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Conflict management styles,

emotional intelligence, and job
performance in public
organizations
Hsi-An Shih and Ely Susanto
College of Management, Institute of International Business,
National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

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Received 11 October 2008
Accepted 25 May 2009

Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships among emotional intelligence
(EI), conflict management styles (CMSs) and job performance at selected local governments in
Indonesia. Specifically, the antecedent of CMSs was investigated.
Design/methodology/approach A total of 300 government employees from two local districts
and one province in Indonesia were asked to complete the questionnaire. The final sample consisted of
228 respondents. The multiple hierarchical regression was used to test the developed hypotheses.
Findings The findings indicate that EI was an antecedent of conflict management styles for
integrating and compromising styles. Moreover, they illustrate the direct effects of integrating style on
job performance. This study also confirms that integrating style partially mediates the relationship
between EI and job performance. Finally, the results demonstrate that EI within public organizations
has an impact on job performance similar to that of EI within private organizations.
Originality/value Previous studies were less focused on the antecedents of conflict management
styles on job performance. Further, the effects of two conflict management styles on EI and job
performance had previously lacked attention. The paper verifies that EI within public sectors can
provide beneficial results as discovered in private organizations.
Keywords Emotional intelligence, Conflict management, Management styles,
Public sector organizations, Local government, Indonesia
Paper type Research paper

Conflict is a phenomenon that has continued to present itself within organizations

(Jehn, 1995; Kim et al., 2007). Individuals involved in organizations are subject to
conflict, whether conscious or unconscious, and the impact of conflict is unavoidable,
either positive or negative ( Jehn, 1997). Sometimes conflicts within organizations have
led to disturbed routines, and decreased productivity and satisfaction (Gladstein, 1984;
Wall and Nolan, 1986; Jehn, 1995). However, through conflicts, an organization has the
potential to enhance its quality of decision making, creativity and performance ( Jehn,
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Academy of
Management (AOM), Philadelphia. The authors wish to thank Editor Richard A. Posthuma,
three anonymous reviewers, Jason D. Shaw, Chung-Jen Cheng, Hsueh-Liang Wu, Wann-Yih Wu,
and Master in Public Policy and Administration Program, Gadjah Mada University (MAP UGM
Yogyakarta, Indonesia) for their helpful comments on earlier versions and support. Their
contributions helped enormously in improving this article.

International Journal of Conflict

Management
Vol. 21 No. 2, 2010
pp. 147-168
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1044-4068
DOI 10.1108/10444061011037387

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1997; Leung and Tjosvold, 1998; Tjosvold, 1998). Since conflict has important
implications for organization and performance, but the literature shows inconsistent
findings, it is necessary to reexamine the causes and effects of this important
organizational variable.
Conflict management styles (CMSs) have been described as specific behavioral
patterns that individuals prefer to employ when dealing with conflict (Moberg, 2001,
p. 47). A previous study divided CMSs into five styles: integrating, obliging,
dominating, avoiding, and compromising (Rahim, 1983). Research suggests that there
is a preference for individuals to use the integrating style and the compromising style
when facing conflicts (Trubisky et al., 1991; Lee, 2003). Gross and Guerrero (2000)
proposed that the integrating style was a more effective form of conflict management
style when compared with other CMSs. Even though integrating and compromising
styles are more likely to be used, few studies have investigated the antecedents of these
CMSs (Terhune, 1970; Antonioni, 1998). Among the limited research, Antonioni (1998)
investigated the role of personality as an antecedent of CMSs. It was found that the role
of extraversion, conscientiousness, openness, and agreeableness were important
predictors of the integrating style.
In this study, we applied EI as an antecedent of conflict management styles in terms
of integrating as well as compromising styles. The use of EI was based on the notion
that emotionally intelligent people regard their own emotions and the emotions of
others as a basis in framing their relationships with other people (Mayer and Salovey,
1993, 1997). This characteristic might generate a sympathetic feeling (Mayer et al.,
1999; Schutte et al., 2001) that encourages individuals to consider other interests when
they want to solve conflicts. In this situation, a win-win solution may become a priority
in resolving the conflicts among individuals in order to satisfy everyones interests.
Although previous studies have shown that the integrating and compromising
styles are preferred when people face conflicts (e.g. Lee, 2003; Trubisky et al., 1991), the
direct impacts of those two styles on job performance are under-researched. Rahim et al.
(2001) contended the linkage between CMSs and job performance, but this relationship
has not been tested directly. Other studies discussed the positive effects of integrating
and compromising styles on conflict resolutions (Hocker and Wilmot, 1998; Gross and
Guerrero, 2000), but not on job performance. This may cause theoretical limitation in
explaining why individuals prefer to use integrating and compromising styles when
resolving conflicts, particularly its relation with job performance. This study therefore
wants to close the theoretical gap and aim to identify the connection between
integrating and compromising CMSs and job performance.
Several researchers have argued that EI had a positive effect on job performance
(Slaski and Cartwright, 2003; Bar-On, 1997; Goleman, 1995, 1997, 1998; Law et al., 2008)
and sales performance (Wong et al., 2004). However, they provide little information on
the underlying mechanism through which EI affects job performance. We expect that
the effect of EI on job performance may be related to integrating or compromising
style. This idea was based on the fact that conflicts are unavoidable at the workplace
( Jehn, 1995), but should be solved properly in order to positively affect job
performance. On the other hand, emotionally intelligent people who have the ability to
manage emotion may help them optimize cognitive processing in order to discover and
utilize positive opportunities (Andrade and May, 2004) in resolving conflicts on job
performance while avoiding the negative outcomes. Hence, emotionally intelligent

people may select integrating or compromising styles as those styles may be able to
produce positive affects on job performance.
To investigate the relationship between EI, CMSs, and job performance, we
collected data on respondents working in the public sector. After reviewing the extant
literature, we found that previous research has not focused on the relationship between
EI, CMSs, and job performance within the public sector (Jordan and Troth, 2004;
Rahim et al., 2001). We argue that the application of management knowledge should
not be confined to the domain of private organizations. EI, CMSs and job performance
research should be extended to the domain of public organizations so as to generalize
research findings. Even though private and public organizations are alike in dealing
with basic management principles, they are different in their goals in terms of
self-interest versus social welfare (Rainey and Chun, 2005). In addition, Denhardt (1991,
p. 15) further explicates the differences between private and public organizations in
term of ambiguity, pluralistic decision making and visibility. Those differences may
create different tensions among employees at those sectors, leading to different
behaviors. This study therefore expects to verify whether EI can provide beneficial
results discovered in private organizations.
Literature review and developed hypotheses
Emotional intelligence
The concept of social intelligence developed by Thorndike (1920) has been recognized
as one of the basic principles of EI (Hedlund and Sternberg, 2000; Landy, 2005; Wong
and Law, 2002; Law et al., 2004). Specifically, social intelligence refers to the ability to
perceive ones own and others internal states, motives and behaviors and to act toward
them optimally on the basis of that information (Mayer and Salovey, 1993, p. 435). A
similar idea was developed by Gardner (1993). He proposed that individuals possessed
multiple intelligences of which social intelligence was one (Law et al., 2004).
Based on social intelligence, Salovey and Mayer (1990) defined EI as the subset of
social intelligence that involves the ability of individuals to monitor feelings and
emotions as well as to discriminate among them and to use this information to guide
their thinking processes (Salovey and Mayer, 1990, p.189). In 1997, they further
revised it as the ability to perceive accurately, appraise, and express emotion; the
ability to access and/or generate feelings when they facilitate thought; the ability to
understand emotion and emotional knowledge; and the ability to regulate emotions to
promote emotional and intellectual growth (Mayer and Salovey, 1997, p. 10). Then
some scholars labeled it as the ability-based model of EI (e.g. Mayer et al., 2000;
Petrides and Furnham, 2001; Meyer and Fletcher, 2007; Day and Carroll, 2008; Zeidner
et al., 2008; Kafetsios and Zampetakis, 2008). The abilities itself reflect the possible
variations over individuals in the minimal [threshold] levels of task difficulty. . . at
which, on any given occasion in which all conditions appear to be favorable,
individuals perform successfully on a defined class of tasks (Carroll, 1993, p. 8).
As an ability-based model, EI has several characteristics. First, it consists of
interrelated abilities that make people skillful in managing their own emotion and
comprehending other peoples emotion for producing better behaviors and thoughts
(Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Davies et al., 1998; Ng et al., 2007; Mayer et al., 2008).
Second, EI is an intelligence (Mayer et al., 2000; Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Mayer et al.,
2004; Goldenberg et al., 2006) that has the potential to improve over time (Cote and

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Miners, 2006, p. 4). As an intelligence, EI is different from personality trait (Brackett

and Mayer, 2003; Law et al., 2004; Freudenthaler and Neubauer, 2007). Third, EI will
advance in line with the development of age and experience of people (Goldenberg et al.,
2006; Cote and Miners, 2006).
Different from the ability-based model, the trait-based model conceptualizes EI as
dispositions that is different from cognitive abilities (Petrides and Furnham, 2001). It
consists of a broad arrange of non-cognitive abilities as stated by Bar-On (1997).
Bar-On (1997, p. 14) referred EI as an array of noncognitive capabilities, competencies,
and skills that influence ones ability to succeed in coping with environmental demands
and pressures. In line with Bar-Ons (1997) ideas, other scholars regard EI as a
constellation of behavioural dispositions and self-perceptions concerning ones ability
to recognize, process and utilise emotion-laden information (Zampetakis et al., 2008, p.
4). It reveals the extent to which a person perceives his or her abilities toward
managing and using his or her emotion information to benefit from it. The literature of
trait-based EI also claim that EI is part of personality and locates at the bottom of
personality rank (Petrides and Furnham, 2001; Sevdalis et al., 2007).
The distinction between the ability-based and trait-based model of EI reflects the
reality within EI research on existing disagreement toward the construct of EI. This
distinction is not only to create the problem in EI definition but also in its
measurements and results (Petrides and Furnham, 2003). As a consequence it
generates the dispute around the measurement approach even though the underlying
theories are not different (Petrides and Furnham, 2003, 2006). This dispute roots from
the fact that those two different models of EI manufacture two different constructs of
EI that lead to differences in the operational definition (Petrides and Furnham, 2003).
But, this distinction definition of EI should not confine us to develop EI research
because these definitions tend to be complementary rather than contradictory
(Ciarrochi et al., 2000, p. 540).
In this study, we follow the definition provided by Davies et al. (1998). Their
definition was not only based on Mayer and Saloveys (1997) definition (Wong and
Law, 2002; Law et al., 2004, Law et al., 2008) but also based on a comprehensive study
of EI literature (Law et al., 2008). According to Davies et al. (1998), EI is defined in term
of four dimensions appraisal and expression of emotion in the self. . .appraisal and
recognition of emotions in others. . . regulation of emotion in the self and others . . . the
use of emotion to facilitate performance (Davies et al., 1998, pp. 990-991). The
appraisal and expression of emotion in the self refers to ones abilities to evaluate and
express his or her emotion while the appraisal and recognition of emotions in others
demonstrates the abilities to better evaluate and recognize the emotions of other people.
The regulation of emotion in ones self and others is related to ones abilities to better
regulate his or her emotion and the emotion of others. Finally, the use of emotion to
facilitate performance is related to ones abilities to use his or her emotion to achieve
better personal performance and behaviors (Davies et al., 1998; Law et al., 2004).
Styles of handling interpersonal conflict
Wall and Callister (1995, p. 517) described conflict as the process in which one party
perceives that its interests are being opposed or negatively affected by another party.
Rahim (1992, p. 16) defined it as the interactive process manifested in compatibility,
disagreement, or dissonance within or between social entities. Based on such

definitions, we state that conflict occurs when people perceive that their interests are
not well-matched with other people in a group, firm, or society.
There are various styles of handling interpersonal conflict. Follett (1940) suggested
that there are five different styles of conflict management: domination, compromise,
integration avoidance and suppression. On the other hand, Blake and Mouton proposed
a number of different styles of handling interpersonal conflict such as: forcing,
withdrawing, smoothing, compromising, and problem solving (Blake and Mouton,
1964; Rahim, 2002). Based on two criteria: concern for self and concern for others,
Rahim (1983) divided styles of handling interpersonal conflict into five: integrating,
obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising.
Specifically, the integrating style is characterized by individuals who have a high
concern for themselves and for others, whereas individuals using an obliging style
have a low concern for self and high concern for others. Those utilizing a dominating
style have a high concern for self and low concern for others, while the avoiding style is
characterized by a low concern for self and others. The compromising style has a
medium concern for self and others (Rahim et al., 2002). Those typologies have been
developed from the dual-concern model, which is a focal architecture in the conflict
management literature (Sorenson et al., 1999, p. 25).
Of those five conflict management styles, this study focused on the integrating and
compromising style by two reasons. First, people have their own preference of conflict
management styles when dealing with such conflicts (Sternberg and Soriano, 1984).
Previous research found that integrating and compromising styles are the most
preferred styles of individuals when they face conflicts (Trubisky et al., 1991; Lee,
2003). Second, the literature also showed that both styles have positive impact on
promotion, productivity and job performance (Blake and Mouton, 1964; Lawrence and
Lorsch, 1967; Jamieson and Thomas;, 1974; Jordan and Troth, 2002). However, Rahim
(2000, p. 5) argued the weakness of this stream of studies and stated that
unfortunately studies on conflict resolution did not provide any clear link between
conflict management strategies and effectiveness. It is therefore necessary to
reexamine the causes and effects of those integrating and compromising styles.
Emotional intelligence and conflict management styles
According to Gross and Guerrero (2000), the integrating style has been considered a
valuable way to manage interactions with other individuals in conflict situations,
facilitating proper resolution of conflict and producing more productive results. For
example, the integrating and compromising styles were the styles most frequently
used by Korean respondents when they faced conflicts (Ting-Toomey et al., 1991; Cho
and Park, 1998). Scholars have noted that EI plays an important role in resolving
conflict functionally (Borisoff and Victor, 1998; Jordan and Troth, 2002, 2004). Jordan
and Troth (2004, p. 196) argued that the ability to be aware of and manage emotions is
also thought to facilitate functional than dysfunctional, conflict resolution and
consequently contribute to better team performance. We therefore assume that EI
may lead people to choose more advantageous styles of handling interpersonal
conflicts using the integrating and compromising styles. This is derived from the fact
that emotionally intelligent people have the ability to better manage and regulate their
own emotions and the emotions of others (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Davies et al., 1998;
Ng et al., 2007; Mayer et al., 2008). In addition, emotionally intelligent people are those

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who consider their own emotions and the emotions of others as a basis in framing their
relationships with other people (Mayer and Salovey, 1993, 1997).
This characteristic might generate the empathy (Mayer et al., 1999; Schute et al.,
2001) that encourages individuals to consider other interests when they want to solve
conflicts. Moreover, this empathy can lead people to be altruistic (Singer and Fehr,
2005; Declerck and Bogaert, 2008), cognizant of the existence of other people needs
(Kamdar et al., 2006) and more skillful in anticipating what other people will behave
and act (Singer and Fehr, 2005; Declerck and Bogaert, 2008). With these characteristics,
emotionally intelligent people may regard other peoples needs and interests in solving
conflict. Thus, a win-win solution produced by integrating and compromising styles
may become a priority in resolving the conflicts among individuals in order to satisfy
everyones interests.
In addition, emotionally intelligent people are more like to select integrating and
compromising styles because those styles may have more beneficial outcomes in terms
of the efficacy and suitability (Gross and Guerrero, 2000). This idea departs from the
notion that the whole point of emotion was to alert us to danger or to opportunity and
to focus our cognitive processing upon it (Andrade and May, 2004, p. 216). This may
lead to the signal that emotionally intelligent people may have abilities to plainly think
and focus on more advantageous styles of handling interpersonal conflicts as those will
benefit for them. As integrating and compromising styles have positive effects on
conflict resolution (Hocker and Wilmot, 1998; Gross and Guerrero, 2000), we expect
that the integrating and comprising styles may become a preference for a person high
in EI in solving conflicts. Based on the foregoing arguments we developed the
following hypotheses:
H1. Emotional intelligence is positively associated with integrating style.
H2. Emotional intelligence is positively associated with compromising style.
Conflict management styles and job performance
Organizational scholars have different perspectives about the relationship between
conflict and organizational performance. Some scholars have contended that
organizational conflict tended to hinder organizational performance and therefore
should be avoided (Merton, 1949; Dyck et al., 1996; Robbins, 1991). Other scholars have
regarded conflict as functional to organizations if it is managed properly (Jehn, 1995,
1997). They argue that conflict has an important role in optimizing organizational
performance through developing critical evaluation which decreases the groupthink
phenomenon by increasing thoughtful consideration of criticism and alternative
solutions (Jehn, 1995, p. 260). To make conflict more productive, Jordan and Troth
(2002) further suggest that the style used to handle interpersonal conflict is a crucial
factor in successful conflict resolution.
The integrating style of conflict management improves job performance when the
solution to a conflict would benefit both parties. Both conflicting parties are
encouraged to satisfy their interests through exchanging information (Meyer, 2004).
Satisfaction from resolving conflicts may lead individuals to exert greater efforts in
achieving performance. For example, Weider-Hatfield and Hatfield (1995) found that
the integrating style had a strong association with job satisfaction and job
performance. However, that study did not provide any clear link between integrating

style and job performance so that it lacked of theoretical and practical explanations.
Rahim et al. (2001) also demonstrated that problem solving measured in terms of using
more integrating style and less avoiding style, had a positive effect on the job
performance.
Although no empirical studies have presented the connection between
compromising style and job performance, many studies have found that employees
prefer to use the compromising style in resolving conflict (e.g. Lee, 2003; Trubisky et al.,
1991). Kim et al. (2007) compared three different groups in term of conflict management
styles at the workplace and found that the compromising style was used often when
conflicts existed between employees and supervisors. The compromising style may
produce beneficial results due to the fact that this style helps conflicting people quickly
find solutions and provide benefits to both sides through concessions (Hocker and
Wilmot, 1998; Gross and Guerrero, 2000; Rahim, 2002). Quick and acceptable solutions
resulting from using the compromising style may simulate individuals to exert greater
effort in achieving performance. Based on those arguments, we propose that both the
integrating and compromising styles of conflict resolution will be positively related to
job performance.
H3. Integrating style is positively associated with job performance.
H4. Compromising style is positively associated with job performance.
Emotional intelligence and job performance
The awareness of ones own and others emotions enables individuals to establish
sound interpersonal relationships with others (Mayer and Salovey, 1993, 1997). People
with this ability, therefore, should be able to recognize and understand what their
emotions are and know how to apply them in improving their relationships with others
(Mayer and Salovey, 1997). Such improved relationships may in turn lead to improved
job performance. In addition, people with high emotional awareness may be more
successful in dealing with uncertainty within their environment (Bar-On, 1997;
Matthews et al., 2002). That ability has been found to have significant effects in
successfully managing stress (Bar-On, 1997; Gabel et al., 2005). Gabel et al. (2005)
suggested that this ability may allow individuals to better control their personal
feelings in dealing with stress, because of conflict issues. High levels of EI have also
been shown to affect individual communication skills (Goleman, 1998; Matthews et al.,
2002). In this case, individuals regard their own emotions and the emotions of others as
a basis to determine which styles are appropriate in communicating with others
(Mayer and Salovey, 1993; Rozell et al., 2004), thus creating a positive occupational
environment (Matthews et al., 2002, p. 480).
Empirically, scholars have supported the positive impacts of EI on job performance
(Goleman, 1998; Law et al., 2004; Mayer et al., 2000; Wong and Law, 2002). In
marketing, EI is argued to be an important factor in increasing sales (Deeter-Schmelz
and Sojka, 2003). A meta-analysis by Van Rooy and Viswesvaran (2004) found that EI
was a key factor in overall job performance. Based on above discussions, the following
hypothesis is developed:
H5. Emotional intelligence is positively associated with job performance.

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Emotional intelligence and job performance: mediating effects of integrating and

compromising styles
As mentioned previously, we argued that there is a positive relationship between EI
and job performance. Previous research has also shown that EI has a positive effect on
both individual performance (Wong and Law, 2002) and team performance (Druskat
and Wolff, 2001; Jordan et al., 2002; Jordan and Troth, 2004). These studies, however,
did not clarify any of the mechanisms involved in EI and job performance. In this
research, we explore the impact of EI on job performance through the integrating and
compromising styles in managing conflict.
A team-based working environment is a common phenomenon in organizations.
Although the diversified backgrounds of the team members are beneficial for
generating new ideas, conflicts are also common in teams (Kabanoff, 1985; Jehn, 1997).
Jehn (1995) argued that conflict could lead to negative effects on performance since
people suffer heavy cognitive loads and decreased cognitive ability. If conflict can be
managed properly, the consequence of functional conflict can stimulate employees to
explore opposing ideas more deeply as well as stimulate new thinking in improving
performance (Dyck et al., 1996; Jehn, 1995, 1997). Emotionally intelligent individuals
may facilitate the selection of an appropriate conflict managing style that enhances
their performance through supporting cognitive tasks (Andrade and May, 2004).
Emotionally intelligent people are more likely to select integrating and
compromising styles because of their efficacy and appropriateness for producing
functional results (Gross and Guerrero, 2000). As mentioned previously, both
integrating and compromising styles may have positive functional effects on job
performance. Such conflict resolution styles can result in solutions that benefit both
parties. As a result it may lead people to exert more efforts to achieve better
performance. On the other hand, EI has been recognized to be able to produce positive
results of solving conflicts ( Jordan and Troth, 2004). The ability to manage emotion
may help people optimize cognitive processing in order to explore and exploit positive
opportunities (Andrade and May, 2004) of conflicts while avoiding the negative
outcomes. Hence, emotionally intelligent people may also select either integrating or
compromising styles when they have conflicts in order to maintain, even enhance their
performance. Therefore, the following hypotheses are developed:
H6. Integrating style will mediate the relationship between EI and job
performance.
H7. Compromising style will mediate the relationship between EI and job
performance.
Methods
Sample
We surveyed 300 government employees from two local districts and one province in
Indonesia. We first mailed an official letter to the top officers of each organization and
then contacted the focal individual by telephone to obtain approval for the data
collection. After approval was granted, a member of the research team visited each
organization and met the leaders of each organization to discuss the data collection
procedure. Then, the questionnaires were distributed by immediate leaders to
respondents. Filled out questionnaires were returned back to the immediate leaders by

putting into a sealed envelope. Then immediate leaders gave directly to a member of
research team.
To be included in the study, respondents should work together in the same room and
interact directly with one another. With this characteristic, it will have strong
implications to individual performances when conflicts surface, even though they are
not working as a team. It is because having conflicts with other people will not only
create high pressures and high tension but also lose their potential resources, for
example asking helps from their friends. If those resources are missing then it may
impact on individual performances because they will not have chances to ask for helps
when having problems with their works. The final sample consisted of 228 respondents.
Most of the respondents were male (65.4 percent) and married (92.1 percent), and the
majority of respondents were college degree holders (41.7 percent). Additionally,
87.3 percent of the respondents had been working for more than ten years.
Measures
Emotional intelligence. We employed a self-report measure of Wong and Law
Emotional Intelligence Scale (WLEIS; Wong and Law, 2002) to measure EI. The
WLEIS consists of 16 items. Sample items included, I have a good sense of why I have
certain feelings most of the time, and I always set goals for myself and then try my
best to achieve them and I am able to control my temper and handle difficulties
rationally. The response format was a seven-point Likert scale with 1 representing
strongly disagree and 7 representing strongly agree. Confirmatory factor analysis
conducted by Wong and Law (2002) declared that EI could be treated as a single
dimension (Wong and Law, 2002). The Cronbach alpha for this scale was 0.92,
indicating that the instrument was reliable.
Conflict management styles. We employed the-11 item scale taken from the Rahim
Organizational Conflict Inventory-II (ROCI-II) (Rahim, 1983) to measure CMSs,
including integrating as well as compromising styles. Sample items included: I
collaborate with my boss to come up with decisions acceptable to us and I try to
integrate my ideas with those of my boss come up with a decision jointly and I try to
find a middle course to resolve an impasse. The response format was a seven-point
Likert scale with 1 representing strongly disagree and 7 representing strongly agree.
Confirmatory factor analysis done by Rahim and Magner (1995) supported the
construct validity of this ROCI II. The Cronbachs alpha for the integrating style and
compromising style was 0.71 and 0.73 respectively.
Job performance. We used five items from Pearce and Porter (1986) to measure
employees job performance. Sample items included overall performance and
completing tasks on time. The response format was a seven-point Likert scale with 1
representing strongly disagree and 7 representing strongly agree. The Cronbachs
alpha for the job performance factor was 0.84.
Although adopting single informant as a data source is popular in management
studies, it incurs the potential for common method bias. To deal with this possible risk
and maintain data quality, we separated the predictor and criterion variables as well as
randomly assign those measurement items in the questionnaire (Podsakoff et al., 2003).
We also conducted a Harmans one-factor test of the influence of common method bias
(Podsakoff and Organ, 1986; Schriesheim, 1979). We entered all of the questionnaire
items into a factor analysis. The results of factor analysis did not point out that there was

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one single factor that accounted for a significant portion of the covariance. That means
that common method variance was not a serious problem in this study (Podsakoff and
Organ, 1986; Schriesheim, 1979). The possibility of non-response bias was checked using
One-way ANOVA. The results showed that the comparison of the early respondents and
late respondents were not significantly different in age, education and seniority.
Although the threat of non-response bias could not be ruled out, this comparison
increased confidence in the representative of the sample (Guthrie, 2001).
Results
Table I displays the means, standard deviations, and correlations among research
variables. For the CMSs, the results showed that the highest mean was the integrating
style (6.06), followed by the compromising style (5.92).
We adopted multiple hierarchical regression to test the developed hypotheses. The
regression results are found in Table II. H1 predicted that emotional intelligence was
positively associated with integrating style whereas H2 stated that emotional
intelligence was positively associated with compromising style. The results shown in
Model 2 and Model 4 of Table II found that emotional intelligence had a positive and
significant relationship with both integrating style (b 0.38, p , 0.001) and
compromising style (b 0.22, p , 0.01) respectively. Therefore, H1 and H2 were
supported.
H3 stated that the integrating style was positively associated with job performance
and H4 predicted that compromising styles was positively associated with job
performance. The results shown in Model 6 of Table II indicated that integrating style
was positively and significantly associated with job performance (b 0.31 p , 0.001),
but the compromising style was not significantly associated with job performance
(b 0.07, p . 0.05). Therefore, H3 was supported and H4 was not supported.
Moreover, H5 stated that EI was positively associated with job performance. The
regression results displayed in Model 7 of Table II indicated that emotional intelligence
had a positive and significant relationship with job performance (b 0.53, p , 0.001).
Thus, H5 was supported.
To test H6 and H7, we followed the steps developed by Baron and Kenny (1986). H6
stated that integrating style would mediate the relationship between emotional
intelligence and job performance. As mentioned above, emotional intelligence was
positively and significantly associated with integrating style at Model 2 and job
performance at Model 7. After inputting those two variables into Model 8, we found the
mediator (the integrating styles) as well as independent variable (emotional
intelligence) had a significant effects on the job performance (b 0.16, p , 0.01;
b 0.47, p , 0.001) in Table II. However, the coefficient of emotional intelligence in
the Model 8 was decreased by 0.06 from 0.53 to 0.47. Hence, it can be concluded that the
integrating style partially mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence
and job performance. We also conducted the Sobel test (Sobel, 1982; Baron and Kenny,
1986; Preacher and Hayes, 2004; Preacher and Leonardelli, 2009) to further test the
significance of the indirect effects of our independent variable. The results of the Sobel
test confirmed that there was no mediation effect (z-value 2.38; p . 0.01). In
addition, those provide further support to the results using Baron and Kennys (1986)
method. Based on those tests, we can conclude that the integrating style partially
mediated the relationship between emotional intelligence and job performance.

1.35
1.95
5.00
4.09
3.83
5.47
6.06
5.92
5.48

Sex
Marital status
Age
Education
Seniority
Emotional intelligence
Integrating style
Compromising style
Job performance

0.48
0.26
1.38
1.10
0.55
0.80
0.59
0.75
0.87

SD

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01; n 228

Mean

Variables
20.031
20.205 * *
20.066
20.099
20.041
0.097
0.026
0.041

0.209 * *
20.122
0.306 * *
20.005
0.003
20.079
20.055

20.278 * *
0.524 * *
20.027
20.073
20.036
20.005

2 0.237 * *
0.186 * *
0.113
0.209 * *
0.153 *

2 0.014
2 0.067
2 0.102
2 0.033

0.374 * *
0.233 * *
0.545 * *

0.223 * *

0.403 * *
0.357 * *

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styles
157

Table I.
Means, standard
deviations, and
correlations for all
variables

Table II.
Results of hierarchical
regression analysis for
predicting job
performance and CMSs
0.17
0.14
7.21 * * *
36.05 * * *

0.03
1.24

0.10
0.03
0.00
0.04
20.05
0.38 * * *

0.11
0.03
20.01
0.12
20.03

Notes: *p , 0.05; * *p , 0.01; * * *p , 0.001; n 228

Sex
Marital status
Age
Education
Seniority
Emotional intelligence
Integrating style
Compromising style
R2
DR 2
F
DF
2.53 * *

0.05

0.04
2 0.05
0.09
0.21 * *
2 0.08

0.10
0.05
4.11 * *
11.42 * *

0.04
2 0.05
0.10
0.17 *
2 0.09
0.22 * *

1.88

0.04

0.08
20.04
0.07
0.20 * *
0.00

Dependent variables
Compromising style
Model 3
Model 4
Model 5
b
b
B

0.31 * * *
0.07
0.16
0.11
5.66 * * *
14.52 * * *

0.04
20.05
0.07
0.15 * *
0.01

Model 6
b

0.31
0.27
16.29 * * *
84.75 * * *

0.07
2 0.05
0.09
0.09
2 0.03
0.53 * * *

Job performance
Model 7
b

158

Independent variables

Integrating style
Model 1
Model 2
b
b

0.33
0.29
15.34 * * *
47.01 * * *

0.05
2 0.06
0.09
0.08
2 0.02
0.47 * * *
0.16 * *

Model 8
b

IJCMA
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The same approach was used to test H7. H7 stated that compromising style would
mediate the relationship between EI and job performance. As mentioned above, the
results shown in Model 6 of Table II revealed that compromising style was not
significant, but positively associated with job performance (b 0.07, p . 0.05). This
result confirmed that one of the requirements from Baron and Kenny (1986) was not
fulfilled so that no further test was needed. Therefore, it can be concluded that
compromising style did not mediate the relationship between EI and job performance.
Then, H7 was not supported.
Discussion and limitations
This study aimed to investigate the relationships among EI, CMSs and job
performance at selected local governments in Indonesia. After analyzing the data from
228 civil servants, this study found that EI could be an antecedent of CMSs in terms of
integrating and compromising style. Moreover, we also illustrated the direct effects of
integrating style on job performance. This study also confirmed that integrating style
could partially mediate the relationship between EI and job performance. Finally, our
results demonstrated that EI had similar roles in public organizations as within private
organizations, specifically for its impact on job performance.
This research was valuable as previous studies were less focused on the antecedents
of conflict management styles, and as a direct test of the effects of conflict management
styles on job performance. Further, the mediating effects of two conflict management
styles (integrating and compromising styles) on EI and job performance had
previously lacked attention. Finally, this research was also valuable, as it had verified
that EI within public sectors could provide beneficial results as discovered in private
organizations.
The results of this study revealed that subordinates at the three selected local
government agencies in Indonesia tended to use integrating style, followed by
compromising style. These results were similar to a previous study by Ting-Toomey
et al. (1991). They found that the integrating style and compromising style were used
the most by Koreans. This finding was also supported by Trubisky et al. (1991) who
argued that in collectivist cultures, people tended to use integrating and compromising
styles more often than in individualist cultures. Such findings are supported within
this study as well. Specifically, Indonesia is a country that is considered to be
collectivist (Hofstede, 1984; Jetten et al., 2002). Maintaining harmony is a major
function of the majority of people in a workplace. A disruption of this harmony could
carry severe consequences, such as isolation from the social relationships within the
workplace. That situation is strengthened by Javanese culture (Java is the biggest
ethnic in Indonesia) that encourages people to maintain harmony and tolerate to other
people (Yumarma, 1996).
This study also found that EI had a significant and positive association with
integrating and compromising styles. EI functioned both as an antecedent for peoples
decision in adopting integrating and compromising styles in conflict. Emotionally
intelligent people were more likely to select both styles because they might have
believed that those styles would solve conflicts productively. It may be driven by the
fact the ability to manage emotion may help people optimize their cognitive tasks to
decide which style can resolve conflicts with positive functional results (Andrade and
May, 2004). In addition, emotionally intelligent people tends to consider their own and

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160

the emotions of others as a basis in framing their relationships with other people
(Mayer and Salovey, 1993, 1997). These characteristics may lead people to always put
other peoples interests as an important consideration in solving conflicts. Thus, a
win-win solution produced by integrating and compromising styles may become a
priority in resolving the conflicts among individuals in order to satisfy everyones
interests.
We also found that the integrating style was positively and significantly associated
with job performance. With this integrating style, people expected to produce a
win-win solution so that it would be beneficial to both conflicting parties (Meyer, 2004).
In addition to that, Meyer (2004) further explained that integrating style stimulates
conflicting people to share out information in order to solve conflicts that satisfy to
both. The satisfaction in resolving conflict had led people to exert more efforts to
achieve better performance. Since there is no previous study that directly investigates
the relationship between integrating style and job performance in public organizations,
our finding can enrich the empirical evidence.
One important finding of this study was that the compromising style was not
significant, but positively associated with job performance. According to its definition,
the compromising style lies in the middle of concern for the self and others (Rahim,
2002). Using this style, both parties give up some needs to make a mutually acceptable
decision (Rahim et al., 2002, p. 307). Such a sacrifice of needs might have caused a
proportion of the respondents to become unsatisfied, which could have reduced their
motivation to achieve better performance.
This study also showed that EI was positively and significantly associated with job
performance, integrating style, and compromising style. Such findings are consistent
with previous empirical evidences (Goleman, 1998; Mayer et al., 2000; Wong and Law,
2002; Jordan and Troth, 2002; Law et al., 2004; Yu et al., 2006). In addition, this study
found that integrating style partially mediated the relationship between EI and job
performance. These finding indicated that EI, both directly and indirectly, influence job
performance. These findings make sense, since most of the conflict is inevitable and is
commonly present while one is doing his or her job. When conflict appears, EI can
facilitate people to select the appropriate conflict management styles in term of
integrating style that can enhance the job performance. In this part, EI presents
indirect affects on job performance via integrating style. Emotionally intelligent people
have the ability to successfully face uncertain environments (Bar-On, 1997; Matthews
et al., 2002) and have better communication skills (Goleman, 1998; Matthews et al.,
2002). Other scholars contend that EI leads to the success of work under certain
situations, for instance, products that involve feelings and aesthetics fit well when
created by emotionally intelligent people (Mayer and Salovey, 1997; Matthews et al.,
2002). EI could thus directly affect job performance.
The results of this study can be used to support the arguments within public
organizations that EI is a major factor for improving job performance. As public
services, official governments are faced with different people with different needs,
wants and characteristics. Those may be sources of stress and anger. However, as a
service delivery agency to society, public servants are required to present the excellent
services to the society even though stress and anger are present in order to maintain
their performance. Their services should satisfy the desires of society because it can
determine the level of quality of service that they have delivered to the society

(vretveit, 2005). Thus, emotionally intelligent public servants could deliver better
services to the society as they have a good ability to handle stress (Bar-On, 1997; Gabel
et al., 2005).
The findings of this study have several practical implications. First, we identified
the importance of EI in improving employee performance with regard to service
delivery within the public sector. Such information is also useful in the formation of
training programs to improve government employee EI. As mentioned by previous
scholars, EI reflects abilities that could be increased by training (Elfenbein, 2006; Cote
and Miners, 2006). Therefore, in order to increase public servant EI, EI training is
suggested.
Our results also inform and suggest that local government in Indonesia should rank
EI as one of important selection criteria in recruiting new civil servants. Since the job
characteristics of civil servants tend to be social in nature, it is probable that people
with better EI might help improve social welfare. In addition, the results also show that
an integrating style is valuable to civil servant performance. Those public agencies
therefore may provide training courses to nurture employees skill in integrating style,
which is helpful to their job performance.
Several limitations were encountered during the completion of this research. First,
although our target area, Java, is the most important region with the highest
population among the regions of Indonesia, this study selected only two government
agencies and one province in Indonesia. For these reasons, the results might lack
generalizability. Future research should consider extending the sampling size as well
as collecting data at other cultural area to test our arguments.
Second, the questionnaire survey was conducted using self-rating evaluation. Law
et al. (2008, p. 60) mentioned that one of advantageous of a self-report measure is
feedback about ones ability to handle emotions may be very frequent in social
interactions and thus ones evaluation of this type of ability may be more accurate than
evaluations of other types of abilities, such as reasoning and logical deduction.
Nevertheless, self-reporting assessment may have some drawbacks such as misleading
self-perception, positive affectivity, common method variance, and social desirability,
which may produce bias of answers and incorrect findings (Podsakoff et al., 2003; Law
et al., 2008).
To deal with this problem, we applied an anonymous self-administration for
questionnaire survey suggested by Podsakoff et al. (2003). We also separated the
predictor and criterion variables as well as randomly assign those measurement items in
the questionnaire (Podsakoff et al., 2003). Those questionnaire designs try to reduce the
potential problems from common method variance and social desirability. We also did a
discriminant validity test for research constructs. In doing so, we set the correlations
between the constructs in our study as zero, and compared these models with competing
models in which correlations between constructs were fixed as 1. The Chi-squares
differences among EI, integrating style, compromising style and job performance were
all statistically significant (EI vs integrating style has Dx2 113.668, Ddf 1,
p , 0.001; EI vs compromising style has Dx2 106.365, Ddf 1, p , 0.001; Integrating
style vs compromising style has Dx2 109.658, Ddf 1, p , 0.001; EI vs job
performance has Dx2 35:183; Ddf 1; p , 0.001; integrating style vs
job performance has Dx2 82; Ddf 1; p , 0.001; and compromising style vs job
performance has Dx2 46:719; Ddf 1; p , 0.001). Such findings indicate our

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constructs have adequate discriminate validity (Pedhazui and Schmelkin, 1991). This
may relieve the risk of social desirability to some extent.
Furthermore, self-reported measures have been developed and commonly applied to
measure EI by previous relevant studies (Barchard and Hakstian, 2004; Mayer and
Stevens, 1994; Schutte et al., 1998; Goldenberg et al., 2006). Our measurements, WLEIS,
itself has been verified in terms of reliability, convergent, discriminant and criterion
validity (e.g. Law et al., 2004; Wong and Law, 2002; also see Ng et al., 2007 for
validation results of WLEIS). WLEIS also shows a prospective measurement because
of its briefness (Ng et al., 2007), and its relatively lower cost and shorter time to fill out
(Law et al., 2008). We admit the weakness of adopting self-rating measurements and its
potential influence on our findings. The potential risk may not be significant, however,
based on our research design and post hoc analysis. Certainly future studies should
adopt multiple sources in data collection to minimize such bias.
Third, this research was conducted in a specific region. We found that a regional
culture actually plays an important role at which we did not consider at the beginning.
Therefore, future scholars should investigate the moderating effect of regional culture
on the relationship between EI and CMSs and the direct effect of regional culture on
CMSs in the future. The regional culture, especially Javanese culture, represented by
the culture of keselarasan (Yumarma, 1996), is important in guiding behavior of
members of a society and organization in Java. Through this study, the impact of
keselarasan on preferred conflict management styles has been clarified in order to
provide knowledge and guidelines on how to behave when facing interpersonal
conflict. Finally, this study only focused on integrating and compromising styles.
Future studies should investigate other styles such as avoiding, dominating and
withdrawing styles that are more negative in sense compared to integrating and
comprising styles in the hope to verify whether emotionally intelligent people try to
avoid those negative styles or not since those may negatively affect job performance.
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Corresponding author
Ely Susanto can be contacted at: plenthing@yahoo.com

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