Interpersonal conflict at work and psychological outcomes: testing a model among young workers

On the basis of A. P. Fiske's (1992) general theory of social relations, a model of interpersonal conflict at work was developed and tested in a sample of young workers. The model predicts that conflict with supervisors is predictive of organizationally relevant psychological outcomes (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions), whereas conflict with coworkers is predictive of personally relevant psychological outcomes (depression, self-esteem, and somatic symptoms). Data were obtained from a sample of 319 individuals ages 16 to 19 years. Structural equation modeling results supported the hypothesized relations. Secondary regression analysis of 2 data sets from M. A. Donovan, F. Drasgow, and L. J. Munson (1998) provides initial support for the generalizability of the hypothesized model to older employees.