The negative mechanism of power disparity on team conflict

Meta-analyses have shown the negative effect of power disparity on team performance and noted that team conflict is the key process variable to explain this outcome, but there is a gap in the research on how power disparity leads to team conflict. From the perspective of the conflict theory of power and based on the division of team conflict into relationship conflict and task conflict, this study constructed a theoretical model of the effect of power disparity on team conflict with power struggle as the mediator and power distance as the moderator. In the study, based on the convenient sampling method, we conducted a survey of 27 enterprises in different industries. With participants voluntarily participating and informing the purpose of the survey in advance, a total of 483 participants from 93 teams were invited to fill in questionnaires, and finally utilized SPSS 23.0 and AMOS 24.0 software to conduct empirical analysis and testing of 426 valid questions collected from 82 teams. The results showed that power struggle acts as the mediator in the relationship between power disparity and team conflict (relationship conflict and task conflict), and the negative effect of power disparity on team conflict can be effectively alleviated under the condition of power distance. This study discloses the negative mechanism of power disparity, expands the research on the conflict theory of power, and provides a warning for the design of enterprise power structures.