IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/grdene/v24y2015i6d10.1007_s10726-014-9424-4.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Influence of Top Management Team Conflict on Firm Innovativeness

Author

Listed:
  • Carmen Camelo-Ordaz

    (University of Cádiz)

  • Joaquín García-Cruz

    (Pablo de Olavide University)

  • Elena Sousa-Ginel

    (Pablo de Olavide University)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze how the task and relationship conflicts that arise during the decision-making process within top management teams affect firm innovativeness, as well as the moderating role performed by behavioural integration. Specifically, we propose that behavioural integration helps to reduce the negative effects of conflict, reducing the likelihood of task conflict triggering relationship conflict and reinforcing the benefits of task conflict on firm innovativeness. Using a sample of 64 top management teams of Spanish firms, we find that relationship conflict fully mediates the negative effect of task conflict on firm innovativeness. In addition, behavioural integration moderates the direct effect of task conflict on firm innovativeness, making it more constructive. We conclude that high correlations between the dimensions of conflict will mask the potential benefits of task conflict, unless appropriate mechanisms to manage conflict exist within the top management team.

Suggested Citation

  • Carmen Camelo-Ordaz & Joaquín García-Cruz & Elena Sousa-Ginel, 2015. "The Influence of Top Management Team Conflict on Firm Innovativeness," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 957-980, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:grdene:v:24:y:2015:i:6:d:10.1007_s10726-014-9424-4
    DOI: 10.1007/s10726-014-9424-4
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10726-014-9424-4
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10726-014-9424-4?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Wit, Frank R.C. & Jehn, Karen A. & Scheepers, Daan, 2013. "Task conflict, information processing, and decision-making: The damaging effect of relationship conflict," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 177-189.
    2. Haiyang Li & Jun Li, 2009. "Top management team conflict and entrepreneurial strategy making in China," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 263-283, June.
    3. Wendy K. Smith & Michael L. Tushman, 2005. "Managing Strategic Contradictions: A Top Management Model for Managing Innovation Streams," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 16(5), pages 522-536, October.
    4. David P. Tegarden & Linda F. Tegarden & Steven D. Sheetz, 2009. "Cognitive Factions in a Top Management Team: Surfacing and Analyzing Cognitive Diversity using Causal Maps," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 18(6), pages 537-566, November.
    5. Guoquan Chen & Chunhong Liu & Dean Tjosvold, 2005. "Conflict Management for Effective Top Management Teams and Innovation in China," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 277-300, March.
    6. Matsuo, Makoto, 2006. "Customer orientation, conflict, and innovativeness in Japanese sales departments," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 242-250, February.
    7. Talke, Katrin & Salomo, Sören & Rost, Katja, 2010. "How top management team diversity affects innovativeness and performance via the strategic choice to focus on innovation fields," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(7), pages 907-918, September.
    8. Fernando Martin-Alcazar & Pedro M. Romero-Fernandez & Gonzalo Sanchez-Gardey, 2012. "Effects of Diversity on Group Decision-Making Processes: The Moderating Role of Human Resource Management," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 677-701, September.
    9. Parayitam, Satyanarayana & Dooley, Robert S., 2009. "The interplay between cognitive- and affective conflict and cognition- and affect-based trust in influencing decision outcomes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 62(8), pages 789-796, August.
    10. Karen A. Jehn & Lindred Greer & Sheen Levine & Gabriel Szulanski, 2008. "The Effects of Conflict Types, Dimensions, and Emergent States on Group Outcomes," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 17(6), pages 465-495, November.
    11. Karen A. Bantel & Susan E. Jackson, 1989. "Top management and innovations in banking: Does the composition of the top team make a difference?," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(S1), pages 107-124, June.
    12. Theresa S. Cho & Donald C. Hambrick, 2006. "Attention as the Mediator Between Top Management Team Characteristics and Strategic Change: The Case of Airline Deregulation," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 17(4), pages 453-469, August.
    13. Peterson, Randall S. & Behfar, Kristin Jackson, 2003. "The dynamic relationship between performance feedback, trust, and conflict in groups: A longitudinal study," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 92(1-2), pages 102-112.
    14. Jeffrey G. Covin & Dennis P. Slevin, 1989. "Strategic management of small firms in hostile and benign environments," Strategic Management Journal, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 10(1), pages 75-87, January.
    15. Ann C. Mooney & Patricia J. Holahan & Allen C. Amason, 2007. "Don't Take It Personally: Exploring Cognitive Conflict as a Mediator of Affective Conflict," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 44(5), pages 733-758, July.
    16. Zeki Simsek & John F. Veiga & Michael Lubatkin & Richard N. Dino, 2005. "Modeling the Multilevel Determinants of Top management Team Behavorial Integration," Post-Print hal-02311805, HAL.
    17. Greer, Lindred L. & Caruso, Heather M. & Jehn, Karen A., 2011. "The bigger they are, the harder they fall: Linking team power, team conflict, and performance," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 116(1), pages 116-128, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Franke, Henrik & Foerstl, Kai, 2018. "Fostering integrated research on organizational politics and conflict in teams: A cross-phenomenal review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 593-607.
    2. Bedford, David & Bisbe, Josep & Sweeney, Breda, 2022. "Enhancing external knowledge search: The influence of performance measurement system design on the absorptive capacity of top management teams," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 118(C).
    3. Martin Ratzmann & Robin Pesch & Ricarda Bouncken & Carla Martínez Climent, 2018. "The Price of Team Spirit for Sensemaking Through Task Discourse in Innovation Teams," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 27(3), pages 321-341, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Juan Pablo Diánez-González & Carmen Camelo-Ordaz, 2016. "How management team composition affects academic spin-offs’ entrepreneurial orientation: the mediating role of conflict," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 41(3), pages 530-557, June.
    2. Smaranda Boroş & Lore Gorp & Brecht Cardoen & Robert Boute, 2017. "Breaking Silos: A Field Experiment on Relational Conflict Management in Cross-Functional Teams," Group Decision and Negotiation, Springer, vol. 26(2), pages 327-356, March.
    3. Kanchanabha, Bhawini & Badir, Yuosre F., 2021. "Top management Team's cognitive diversity and the Firm's ambidextrous innovation capability: The mediating role of ambivalent interpretation," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    4. Asghar Afshar Jahanshahi & Alexander Brem, 2017. "Sustainability in SMEs: Top Management Teams Behavioral Integration as Source of Innovativeness," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, October.
    5. Franke, Henrik & Foerstl, Kai, 2018. "Fostering integrated research on organizational politics and conflict in teams: A cross-phenomenal review," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 593-607.
    6. Hutzschenreuter, Thomas & Horstkotte, Julian, 2013. "Performance effects of international expansion processes: The moderating role of top management team experiences," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 259-277.
    7. Lee, Jangwook & Chung, Jiyoon, 2022. "Women in top management teams and their impact on innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    8. Jiunyan Wu & Tomoki Sekiguchi, 2020. "A multilevel and dynamic model of intragroup conflict and decision making: application of agent-based modeling," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-26, December.
    9. Koryak, Oksana & Lockett, Andy & Hayton, James & Nicolaou, Nicos & Mole, Kevin, 2018. "Disentangling the antecedents of ambidexterity: Exploration and exploitation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 47(2), pages 413-427.
    10. Somendra Narayan & Jatinder S. Sidhu & Henk W. Volberda, 2021. "From Attention to Action: The Influence of Cognitive and Ideological Diversity in Top Management Teams on Business Model Innovation," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 58(8), pages 2082-2110, December.
    11. Christopher Kurzhals & Lorenz Graf‐Vlachy & Andreas König, 2020. "Strategic leadership and technological innovation: A comprehensive review and research agenda," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 437-464, November.
    12. Bedford, David S. & Bisbe, Josep & Sweeney, Breda, 2019. "Performance measurement systems as generators of cognitive conflict in ambidextrous firms," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 21-37.
    13. Michaela Wrede & Tobias Dauth, 2020. "A temporal perspective on the relationship between top management team internationalization and firms' innovativeness," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(4), pages 542-561, June.
    14. Elfi Baillien & Jeroen Camps & Anja Van den Broeck & Jeroen Stouten & Lode Godderis & Maarten Sercu & Hans De Witte, 2016. "An Eye for an Eye Will Make the Whole World Blind: Conflict Escalation into Workplace Bullying and the Role of Distributive Conflict Behavior," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 137(2), pages 415-429, August.
    15. Kuriakose, Vijay & S, Sreejesh & Jose, Heerah, 2020. "Examining the Mechanisms Linking Work-Related Conflicts and Employee Well-Being: A Mediation Model," American Business Review, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, vol. 23(2), pages 260-282, November.
    16. Yuanyuan Hu & Shouming Chen & Jian Wang, 2018. "Managerial Humanistic Attention and CSR: Do Firm Characteristics Matter?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-18, November.
    17. Lukasz Derdowski & Torvald Øgaard & Einar Marnburg & Gro Ellen Mathisen, 2018. "Creative and innovative behaviours of corporate directors: an elusive role of task-related conflicts," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 22(4), pages 1045-1069, December.
    18. Michele N. Medina & Indu Ramachandran & Joshua J. Daspit, 2019. "Collaboration Or Clash? Mapping The Effects Of Top Management Team Conflict On Firm Absorptive Capacity," International Journal of Innovation Management (ijim), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 1-29, April.
    19. Ayesha Rashid khan & Muhammad Hassan, 2022. "Understanding the Role of Ethical Leadership and Workplace Conflicts a Mediation Moderation Model: A Time-Lagged Study," iRASD Journal of Management, International Research Alliance for Sustainable Development (iRASD), vol. 4(2), pages 221-242, june.
    20. Kerwin, Shannon & Walker, Matthew B. & Bopp, Trevor, 2017. "When faultlines are created: Exploring the conflict triggering process in sport," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 252-260.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:grdene:v:24:y:2015:i:6:d:10.1007_s10726-014-9424-4. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.