Work

Safety in the Storm: Interactive Effects of Conflict Types on Psychological Safety

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Task conflict should, theoretically, benefit team outcomes, yet prior research has yielded inconsistent results. We propose this inconsistency reflects configurations of conflict types (task, relationship, process) within teams. Though these types have been examined in isolation or pairwise, their three-way interaction remains unexplored. Using multilevel modeling on 34,668 individuals (7,891 teams), we tested conflict types’ three-way interaction on psychological safety. Results revealed task conflict was positively related to psychological safety when relationship and process conflict were low, but negatively related when relationship conflict was high, regardless of process conflict. Findings underscore conflict configurations’ role in conflict theory and practice.

Source: Small Group Research

DOI: 10.1177/10464964261471507

Authors: Emily S. Redler, David J. Woehr, Misty L. Loughry, Matthew W. Ohland

Institutions: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Gettysburg College, Rollins College, Purdue University West Lafayette

Language: English

Topic: Team Dynamics and Performance

Subfield: Social Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

Open Access status: bronze

Funder: National Science Foundation

Award: Track 2: Assessing Student Satisfaction and Engagement in Teams (ASSET): An Empirical Review and Scale Development