When Business Becomes Personal: The Catalyst Implication of Subgroup Perception Underlying the Co-Occurrence of Task and Relationship Conflict

Abstract

In the study we investigated the transformation process from task conflict to relationship conflict, and the condition under which task conflict is more likely to evolve into relationship conflict. Based on Social Identity Theory, when differing opinions originate from outgroup rather than ingroup members, researcher propose team members are inclined to misattribute the conflicting behavioral motivation, which may be the reason that task conflict evokes relationship conflict. We conducted two studies to test our hypothesis. In study 1, 60 four-person teams participated in our simulated task. In study 2, we employed 45 operational teams to further confirm our hypothesis and validate the generalization of the results. The results of both studies support our hypothesis that under a high level of perceived subgroup, task conflict more likely transform into relationship conflict, which repeatedly confirms the argument that information source is indeed valuable than the information quality. Finally, theoretical implications and new insights are offered.

Keywords: task conflict, relationship conflict, misattribution, subgroup perception