Curbing relationship conflict for achieving green customer integration: roles of organizational commitment and influence strategy
International Journal of Conflict Management
ISSN: 1044-4068
Article publication date: 22 January 2024
Issue publication date: 29 October 2024
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to investigate how relationship conflict (RC) hinders green customer integration (GCI) and which strategy could be developed to alleviate the negative effect of RC.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors use a sample of 206 Chinese firms to examine hypothesized relationships drawing on social exchange theory and buyer-supplier relationship perspective. Methods including exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are used to assess reliability and validity. Hypotheses are tested using hierarchical regression analysis. Post hoc analysis is adopted to evaluate the robustness.
Findings
The results show that RC negatively relates to GCI. Normative commitment partially mediates the relationship between RC and GCI, while the mediating role of instrumental commitment is insignificant. In addition, coercive influence strategy positively moderates the RC-normative commitment and RC-GCI relationships.
Research limitations/implications
While this study clarifies the mechanism of how RC impedes GCI and how to address RC in buyer-supplier relationships, it could be more meaningful to extend the current research and figure out how to address RC in different supply chain relationships. Besides, it will make sense to conduct longitudinal studies and explore the dynamic nature of RC in supply chain relationships.
Practical implications
In practice, firms find it challenging to achieve GCI owing to the ubiquitous existence of RC. The findings reveal that RC detriments GCI partially through normative commitment, and the use of coercive influence strategy mitigates the detriments of RC. Thus, the authors provide solutions for firms to address RC for achieving GCI.
Originality/value
RC is unavoidable in organizational interactions. Prior studies have not revealed the processes through which RC relates to GCI. The authors bridge the gap by exploring the mediating role of organizational commitment and the moderating role of influence strategy, which offers a better understanding of how RC is associated with GCI, and add knowledge of addressing RC for achieving GCI.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors sincerely thank the editors and two anonymous reviews for their helpful and constructive comments. This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (72172040 and 71702148), Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province (tsqn201909154), and Science and Technology Program for Innovation of Shandong Universities (2020RWG003).
Funding: National Natural Science Foundation of China; 72172040; Science and Technology Program for Innovation of Shandong Universities; 2020RWG003; Program for the high-quality development of philosophy and social sciences of HIT; HIT.HSS.ESD202333; Taishan Scholar Project of Shandong Province; tsqn201909154.
Citation
Wang, J. and Feng, T. (2024), "Curbing relationship conflict for achieving green customer integration: roles of organizational commitment and influence strategy", International Journal of Conflict Management, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 863-886. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCMA-04-2023-0069
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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