CONFLICT MANAGEMENT The Psychology of conflict and conflict ...

274 SPECTOR AND BRUK-LEE
process of conflict in which a power differential exists between the parties
(Zapf & Einarsen, 2004). It is the duration and repeated nature of this conflict
situation that differentiates it from the everyday conflict (Leymann,
1996). Thus, conflict is viewed as an extreme social stressor resulting in
serious health outcomes. Mobbing behaviors range from verbal aggression
to physical violence and are thought to be a top-down problem, which
may reflect poor organizational leadership. Perpetrators may engage in
different types of mobbing, of which one is dispute related and refers to
escalated interpersonal conflict. Various studies have demonstrated the
health implications that escalated conflict may pose. For instance, mobbing
victims reported more psychosomatic symptoms than nonvictims (Zapf,
1999), depressive symptoms (Einarsen & Mikkelsen, 2003), and posttraumatic
stress disorder symptomatology (Leymann & Gustafsson, 1996).
Personality anD ConfliCt
Individual differences play an important role in the stress process
whereby conflict affects employee health and well-being. Personality variables
that have been associated with conflict include negative affectivity,
trait anxiety, trait anger, type A, and locus of control.
Trait Anxiety/Negative Affectivity
Trait anxiety refers to a tendency, which is mostly limited to the psychosocial
environment, to perceive situations as threatening (Spielberger,
1979). Watson and Clark (1984) expanded this construct to include additional
negative emotional states and labeled it “negative affectivity” (NA).
One would expect a direct relationship between trait anxiety/NA and
interpersonal conflict at work. That is, employees higher in trait anxiety/
NA would perceive more incidents of conflict. This is, in fact, what the
stress research has found. Meta-analytic findings indicate an average correlation
of .33 for six studies assessing negative affectivity and conflict
at work (Spector & Jex, 1998). In a study testing the moderating effects of
NA on the stressor/strain relationship, Heinisch and Jex (1997) reported
similar findings. Chen and Spector (1991) also reported a positive relationship
between NA and interpersonal conflict. Furthermore, Fox et al.
(2001) indicated a significant correlation of .30 between trait anxiety and a
measure of conflict at work. Although the cross-sectional nature of these
studies may raise questions regarding the relationship between personality
and perceptions of conflict at work, Spector and O’Connell (1994) provided
further supporting evidence in a longitudinal study. A two-wave
design was conducted in which personality data were collected at Time 1
for a cohort of college students and conflict data were collected at Time 2
approximately a year after graduation and entering the workforce. Here