From Conflict to Interpersonal Strain in Work Teams: The Moderating Role of Leader’s Interpersonal Response Modulation and Sex

Purpose - As social and emotional demands at work are increasing, the factors underpinning interpersonal strain at work (ISW) – a core facet of burnout involving a defensive disengagement from others - are still largely unknown. The present study examined a conceptual multilevel model predicting a positive individual association between conflict (CONF; perceived incompatibilities or disagreements among team members) and ISW, and the leader’s interpersonal response modulation (IRM; downregulating or suppressing the display of others’ negative emotions) as a team-level moderating condition. We also investigated whether this cross-level interaction effect was further affected by leader’s sex. Method - Data were collected from 236 white collars nested in 48 teams (Msize = 6.23; SDsize = 2.69) and their team leaders (56.7% men) of a large organization providing financial services. ISW and CONF were rated by team members. Team leaders rated their use of IRM on coworkers. Multilevel modeling was employed. Findings - Results showed that team members who perceived higher CONF displayed more ISW. In a two-way cross-level interaction, we found that this association occurred only when the leader’s IRM was high. Results unveiled a strong three-way cross-level interaction with leader’s sex, such that the prediction of ISW was exacerbated when the team leader was a woman. In the sequential test of our predictions, model fit progressively improved. Theoretical implications - Our study adds to burnout and conflict literature, as it is the first to identify leaders’ IRM and sex as key team conditions under which CONF is related to ISW. Practical implications – Our results emphasize the importance of designing interventions to develop leaders' awareness and skills as emotional managers. Organizational actions to deconstruct emotional expectations toward women managers are suggested. Strenghts & Limitations – Self-report measures were obtained from different sources of information. Cross-sectional nature of the data.