A within-individual study of interpersonal conflict as a work stressor: dispositional and situational moderators

Focusing on interpersonal conflict as a work stressor, the authors used a within-subjects research design to examine the effect of conflict episodes on employees' negative affect on the job. The roles of agreeableness and social support in moderating the negative effects of conflict episodes were also examined. A two-week experience-sampling study revealed that interpersonal conflict influenced employees' intraindividual fluctuations in negative affect. As predicted, agreeableness and social support influenced individuals' patterns of affective responses to conflict, such that conflict was more strongly associated with negative affect for agreeable employees, and for those with lower levels of social support at work. Overall, the results suggest that both personality (agreeableness) and context (social support) significantly moderate the affective implications of interpersonal conflict at work. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.