A Contingency Model of Top Management Teams’ Task Conflict and Organizational-Level Outcomes: Evidence for a Curvilinear Relationship

The relationship between conflict and performance has been studied for decades, but little is known about how and under what conditions task conflict among top managers affects firm-level outcomes. In this study, we examine a curvilinear effect of task conflict in top management teams (TMTs) on both firm performance and TMT resilience efficacy, as moderated by behavioral integration. We argue and find that TMT task conflict can improve firm performance when behavioral integration is high, but the effect is not linear; rather it levels off. In contrast, we maintain and find that TMT task conflict can improve TMT resilience efficacy at an increasing rate when behavioral integration is low. We also find that behavioral integration itself is predicted by Chief Executive Officer relational leadership such that leaders with a more relationship-oriented style encourage more behavioral integration in their teams. Field data from 555 top managers from 111 organizations in South Korea provided support for our hypotheses. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.