Conflict cost clusters, variables and definitions
| Buss (2011) | |
| Cost cluster | Variables/definition |
| Costs to an organization | Productivity, absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, reputation, theft, damage |
| Costs to employees | Attacking behavior, increased stress levels, burnout, illness, lower motivation, avoiding or attacking behavior, interruptions, not listening, finding unnecessary fault |
| Costs to clients | Damages on a company’s reputation or on customer satisfaction |
| Note: Precise definitions of the term conflict costs or the clusters are not provided. | |
| Freres (2013) | |
| Cost cluster | Variables/definition |
| Medical health | Sick leave, accidents, physical disability, health insurance premium |
| Individual psyche | Job motivation, satisfaction or commitment, and diligence |
| Wasted time | Absenteeism, presenteeism, time spent on conflict, pretending to work |
| Counterproductive work | Theft, violence, sabotage, vandalism, incivility |
| Team behavior | Decision-making, individual’s morale, organizational citizenship behavior |
| Customer | Complaint handling or customer service |
| Human resource and organizational development | Turnover, employer reputation, relationship instead of task-driven assignment of people, distrust, and change resistance |
| Legal and dispute fees | Grievance, litigation, discrimination claims, compensation |
| Note: Precise definitions of the term conflict costs or the clusters are not provided. | |
| Dirrler and Podruzsik (2022) | |
| Cost cluster | Variables/definition |
| Internal direct conflict costs | Legal and dispute costs, discrimination claims, grievance, compensation settlements, litigation, theft and damage, fees of lawyers and professionals, accidents, vandalism, sabotage, performance declines, decreased quality, inability to meet deadlines, loss in productivity, increased supervision costs |
| Definition: Direct effect on companies’ business revenue or desired outcome and correlated to internal stakeholders | |
| Internal indirect conflict costs | Wasted time worry about a conflict – dealing with it and resolving it – pretending to work, absenteeism, presenteeism, decreased time at work, avoiding behavior/shun conflict, extra time gathering information, counterproductive work behavior, attacking behavior, psychological and physical disease, sick leave, less diligence, voluntary departure from team and from organization, decreased work effort, change resistance, bad-quality decision-making, no decision-making |
| Definition: Solely indirect effect on companies’ business revenue or desired outcome and correlated to internal stakeholders | |
| External direct conflict costs | Legal suits, compensation claims, customer complaint handling, loss of ongoing relationship |
| Direct effect on companies’ business revenue or desired outcomes and correlated to external stakeholders | |
| External indirect conflict costs | Employer reputation, difficulty to attract talent, damage to brand image |
| Solely indirect effect on companies’ business revenue or desired outcomes and correlated to external stakeholders | |
Overview – cultural dimensions
| Hofstede (1980; 2001)* | |
| Cultural dimension | Variables/definition |
| Power distance | How inequality is handled |
| Uncertainty avoidance | How people deal with uncertainty |
| Individualism | Degree of integration between individuals and groups |
| Masculinity | Degree of masculine attributes within a society |
| Long-term orientation | Degree of valuing persistence and thrift |
| *Model used in the present study. | |
| House et al (2004) – GLOBE model | |
| Cultural dimension | Variables/definition |
| Uncertainty avoidance | Desire for structure and consistency and reliance on norms, rules, and procedures |
| Power distance | How inequality is handled |
| Institutional collectivism | Degree of collective actions encouraged by social institutions |
| In-group collectivism | Importance of pride, loyalty, and cohesiveness |
| Gender egalitarianism | Degree of minimizing gender inequality |
| Assertiveness | Degree of aggressive or confrontational behavior |
| Future orientation | Importance of planning or long-term success compared to immediate benefits |
| Performance orientation | Extent to which performance, innovation, high standards, or excellence is encouraged |
| Humane orientation | Value representation such as fairness, friendliness, or generosity |
| Schwartz (1994; 1999) | |
| Cultural dimension | Variables/definition |
| Embeddedness | Avoidance of disturbances of traditional order |
| Intellectual autonomy | Autonomy or freedom in regard to the pursuit of ideas, thought, and creativity |
| Affective autonomy | Autonomy or freedom in regard to the pursuit of pleasure, stimulation, and excitement |
| Hierarchy | Degree of clear social order |
| Egalitarianism | Everyone is considered as equal |
| Harmony | Protection of environment, desire of harmony, and emphasis on the group |
| Mastery | Success through personal action and efforts to get ahead of others |
Linear regression analysis including control variables
| Power distance | Variable | B | P-value | Uncertainty avoidance | Variable | B | P-value | |
| Intercept | 1.0331 | 0.0003 | Intercept | 1.0564 | 0.0003 | |||
| Power distance | 0.0585 | 0.1446 | Uncertainty avoidance | 0.1927 | 0.1550 | |||
| Age > 30 | - | - | Age > 30 | - | - | |||
| Age 30–39 | -0.1107 | 0.6390 | Age 30–39 | -0.0707 | 0.7702 | |||
| Age 40–49 | -0.1176 | 0.5931 | Age 40–49 | -0.1109 | 0.6252 | |||
| Age 50–59 | -0.5813 | 0.0201 | Age 50–59 | -0.5739 | 0.0294 | |||
| Age < 60 | 0.1446 | 0.7642 | Age < 60 | 0.1415 | 0.7689 | |||
| Gender | -0.0072 | 0.9688 | Gender | -0.0316 | 0.8652 | |||
| Employee | - | - | Employee | - | - | |||
| Project manager | 0.7004 | 0.0720 | Project manager | 0.6325 | 0.1072 | |||
| Lower management | 0.2215 | 0.5552 | Lower management | 0.2339 | 0.5612 | |||
| Middle management | 0.2372 | 0.3796 | Middle management | 0.2226 | 0.4071 | |||
| Upper management | 0.0315 | 0.936 | Upper management | -0.0161 | 0.9572 | |||
| Self-employed | 0.3079 | 0.4630 | Self-employed | 0.2950 | 0.4915 | |||
| R2 = 0.07626 p = 0.4227 | R2 = 0.07709 p = 0.4119 | |||||||
| Individualism vs. collectivism | Variable | B | P-value | Masculinity vs. feminism | Variable | B | P-value | |
| Intercept | 1.1372 | 0.0001 | Intercept | 1.0559 | 0.0002 | |||
| Individualism | -0.0055 | 0.9289 | Individualism | 0.1248 | 0.1261 | |||
| Age > 30 | - | - | Age > 30 | - | - | |||
| Age 30–39 | -0.0784 | 0.7423 | Age 30–39 | -0.0593 | 0.8027 | |||
| Age 40–49 | -0.0980 | 0.6635 | Age 40–49 | -0.1063 | 0.6306 | |||
| Age 50–59 | -0.5778 | 0.0255 | Age 50–59 | -0.5986 | 0.0208 | |||
| Age < 60 | 0.1472 | 0.7636 | Age < 60 | 0.1377 | 0.7669 | |||
| Gender | 0.0034 | 0.9856 | Gender | -0.0084 | 0.9631 | |||
| Employee | - | - | Employee | - | - | |||
| Project manager | 0.6540 | 0.1182 | Project manager | 0.6750 | 0.1122 | |||
| Lower management | 0.1551 | 0.6973 | Lower management | 0.2027 | 0.5939 | |||
| Middle management | 0.2244 | 0.4116 | Middle management | 0.1601 | 0.5559 | |||
| Upper management | 0.0088 | 0.9778 | Upper management | -0.1118 | 0.7226 | |||
| Self-employed | 0.2504 | 0.5506 | Self-employed | 0.2185 | 0.6314 | |||
| R2 = 0.06467 p = 0.5845 | R2 = 0.0781 p = 0.3989 | |||||||
| Long-term vs. short-term orientation | Variable | B | P-value | |||||
| Intercept | 1.0897 | 0.0002 | ||||||
| Long-term orientation | 0.0436 | 0.4271 | ||||||
| Age < 30 | - | - | ||||||
| Age 30–39 | -0.1051 | 0.6546 | ||||||
| Age 40–49 | -0.1010 | 0.6473 | ||||||
| Age 50–59 | -0.5994 | 0.0171 | ||||||
| Age < 60 | 0.1509 | 0.7566 | ||||||
| Gender | -0.0085 | 0.96632 | ||||||
| Employee | ||||||||
| Project manager | 0.6473 | 0.0962 | ||||||
| Lower management | 0.1483 | 0.6880 | ||||||
| Middle management | 0.2554 | 0.3392 | ||||||
| Upper management | -0.0130 | 0.9670 | ||||||
| Self-employed | 0.2659 | 0.5154 | ||||||
| R2 = 0.06969 p = 0.5126 | ||||||||