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Contents
- Abstract
- Theoretical Background
- The Impact of Interpersonal Conflicts at Work on the Nonwork Domain
- The Role of Personal Resources
- Method
- Procedure and Participants
- Daily Questionnaire Measures
- Daily task conflict
- Daily relationship conflict
- Resilience
- Daily optimism
- Daily strain-based work nonwork conflict
- Strategy of Analysis
- Results
- Preliminary Analyses
- Test of Hypotheses
- Daily resilience as moderator
- Daily optimism as moderator
- Discussion
- Theoretical Contributions
- Limitations and Future Research
- Implications and Conclusion
Figures and Tables
Abstract
This study among a heterogeneous sample of employees expands the Job-Demands (JD-R) theory by examining how interpersonal conflicts at work–task and relationship conflict–spillover into the nonwork domain on a daily basis. We hypothesized that daily personal resources can buffer the daily negative spillover of interpersonal conflicts from work into the nonwork domain. A total of 113 employees (n = 565 occasions) filled in a daily diary questionnaire in the evening before bedtime over 5 consecutive working days. Results of multilevel analysis showed that the presence of daily personal resources is essential to buffer the spillover of interpersonal conflict at work to the nonwork domain. Specifically, on days that employees were not very optimistic or resilient, interpersonal conflicts resulted in higher strain-based work–life conflict experiences. These findings contribute to the JD-R theory and show how the unfavorable effects of daily interpersonal conflicts in the work domain may be avoided in the nonwork domain through enhancing personal resources. We discuss the implications for theory and practice.
As employees strive to achieve their performance goals, they often face challenges they must overcome in a daily collaboration with others. Interpersonal conflicts may arise because of differences and opposition between employees regarding interests, beliefs, or values they find important (De Dreu & Beersma, 2005). These perceived differences and opposition may evolve around task-related issues (task conflict) or relationship issues (relationship conflict; Amason, 1996; Jehn, 1995). Because of their different nature, literature on interpersonal conflict at work emphasizes the need to analyze both task and relationship conflict as different types of interpersonal conflicts (Jehn, 1995). Evidence suggests that all interpersonal conflicts cost effort and generate strain and thus may cause job stress (De...