Don’t Isolate Yourself in Workplace: A Serial Mediation Model of How Does Relationship Conflict Reduce Knowledge Employee’s Creativity

Abstract

Past studies have revealed that relationship conflict has negative effects on individual performance. To avoid the losses caused by such conflicts, individuals often choose to avoid interacting with coworkers instead of confronting the issues. However, our present study sheds light on the dark side of this avoidance strategy: it may diminish an individual’s creativity. Our study aimed to examine the appropriate response for knowledge employees when faced with relationship conflict. The results indicate that relationship conflict triggers a sequential response, which significantly hampers the creativity of knowledge employees. Specifically, coworker ostracism and knowledge hoarding play serial mediating roles in the impact of relationship conflict on the creativity of knowledge employees. Furthermore, the level of emotional intelligence determines the ability of knowledge employees to effectively manage the negative consequences of relationship conflict. The results provide theoretical and practical insights that help to better explain the impact of relationship conflict on creativity.