Cao, T.; Zhang, L. and Qian, Q. (2026) For a rainy day: Preventing the escalation of threats into interorganizational relationship conflict through emotional regulation and boundary-spanning roles. Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, 152(7): 04026096, ISSN 0733-9364
Abstract
Interorganizational relationship conflict has attracted much attention from researchers and practitioners in construction projects considering its important economic and social consequences. Yet, previous studies on conflict management focus more on contextual variables while neglecting the more front-end and subtle individual factors. Such gap makes the project partners fail to respond and chop the interorganizational relationship quality deftly in the embryonic stage. This article integrates the threat-rigidity theory and boundary spanning theory to explore how the threat perception of boundary spanners affects interorganizational relationship conflicts. Furthermore, this article introduced emotion regulation strategy including cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression into the front-end of relationship quality to moderate the negative effect of perceived threat on boundary spanning roles. Using a survey-based approach, data were collected from 287 boundary spanners (project managers and cross-functional team members) across 60 construction projects selected via convenience sampling. Data analysis employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test hypotheses. Findings showed that the perceived threat of boundary spanners can grow into interorganizational relationship quality through the mediating effect of their boundary spanning roles. Besides, the cognitive reappraisal is effective as a moderator regarding the effect of perceived threat on information processing while it loses effectiveness in terms of suppression has no impact. Yet, expressive suppression exaggerated the threat rigidity tendency on the external representative of boundary spanners. This article provides a new sight to explore dynamic relationship conflict and calls for fostering threat reduce strategy and abilities by boundary spanners at the early stage of interorganizational relationship conflict.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | boundary spanning roles; emotion regulation strategy; interorganizational relationship conflict; threat perception |
| Index terms: | regulation, practitioner, construction project, survey, boundary spanning, structural equation modelling, strategy, data analysis, conflict management, interorganizational relationship, information processing, effectiveness, sampling, project partner, project manager, relationship conflict |
| Subjects: | production management, practitioner, statistical analysis, political science, sociology, conflict resolution, performance management, management, data analysis and analytics, data science, business, profession, data collection methods |
| Topics: | Organizational Design, Digital Applications, Human Resources, Stakeholder Management, Roles and Professions, Governance, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Quality Management, Project Management |
| Descriptive scope: | 4 PCEA |
N.B. Descriptive scope is a count of how many of the five facets of empirical research are indicated by the words used in title, abstract and keywords. It is not intended as a judgement on the research; merely a count of the kind of word we would expect to indicate Phenomenon, Concepts, Theoretical framing, Empirical techniques, Analytical techniques. If all five are present, then a code of “5 PCTEA” will indicate this. If you feel the coding for this record is questionable, we welcome discussion around the terms we matched or the way we categorized them. The facet you would expect may not be coded, or a facet may be coded inappropriately. This can also bear on a larger question, of which facets should be treated as defining in construction management research. Please get in touch, and we will look at it. More details here