emotional states. Affective states are a comprehensive term that comprises emotions, emotional states, moods, sentiments, emotional characteristics, and attitudes. This theory argues that specific events on the job cause different kinds of people to feel different emotions (Fisher 2002;Bauer and Erdogan 2015). Such events may be conflicts, and they may elicit emotions and emotional states, which in turn may even help individuals to recognize that they are in the conflict (Ayoko et al. 2012). In that way, emotions and affective states contribute to the awareness process, warning about the deviation from homeostasis ( ˇ Corluki´c and Krpan 2020). Conflicts can inspire bursts of valuable individual action to change situations that are not appropriate. Several emotional sentiments can also become socio–psychological barriers to conflict resolution from an emotional perspective. For example, anger leads to more risky choices and a tendency to blame others for the situation (Angie et al. 2011), which may lead to a dominating or forcing strategy. Fear and anxiety are related to the perception of a threat and may lead to the choice of a yielding, obliging, or avoiding strategy (Lerner and Keltner 2001). On the other hand, happiness is correlated to prosocial behavior (Angie et al. 2011), which can contribute to collaboration and compromise. The growing literature about emotions has made efforts to distinguish between different emotions and identify their exclusive antecedents, appraisals, affects, and responses (Bar-Tal et al. 2007; Neumann 2017). Affective states may be triggered by events and circumstances and also may serve as information. Once they are aroused, affective states may impact the decision-making process; in this case, the choice of conflict management strategy. Hypothesis 2 (H2). The source of the conflict triggers affective states. Hypothesis 3 (H3). Affective states affect the conflict management strategy choice. An optimal level of conflict contributes to employee creativity, new ideas, a healthy organizational climate, and sustainable organizational growth. To understand how to get to the optimal level of conflict, we need to understand its root causes, consequences, and tools to help manage it. The goal is to hold conflict levels in the middle range. While it might seem strange to want a particular level of conflict, a medium level of task-related conflict is often viewed as optimal because it represents a situation where a healthy debate of ideas takes place (Robbins and Judge 2013, p. 436). Freres (2013) provides an extensive literature review on the types of organizational outcomes and costs of workplace conflict. The cost arises from impaired medical and Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 6 of 31 psychological health, wasted time, counter-productive work behavior, disrupted team behavior, poor customer relationships, unsatisfactory organizational development, and legal and dispute costs. The individual factors decrease motivation, work effort, work quality, performance, and commitment to the organization. Conflict wastes managers’ (20–40%), and employees’ (approximately 7.5%) time each week, which can be accounted for as a wasted wage. Additionally, Ford et al. (2016) note absenteeism and litigation as outcomes and sources of workplace conflict costs. In the case of employee turnover, businesses tend to spend at least 75% of the employees’ salaries on finding replacements (Maximin et al. 2015). In addition, impaired employees’ health issues and well-being can result from demanding work conditions, including various types of conflicts (Dicke et al. 2018). A conflict is labeled as functional or dysfunctional depending on the outcome, that is, whether the conflict outcome leads to the desired state or disrupts harmonization (Kreitner and Kinicki 1992). It is assumed that functional conflicts lead to positive consequences for the organization and involved employees. Positive consequences of the conflict can be the encouragement of creativity, increased productivity, increased inspiration for problemsolving, encouragement of development, encouragement of changes, better understanding between coworkers, better decision-making, increased curiosity, or frequent appreciation of others (Robbins and Judge 2013;Levi 2001;Halperin and Tagar 2017;Hussein and Al-Mamary 2019). Negative conflict consequences may refer to decreased productivity, dissatisfaction, disturbed interpersonal relationships, decreased quality of labor, loss of trust between colleagues, poor communication, loss of focus, absence from work, or leaving the organization (Hussein and Al-Mamary 2019;Levi 2001;Lakiša et al. 2021;Janssen and Giebels 2013;Bar-Tal et al. 2007). Ampomah et al. (2022) found a positive effect of negotiation, mediation, and arbitration (as conflict management strategies) on school performance. Amie-Ogan and Nma (2021) revealed a weak-to-moderate positive relationship between avoidance and compromising conflict management strategies and schoolteachers’ performance in public senior secondary schools in the examined region. They also found a moderate positive correlation between collaboration to schoolteachers’ performance and a moderate negative correlation between accommodating strategy and teachers’ performance. Hypothesis 4 (H4). Different conflict management strategies lead to different conflict consequences. During the conflict, elementary school employees may experience different affective states (Benesch 2018;Bar-Tal et al. 2007;Bili´c 2016). While those states may affect the choices of conflict management strategies, they may also enhance the perception of the outcomes and consequences. It can be noticed that several conflict consequences may result from a single conflict. The result or output of an event can stem from experienced affective states during the application of chosen strategies (for example, disturbed interpersonal relationships or dissatisfaction), but their perception can also be colored by the affective states (Neumann 2017;Gonan Božac and Kosteli´c 2021). Hypothesis 5 (H5). Differentaffective statesleadto differently perceived conflict consequences/outcomes. 3. Materials and Methods 3.1. Theoretical Basis for Questionnaire Development The diversity of conflicts, encompassed by different authors’ theoretical approaches, encourages researchers to define their factors. We consider it necessary to execute the planned activities in work settings. The systematization of the conflict elements is presented in Table 1. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 7 of 31 Table 1. Systematization of conflict elements. Conflict Element Authors Identified Elements Frequency of experiencing conflicts in the workplace Deutsch (1973) Conflict is an integral part of human action and occurs in private and business environments more or less frequently. Sources of the conflict Paresashvili et al. (2021) Tao et al. (2018) Canonico (2016) Robbins and Judge (2013) Mooney et al. (2007) Everard et al. (2004, p. 127) Murray et al. (1998) Kreitner and Kinicki (1992) Greenhaus and Beutell (1985) Goode (1960) •attitudes towards the content of the specific business activity, for example, resource allocation, provisions of certain acts, etc. • dividing scarce resources such as time, territory, money, or equipment as a frequent cause of conflict, unclear division of tasks, and task interdependence •uncertainty about task roles, unrealistic deadlines, unrealistic expectations, and members working cross-purposes • confusion about people’s positions, personality differences, legitimate differences of opinion, hidden agendas, poor norms, competitive or bad reward systems, and poorly managed meetings Aroused feelings and affective states Soleimani and Bolourchi (2021) Braem et al. (2017) Halperin and Tagar (2017) Neumann (2017) Erdamar and Demirel (2016) Van Harreveld et al. (2009, p. 184) Desivilya and Yagil (2005) Fredrickson and Joiner (2002) Kirby (2001) Allred et al. (1997) •sadness •discomfort •(dis)satisfaction •motivation •anger •fear •safety •hope •engagement •disappointment •calm •frustration Conflict management strategies and activities Ford et al. (2016) Maximin et al. (2015) Janssen and Giebels (2013) Montes et al. (2012) Boro¸s et al. (2010) Edmondson and Roloff (2008) Bar-Tal et al. (2007) Kuhn and Poole (2000) De Dreu and Van Vianen (2001) De Dreu et al. (2001) Levi (2001, p. 129) Edwards and Walton (2000) Munduate et al. (1994) Van de Vliert (1997) Rahim and Bonoma (1979) •cooperating/integrating/problem solving •obliging/yielding •dominating/contending/forcing •avoiding •compromising •involving a third party, i.e., an external mediator •supporting of superior Positive conflict consequences Hussein and Al-Mamary (2019) Halperin and Tagar (2017) Robbins and Judge (2013) Levi (2001) •increased productivity •creativity •encourage development •a better understanding of others •better solutions to workplace problems Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 8 of 31 Table 1. Cont. Conflict Element Authors Identified Elements Negative conflict consequences Lakiša et al. (2021) CIPD (2020) Hussein and Al-Mamary (2019) Dicke et al. (2018) Ford et al. (2016) Janssen and Giebels (2013) Freres (2013) •lack of interest in work •work distress •wasting time •employees leaving the organization •personal attacks •undermined performance •team members’ dissatisfaction •poor social relations •reduced trust, respect, and cohesion in groups •encouragement by superiors •sickness absence •reduced productivity •reduced quality of work Conflict elements and corresponding authors’ previous contributions are used to derive the items in the questionnaire (Table A1). 3.2. Data Collection and Sample Characteristics While work-related conflicts can happen in any organization, regardless of its size, form, or activities, elementary schools are chosen as an example of work-related conflicts. Burnout and consequent teacher attrition are identified globally (Dicke et al. 2015,2018; Tsouloupas et al. 2010). A contributing factor to such occurrences can be different conflicts at the workplace, and the consequences can be reflected in productivity, work engagement, and other outcomes. Employees of elementary schools have a unique place in the communication lines with their pupils, pupils’ parents, colleagues, and superiors. Given the diversity of relationships, there is potential for an abundance of conflict at different levels. That makes elementary school employees a good choice for studying the relationships between the distinct conflict sources, conflict management strategies, and conflict outcomes, thereby assuming the mediating role of affective states. In addition, the conflicts may affect organizational culture, the school’s social environment (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016), and the quality of relationships (Smyth et al. 2007), which can affect students’ achievement. The relevance of its potential implicit effect on the students creates additional motivation for the exploration of conflicts among elementary school employees. The response to conflict situations is also culturally specific (Rahim 2002), so it can be expected that the Croatian respondents might differ in their perception of conflict compared to the results from the studies in other countries. The survey was conducted online from 7 to 14 September 2021 in elementary schools in Croatia. There are 922 elementary schools in Croatia, where 34,636 teachers and professional services work (DZS 2021), but information about all elementary school employees is not available. The questionnaire was sent to all elementary school representatives’ official e-mail addresses, requesting a further distribution to their employees; 192 respondents who worked at various positions in elementary schools filled in the questionnaire. Table 2offers an overview of the age and gender distribution of the respondents. Most of the respondents were older and female, reflecting the sector demographics. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 15 of 31 Adm. Sci. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 15 of 31 the models (Tables S16 and S32). In addition, predictive error histograms (Figures S17 and S35) show almost normally distributed predictive errors around the mean of zero. It can be noticed that the effects of elementary school employees’ affective states surpass the effects of chosen strategies for appraisal of conflict consequences, which is more expressed in the model of negative conflict consequences. Moreover, these effects are more denotative for the model of negative conflicts’ consequences. Considering credible intervals, it can be concluded that none of the 95% posterior credible intervals contains zero for effects’ size. That means that examined effects are different from zero. The models present a plausible representation of the structural relationships between the chosen strategies, affective states, and conflicts’ consequences for conflicts at work. Moreover, posterior densities for response variables compared to observed data (Figure 3) show a very good fit for I1, I2, and I7, while I4 showed some deviation. Figure 3. Posterior predictive check by densities overlay. Bayesian structural equation modeling involves multiple models’ comparison and recursive steps in models’ evaluation and estimation. Model development and evaluation with complete reports are available in the Supplementary Materials (File S2), while this chapter summarizes the results. Concerning the conducted evaluations and estimations, the model is reported in the form of two separate models—positive and negative consequences. The model depicts a conflict structure whereby affective states affect the strategy choice and reflection on the consequences. More precisely, the perceptions of the conflicts’ consequences are governed by the affective states and chosen conflict management strategies, revealing structural relationships and mediating the role of affective states. The effects of the affective states exceeded the effects of the chosen strategies for conflict consequences appraisal, which is more explicit in the model of negative conflict consequences. While the initial set of theoretical hypotheses suggested a possibility of the affective states’ mediation effect between the conflict sources and conflict management strategy, the final model does not contain the link between the source of the conflict and affective Figure 3. Posterior predictive check by densities overlay. Bayesian structural equation modeling involves multiple models’ comparison and recursive steps in models’ evaluation and estimation. Model development and evaluation with complete reports are available in the Supplementary Materials (File S2), while this chapter summarizes the results. Concerning the conducted evaluations and estimations, the model is reported in the form of two separate models—positive and negative consequences. The model depicts a conflict structure whereby affective states affect the strategy choice and reflection on the consequences. More precisely, the perceptions of the conflicts’ consequences are governed by the affective states and chosen conflict management strategies, revealing structural relationships and mediating the role of affective states. The effects of the affective states exceeded the effects of the chosen strategies for conflict consequences appraisal, which is more explicit in the model of negative conflict consequences. While the initial set of theoretical hypotheses suggested a possibility of the affective states’ mediation effect between the conflict sources and conflict management strategy, the final model does not contain the link between the source of the conflict and affective states. Thus, mediation analysis with affective states as mediators could not be performed. Only a mediation of conflict management strategy could be considered. The results in Table 6 show that the conflict management strategy mediated 12.66% and 9.96% effect on the conflict consequences in the positive and negative consequences models, respectively. The mediation effects are small, however, they still show how conflict management strategies mediate aroused affective states towards more expressed consequences. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 16 of 31 Table 6. Mediation analysis. Effects Functional Conflict Model Treatment—I8 Mediator—I4 Response—I1 Dysfunctional Conflict Model Treatment—I5 Mediator—I7 Response—I2 Estimate 95% ETI Estimate 95%ETI Direct effect (ADE) 0.409 [0.261, 0.554] 0.528 [0.387, 0.667] Indirect effect (ACME) 0.060 [0.009, 0.125] 0.059 [0.016, 0.120] Mediator effect 0.385 [0.239, 0.535] 0.193 [0.057, 0.333] Total effect 0.470 [0.239, 0.535] 0.589 [0.455, 0.723] Proportion mediated 12.66% [0.77%, 24.55%] 9.96% [1.00%, 18.92%] Notes: ETI stands for equal-tailed interval of posterior distributions computed using the quantiles method; ADE stands for average direct effect; ACME stands for average causal mediation effects. Variable abbreviations and their meaning: I1—positive conflicts’ consequences, I2—negative conflicts’ consequences, I4—efficient conflict management strategy, I5—negative affective states, I7—inefficient conflict management strategy, I8—positive affective states. The identified sources of the conflict can be various: excessive workload, unclear division of tasks, limited resources, unrealistic deadlines, unrealistic expectations, previously unresolved conflicts, differences in personalities and values, lack of trust, misunderstanding, criticism, and opposed positions (attitudes) or needs. The sources of a conflict grouped by cognitive (I3) and affective (I6) type did not affect the choice of conflict management strategy, nor did they trigger affective states. It is an interesting and somewhat unexpected finding that the source of the conflict showed no predictive value for the choice of strategy (Figures 2and 4). As many theories (Robbins and Judge 2013;Tao et al. 2018;Rahim 2002) rely on the relationship between the conflict source, its type, and its consequences, these results contradict such approaches. However, the results did not reveal relationships between the source of the conflict and affective states and conflict management strategies, so we conclude that H 1 and H 2 are not supported. Nevertheless, it is possible that measures of conflict sources different from the applied ones may reveal the relationship in future research. If the conflicts incite dominantly negative affective states (anger, sadness, frustration, disappointment, discomfort), it can be expected that elementary school employees will cope by choosing an inefficient conflict management strategy. Such a strategy involves ignoring conflicts, reducing contact with the other person, leaving it to the superior to resolve conflict, and conflict avoidance. Such an approach can result in positive consequences only by mere chance, and it predictably leads to negative consequences of conflict (Deutsch 1949), as these empirical findings confirm. However, the revealed links from positive and negative affective states to conflict management strategies and outcomes, and the relationships between conflict management strategies and outcomes, support H3, H4, and H5(Table 7). While the model can be perceived as differing between functional and dysfunctional conflict (Kreitner and Kinicki 1992), it is interesting to observe the role that affective states play in the strategy choices and perception of conflict consequences. If elementary school employees’ aroused affective states are dominantly positive (calm, safety, motivation), they will guide them toward an efficient conflict management strategy. An efficient conflict management strategy comprises conversation, finding an optimal solution, explaining own position, giving a second chance to coworkers to explain their position, and calming own emotions to understand the other’s position. Such a conflict is desirable, as it leads to positive conflict consequences: it encourages creativity, curiosity, and inspiration for problem-solving, increases productivity, and enables development and change, allowing for better understanding and decision-making. All of the stated are desirable from the school’s perspective, but also support employee well-being. The revealed relationships are in line with previous findings (Boro¸s et al. 2010;Kuhn and Poole 2000;Castillo 2019; Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021;Ampomah et al. 2022;Shitambasi et al. 2022). Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 17 of 31 Table 7. Hypotheses systematization. Theoretical Hypotheses Relationship Hypothesis Supported Hypothesis 1 I3−>I4 I6−>I7 No Hypothesis 2 I3−>I8 I6−>I5 No Hypothesis 3 I8−>I4 I5−>I7 Yes Hypothesis 4 I4−>I1 I7−>I2 Yes Hypothesis 5 I8−>I1 I5−>I2 Yes Adm. Sci. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 17 of 31 conflict management strategy comprises conversation, finding an optimal solution, explaining own position, giving a second chance to coworkers to explain their position, and calming own emotions to understand the other’s position. Such a conflict is desirable, as it leads to positive conflict consequences: it encourages creativity, curiosity, and inspiration for problem-solving, increases productivity, and enables development and change, allowing for better understanding and decision-making. All of the stated are desirable from the school’s perspective, but also support employee well-being. The revealed relationships are in line with previous findings (Boroş et al. 2010; Kuhn and Poole 2000; Castillo 2019; Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021; Ampomah et al. 2022; Shitambasi et al. 2022). Table 7. Hypotheses systematization. Theoretical Hypotheses Relationship Hypothesis Supported Hypothesis 1 I3−>I4 I6−>I7 No Hypothesis 2 I3−>I8 I6−>I5 No Hypothesis 3 I8−>I4 I5−>I7 Yes Hypothesis 4 I4−>I1 I7−>I2 Yes Hypothesis 5 I8−>I1 I5−>I2 Yes Figure 4. Visual representation of relationships revealed by the model. Note: black color denotes hypothesized relationships supported by the data; gray color denotes hypothesized relationships not supported by the data. Given that the affective states show the highest coefficient values, their essential, if not dominant, role in models can be surmised. Moreover, the comparison to the proposed model (Figure 1) reveals the lack of relationships between the variables in the final model (Figures 2 and 4), leading to the conclusion that conflicts with dominantly positive and negative affective states behave structurally differently. Once set off, affective states predictably affect the rest of the conflict. 5. Discussion Figure 4. Visual representation of relationships revealed by the model. Note: black color denotes hypothesized relationships supported by the data; gray color denotes hypothesized relationships not supported by the data. Given that the affective states show the highest coefficient values, their essential, if not dominant, role in models can be surmised. Moreover, the comparison to the proposed model (Figure 1) reveals the lack of relationships between the variables in the final model (Figures 2and 4), leading to the conclusion that conflicts with dominantly positive and negative affective states behave structurally differently. Once set off, affective states predictably affect the rest of the conflict. 5. Discussion Regardless of the conflict source, the results suggest that it can be expected that it will result in elementary school employees’ aroused affective states, which is in line with previous research (Robbins and Judge 2013;Boateng and Agyei 2013;Tao et al. 2018; Halperin and Tagar 2017;Benesch 2018;Boulter and Boddy 2020). This means that it is more important to maintain calm affective states for all included parties and choose conflict strategies prudently. Otherwise, aroused negative affective states will lead to the choice of Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 18 of 31 inefficient strategy, and the conflict will lead to undesired consequences—or at least, the involved elementary school employees will perceive them that way. New demands are placed on organizations because they must build an institutional capability of understanding how conflicts and related emotional economy work in their organization. For example, consider a conflict situation that arises from the lack of financial resources for training. The present study suggests that in such a case, if the employee experiences dominantly positive affective states (feeling calm, safe, or motivated) at higher levels, they will more likely choose an efficient management strategy to resolve the situation (conversation, explanation of their position, calming own emotions for better understanding the other position, etc.). In this case, that combination predictably leads to positive conflict consequences (such as encouragement of creativity and increased inspiration for problemsolving). It is very pragmatic for employees to know and recognize the affective states and how they affect the conflict. Therefore, there lies a possibility for intervention. Educating elementary school employees about emotion control and providing emotional support and guidance during the conflict could lead the employees toward an efficient conflict strategy. It is, therefore, necessary to reconsider the role of emotions in the conflict process and their influence on the outcome and strategic choices (Neumann 2017;Gonan Božac and Kosteli´c 2021), a reflection on the consequences of the conflict (Konrad and Mangel 2000;Soleimani and Bolourchi 2021), as well as their possible implicit effects on job satisfaction (Erdamar and Demirel 2016), work efficiency (Rahim 2002) and, consequently, organizational climate and performance (Memili et al. 2015;Triguero-Sánchez et al. 2018). Moreover, the optimal conflict level, especially if arising from functional conflicts, is desirable for an organization to be healthy and good in performance, leading to progress and growth (Kreitner and Kinicki 1992;Mullins 1999;Robbins and Judge 2013;Memili et al. 2015;Triguero-Sánchez et al. 2018). Furthermore, conflict management strategies can enhance organizational and employee performance (Castillo 2019;Amie-Ogan and Nma 2021;Ampomah et al. 2022;Shitambasi et al. 2022). If the organization is faced with the avoidance of any form of conflict, it will disturb organizational health and result in lower levels of productivity and efficacy. One possible tool for maintaining the optimal conflict level might be the development of leadership skills to govern the employees’ affective states through the conflict. In a changeable environment, schools face new challenges (Mileti´c 2020): decreasing birthrates and emigration, which lead to fewer pupils and an increase in job insecurity; increasing costs, increasing competition and requirements for maintaining an image, increasing requirements for the creation of a stimulating school environment, etc.; and expected school reforms, as well as the ongoing initiative of school principals’ professionalization, creates even more pressure on the need for employee empowerment (Alfirevi´c et al. 2016,2018). Conflict management in the organization, emotion control, and providing emotional support are considered indispensable in empowering employees to face new challenges. The results of this research suggest that school principals and other school employees need these skills to successfully overcome conflicts. Teachers learn about classroom management during their education and their knowledge is regularly extended through workshops, professional meetings, or lifelong learning. Those may be the means to develop teachers’ required skills of conflict management (beyond classroom conflicts) and emotional control. In a similar way, the respective professional meetings for employees in professional service (such as librarians, pedagogues, psychologists, defectologists, etc.) could serve for the transfer and development of additional skills in conflict management. However, administrative and technical staff may also be involved in the conflicts, which must not be disregarded. A possible solution lies in in-house workshops. However, with the development of a positive organizational climate, regular staff and teachers’ meetings may promote civilized and fruitful discussion on the conflicting issues between the employees, thus contributing to a healthy school social environment, as a safe space for learning, sharing ideas, and joint actions toward a common goal. All the above-stated will have a direct impact on students because, as Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 19 of 31 stated by Alfirevi´c et al. (2016), those conflicts may affect the organizational culture and school’s social environment, the same one that envelops the students during their studies, and should transfer the values of trust, democracy, and authenticity. Limitations arise because the research did not cover the impact of employee stress, performance, job satisfaction, and other factors in a school environment, which could prove to be relevant, as the existing data indicate that in Croatia (Bili´c 2016,2021) 74% of teachers suffer violent behavior, from their pupils, pupils’ parents, or other colleagues, leaving them sad and disappointed. Also, 84% of the school principals also endure different forms of inappropriate, uncivilized, or violent behavior from colleagues, superiors, students’ parents, and students. An additional interesting finding is the lack of a relationship between the negative affective states and conflict frequency, which was expected but not revealed by this data. While the conflict consequences may be a source for the next conflict, the relationship should be expressed much more to produce predictivity. The fact that a person experiences negative affective states during the conflict does not mean that they will predictively engage in the next conflict, meaning that experiencing emotions in a conflict should not be characterized as an undesirable trait but as a normal response, which does not necessarily lead to repetitive conflicts. However, different findings may occur due to cultural settings (Ross 2000), and further cross-cultural confirmation is required for the findings’ generalization. Whatever the causes of the conflict, its perceived consequences primarily depend on the chosen conflict management strategies and affective states experienced due to the conflict. 6. Conclusions Conflicts can and should be observed as complex systems, multivariant in nature, and such phenomenon modeling calls for sophisticated methods such as Bayesian structural equation modeling. The analysis shows that conflicts are complex, and their outcome depends on the interaction of multiple factors. As Bayesian structural equation modeling still represents an unusual modeling choice, this may also serve as an example of the possibilities for more profound insights into complex issues. The model is based on the factors derived from the nonparametric factor analysis applied to the questionnaire. The questionnaire satisfied both internal reliability and construct validity requirements. The developed questionnaire measures different aspects of the employees’ conflict perception and its elements and is a viable option for further research. The developed questionnaire enables further examination of conflicts in different socio-economic contexts. Moreover, it would be interesting to examine whether the results differ over different sectors and cultural settings. The conflict sources appeared irrelevant for this model, contrary to the approaches that rely on the relationship between the conflict source, its type, and its consequences. The model points out the prominent role of affective states in conflicts. Positive affective states facilitate the choice of efficient conflict management strategy, and when combined, lead to positive consequences. On the contrary, negative affective states exhibit their role in choices of inefficient conflict management strategy and negative consequences. That reveals a possibility for intervention. Educating elementary school employees about emotional control and providing emotional support and guidance during the conflict could lead the employees toward an efficient conflict strategy. In addition, the schools’ organizational climate would benefit if school principals possessed skills in conflict management, emotion control, and providing emotional support. That provides an additional argument for the efforts to achieve school principals’ professionalization. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 20 of 31 Besides focusing on only one country, the data and findings only regard employees in elementary schools; this represents a further limitation of the findings and a call for future research covering several sectors. An additional limitation may be the manner of distributing the questionnaire, which was sent to the schools’ representatives, who further shared the questionnaire with their employees. Such a hierarchical approach might have discouraged employees from engaging, resulting in a smaller sample. The conflicts are examined from the respondents’ perspective, despite being aware that the respondent’s position in the organization and relationships also affect the perception of conflict. In further research, more attention can be devoted to external factors. Specifically, the conflict can be observed in the education sector from a leadership position, team dynamics, or a classroom situation; therefore, future efforts should be focused on long-term research on the process of conflicts in the education sector. This research and the following ones will fill in a puzzle to put new insights into conflicts in Croatia as an opportunity. Hopefully, it can serve as an inspiration for other researchers. In addition, conflicts should continue to be examined as a multivariate phenomenon, with the complexity arising from the variables’ interaction that synergically influences the outcomes. Given the revealed effects, the role of the affective states in conflict resolution requires further examination from the conflict management perspective, along with its possible mediation effect. The findings also call for a re-examination of the role of affective states regarding their importance and portrayal in dominant management theories. This research shows that affective states play an essential role in models of conflicts at work. The revealed role of affective states facilitates future intervention possibilities. While much attention is devoted to the managers’ education about conflict management strategies, it seems that more emphasis should be placed on the role of affective states. Affective states influence both conflict management strategy and the perception of the conflict consequences. Additional education about emotion and affective state control, as well as raising awareness about their role in the conflict, might increase mutual understanding and save substantial costs that derive from time and lost productivity on behalf of the conflicts. Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https:// osf.io/75ya6/?view_only=12782e075ddc4063a19831b3eb18a2d6 (created on 4 June 2022, last updated on: 13 December 2022). Author Contributions: Conceptualization, M.G.B., M.P. and K.K.; methodology, M.G.B., M.P. and K.K.; validation, K.K.; formal analysis, K.K.; investigation, M.P.; writing—original draft preparation, M.G.B., M.P. and K.K.; writing—review and editing, M.G.B. and K.K.; visualization, K.K.; project administration, M.G.B.; funding acquisition, M.G.B., M.P. and K.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This paper is a result of the internal scientific project “The role of emotions in strategic decision-making” supported by the Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirkovi´c”, Juraj Dobrila University of Pula. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Faculty of Economics and Tourism “Dr. Mijo Mirkovi´c” Pula. Institutional Review Board Statement: The Research Ethics Assessment Committee at Juraj Dobrila University of Pula has given its positive opinion on the research design in our manuscript Modeling Conflicts at Work: The Case of Elementary School Employees in Croatia with the decision from 19 January 2022. Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study. Data Availability Statement: Anonymized and aggregated data for items are available in the Supplementary file. Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 21 of 31 Acknowledgments: We are grateful to the student Antea Xhemajli for the questionnaire distribution. Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results. Appendix A Table A1. Instrument: Questionnaire. Code Questions Possible Responses Q1 Do you experience conflicts int the workplace? (1—never, 5—very frequent) 1 2 3 4 5 According to your opinion, how do the following factors relate to the conflict at work? (1—not at all, 5—strongly) Q2 Misunderstanding 1 2 3 4 5 Q3 Criticism 1 2 3 4 5 Q4 Opposed positions (attitudes) or needs 1 2 3 4 5 Q5 Excessive workload 1 2 3 4 5 Q6 Unclear division of tasks 1 2 3 4 5 Q7 Limited resources 1 2 3 4 5 Q8 Unrealistic deadlines 1 2 3 4 5 Q9 Unrealistic expectations 1 2 3 4 5 Q10 Previously unresolved conflict 1 2 3 4 5 Q11 Differences in personalities and values 1 2 3 4 5 Q12 Lack of trust 1 2 3 4 5 Q13 * Bad reward system 1 2 3 4 5 You experience the following positive conflict consequences at work (1—completely disagree, 5—completely agree) Q14 Encouragement of creativity 1 2 3 4 5 Q15 Increased productivity 1 2 3 4 5 Q16 Increased inspiration for problem-solving 1 2 3 4 5 Q17 Encouragement of development 1 2 3 4 5 Q18 Encouragement of changes 1 2 3 4 5 Q19 Better understanding between coworkers 1 2 3 4 5 Q20 Better decision-making 1 2 3 4 5 Q21 Increased curiosity 1 2 3 4 5 Q22 Frequent appreciation of others 1 2 3 4 5 Conflicts at work elicit the following feelings (1- completely disagree, 5-completely agree) Q23 * Fear 1 2 3 4 5 Q24 Anger 1 2 3 4 5 Q25 Discomfort 1 2 3 4 5 Q26 Sadness 1 2 3 4 5 Q27 Frustration 1 2 3 4 5 Q28 Disappointment 1 2 3 4 5 Q29 Calm 1 2 3 4 5 Q30 Safety 1 2 3 4 5 Q31 Motivation 1 2 3 4 5 You experience the following negative conflict consequences at work (1—completely disagree, 5—completely agree) Q32 Decreased productivity 1 2 3 4 5 Q33 Dissatisfaction 1 2 3 4 5 Q34 Disturbed interpersonal relationships 1 2 3 4 5 Q35 Decreased quality of the labor 1 2 3 4 5 Q36 Loss of trust between colleagues 1 2 3 4 5 Q37 Poor communication 1 2 3 4 5 Q38 Loss of focus 1 2 3 4 5 Q39 Absence from work 1 2 3 4 5 Q40 Leaving the organization 1 2 3 4 5 Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 22 of 31 Table A1. Cont. Code Questions Possible Responses I solve the conflicts by (1—completely disagree, 5—completely agree) Q41 Conversation 1 2 3 4 5 Q42 Finding optimal solution 1 2 3 4 5 Q43 Ignoring conflicts 1 2 3 4 5 Q44 * Seeking third-party advice 1 2 3 4 5 Q45 Reducing contact with the other person 1 2 3 4 5 Q46 Leaving it to the superior to resolve the conflict 1 2 3 4 5 Q47 Conflict avoidance 1 2 3 4 5 Q48 Adapting to the other person to maintain peace 1 2 3 4 5 Q49 Explaining own position 1 2 3 4 5 Q50 Giving second chance to a colleagues to explain his/her position 1 2 3 4 5 Q51 Calming your emotions so you can understand the other’s position 1 2 3 4 5 Q52 * Do you think that conflicts at work influence your personal life? (1—always, 5—never) 1 2 3 4 5 Note: * denotes items not included in the model. Adm. Sci. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 22 of 31 Q38 Loss of focus 1 2 3 4 5 Q39 Absence from work 1 2 3 4 5 Q40 Leaving the organization 1 2 3 4 5 I solve the conflicts by (1—completely disagree, 5—completely agree) Q41 Conversation 1 2 3 4 5 Q42 Finding optimal solution 1 2 3 4 5 Q43 Ignoring conflicts 1 2 3 4 5 Q44 * Seeking third-party advice 1 2 3 4 5 Q45 Reducing contact with the other person 1 2 3 4 5 Q46 Leaving it to the superior to resolve the conflict 1 2 3 4 5 Q47 Conflict avoidance 1 2 3 4 5 Q48 Adapting to the other person to maintain peace 1 2 3 4 5 Q49 Explaining own position 1 2 3 4 5 Q50 Giving second chance to a colleagues to explain his/her position 1 2 3 4 5 Q51 Calming your emotions so you can understand the other’s position 1 2 3 4 5 Q52 * Do you think that conflicts at work influence your personal life? (1—always, 5— never) 1 2 3 4 5 Note: * denotes items not included in the model. Figure A1. Scree plot of principal component analysis. Table A2. Rotated component matrix (PCA). Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q16 0.910 Q17 0.894 Q20 0.867 Q15 0.858 Q14 0.857 Q19 0.853 Q22 0.821 Q21 0.795 Q18 0.779 Figure A1. Scree plot of principal component analysis. Table A2. Rotated component matrix (PCA). Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q16 0.910 Q17 0.894 Q20 0.867 Q15 0.858 Q14 0.857 Q19 0.853 Q22 0.821 Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 23 of 31 Table A2. Cont. Component 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q21 0.795 Q18 0.779 Q35 0.814 Q37 0.795 Q38 0.769 Q34 0.765 Q33 0.762 Q36 0.760 Q32 0.644 Q8 0.814 Q7 0.790 Q9 0.765 Q5 0.723 Q6 0.653 Q13 0.401 Q50 0.824 Q41 0.794 Q49 0.712 Q42 0.707 Q51 0.700 Q12 0.759 Q10 0.747 Q3 0.641 Q11 0.593 Q4 0.415 0.582 Q2 0.532 Q27 0.744 Q28 0.729 Q26 0.708 Q25 0.666 Q24 0.645 Q30 0.859 Q29 0.833 Q31 0.404 0.623 Q45 0.727 Q46 0.649 Q43 0.640 Q44 0.486 Q47 0.444 Q39 0.855 Q40 0.782 Q48 0.729 Q23 0.500 Q1 0.726 Q52 0.656 Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 24 of 31 Adm. Sci. 2023, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 24 of 31 Figure A2. Scree plot (FA). Table A3. Factors. Factor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q16 0.913 Q17 0.886 Q15 0.856 Q14 0.851 Q20 0.840 Q19 0.829 Q22 0.806 Q21 0.777 Q18 0.743 Q35 0.818 Q37 0.767 Q36 0.731 Q38 0.728 Q34 0.721 Q33 0.710 Q32 0.608 Q52 * Q12 0.739 Q10 0.681 Q3 0.566 Q4 0.558 Q11 0.552 Q2 0.450 Q13 * Q50 0.858 Q49 0.732 Q41 0.692 Q51 0.642 Figure A2. Scree plot (FA). Table A3. Factors. Factor 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Q16 0.913 Q17 0.886 Q15 0.856 Q14 0.851 Q20 0.840 Q19 0.829 Q22 0.806 Q21 0.777 Q18 0.743 Q35 0.818 Q37 0.767 Q36 0.731 Q38 0.728 Q34 0.721 Q33 0.710 Q32 0.608 Q52 * Q12 0.739 Q10 0.681 Q3 0.566 Q4 0.558 Q11 0.552 Q2 0.450 Q13 * Q50 0.858 Q49 0.732 Q41 0.692 Q51 0.642 Q42 0.601 Q8 0.830 Q9 0.801 Adm. Sci. 2023,13, 20 31 of 31 Yuan, Ling, Yue Yu, and Pan Liu. 2019. Are teams experiencing relationship conflicts destined to fail: The role of emotions and work engagement. Chinese Management Studies 14: 235–56. 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