Interorganizational Conflict: A Review of an Emerging Field

The sociology of conflict has remained outside the mainstream of scholarly inquiry throughout most of this century. Within the relatively new field of interorganizational relations, the study of conflict has suffered from a similar neglect. Assuming a structural-functional approach has informed most of the research thus far, this paper argues for a more unified and broader theoretical analysis as a step towards a general theory of interorganizational conflict. Examples from the research literature are shown to characterize an absence of empirical testing and a lack of consensus over key terms and objectives. Cross-national continuities in the study of interorganizational conflict are also discussed. Finally, some future directions for the development of the interorganizational study of conflict are discussed.