Interdisciplinary Journal of Management Studies

Interdisciplinary Journal of Management Studies

Rethinking Conflict-response Styles: Overlooked Possibilities and New Perspectives

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
1 Independent academic researcher and author, Albury NSW, Australia
2 Management Department, Faculty of Humanities, University of Zanjan Zanjan, Iran
10.22059/ijms.2026.398711.677808
Abstract
This research challenges the pervasive notion that there are five conflict-response (CR) styles. After canvassing deficiencies in the predominant conceptualizations and measurement of CR styles, five additional styles were proposed. Foundations for measuring the 10 styles were refined in a series of pilot studies, then data representing all 10 styles were obtained from 1,326 participants. Confirmatory factor analyses supported neither the conventional five CR styles nor the 10 styles we had proposed. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) indicated the presence of five styles in the data, and that a new style, characterized by careful analysis of situations, was predominant; the conventional styles either merged into, or were enriched by, components of the new styles we had proposed. These styles were termed analytic, discourteous, avoidant, considerate, and cooperative, respectively. Although the CR styles that emerged in our EFAs might not be consistent across samples, they demonstrate the need to entertain richer, more complex, and more constructive styles than the styles that have become encrusted in the popular conceptions about people’s responses to conflict. Our findings raise the possibility that there are more than five distinct CR styles, and the results show new ways of responding to conflict.
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Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 25 August 2026