The influence of conflict management styles on relationship quality: The moderating effect of the level of task conflict

Conflicts between owners and contractors in the construction industry will greatly affect their relationship quality, thereby affecting the performance of the project. This study aims to examine the relation between conflict management styles and relationship quality and the moderating effect of the level of task conflict on the relation between conflict management styles and relationship quality. Drawing on data from 165 questionnaires distributed to owners and contractors in the construction industry, multiple regressions were used to test the hypotheses. The research results show that the integrating style is positively related to relationship quality, whereas the compromising style is negatively related to relationship quality. In addition, with an increase in the level of task conflict, the positive effect of the obliging style on relationship quality will be weakened and the positive effect of the avoiding style will be strengthened. (C) 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.