Oh, look - isn't that another publication?  [27.08.24]

We are happy to share that our article, “The Sequence Effect and its Impact on Cooperation, Conflicts, and Conflict Management in IT Freelancer-Client Relationships”, has been published in the Journal Negotiation and Conflict Management Research.

In this study, we investigate the interplay between IT freelancers and their client organizations, focusing on how both parties manage conflicts. Existing research empahzises that conflict management behavior can be individualistic or collectivistic in orientation and focuses on the episodic character of conflict management. Our work takes it a step further by examining how structural patterns shape these behaviors.

Based on 18 problem-centered and expert interviews, we show that conflict management behaviors change with the given sequence of the relationship:
- Pre-contract sequence: Actors show predominantly individualistic conflict management behavior
- During the contract: Actors shift towards a collectivistic conflict management behavior.
- Post-contract phase: Actors reflect on their cooperation which smoothes future interactions.

This research enriches the literature by highlighting the influence of structural patterns on conflict management behavior, complementing the traditional agency-focused perspective.

The study is authored by Mona Bassyiouny (TU Dortmund), Ronny Ehlen (Universtität Hohenheim), Maximiliane Wilkesmann (TU Dortmund), Caroline Ruiner (Universtität Hohenheim), Birgit Apitzsch (Ruhr-Universität Bochum), and Lena Schulz (SOFI Göttingen). The study results from the project „Zwischen Kooperation und Konkurrenz - externe Erwerbstätige in wissensbasierten Beschäftigungsfeldern“, funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).

he paper is open access and can be downloaded here: https://doi.org/10.34891/zckv-8a93

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