Conflict Costs in National and International Business: A Comparative Analysis
Phyllis Dirrler
Orcid profile and Szilard Podruzsik
Orcid profile 
Published Online: Dec 29, 2023
Page range: 209 - 224
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/fman-2023-0015
Keywords
© 2023 Phyllis Dirrler et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
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Relation – conflicts per year and international involvement
| Conflicts per Year | International Involvement | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group Ranks | Description | Participant Count | Mean | Median | |
| 1 | No conflicts per year | 75 | 29.4 | 20 | |
| 2 | Up to 5 conflicts per year | 364 | 38.1 | 30 | |
| 3 | Up to 10 conflicts per year | 129 | 45.2 | 45 | |
| 4 | Up to 30 conflicts per year | 72 | 39.6 | 35 | |
| 5 | Up to 50 conflicts per year | 35 | 49.4 | 50 | |
| Conflicts per Year: | Mean 2.449 | Median 2 | |||
Conflict strength in national and international cooperation
| Conflict Strength | Samples | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Rank | Description | National | International |
| 1 | Latent | 57 | 26 |
| 2 | Weak | 146 | 53 |
| 3 | Medium | 222 | 81 |
| 4 | Manifest | 45 | 18 |
| 5 | Aftermath | 20 | 7 |
| Median | 3 | 3 | |
Descriptive statistics: mean, SD, min_ and max_
| - | National | International | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | M | SD | Min. | Max. | M | SD | Min. | Max. |
| Wasted time due to involvement in conflict | 4.28 | 8.76 | 0 | 50 | 4.59 | 9.38 | 0 | 50 |
| Wasted time worrying about conflict | 4.79 | 9.35 | 0 | 50 | 3.73 | 6.80 | 0 | 50 |
| Pretended to work | 1.31 | 4.53 | 0 | 50 | 1.42 | 5.83 | 0 | 50 |
| Counterproductive working behavior | 0.94 | 3.73 | 0 | 50 | 1.68 | 6.75 | 0 | 50 |
| Additional time for information gathering | 2.45 | 6.16 | 0 | 50 | 2.99 | 7.27 | 0 | 50 |
| Lost time due to avoiding behavior | 1.90 | 5.82 | 0 | 50 | 2.01 | 5.91 | 0 | 50 |
| Lost time due to not listening purposely | 0.74 | 3.32 | 0 | 50 | 1.2 | 4.66 | 0 | 50 |
| Lost time due to personal attacks | 1.75 | 6.32 | 0 | 50 | 1.65 | 5.37 | 0 | 50 |
| Lost time due to pointing out mistakes | 1.65 | 5.49 | 0 | 50 | 2.34 | 6.77 | 0 | 50 |
| Less time at work | 1.64 | 5.72 | 0 | 50 | 1.52 | 5.05 | 0 | 50 |
| Wasted time solving a conflict | 5.17 | 10.3 | 0 | 50 | 4.71 | 8.98 | 0 | 50 |
| Sick leave to avoid conflict | 28.7 | 125. | 0 | 1200 | 34.4 | 142. | 0 | 1200 |
| Psychological/physical disease due to conflict | 64.4 | 214. | 0 | 1200 | 57.6 | 193. | 0 | 1200 |
| Absenteeism | 63.5 | 213. | 0 | 1200 | 52.4 | 162 | 0 | 1200 |
Conflict cost clusters including cost variables
| - | Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|---|
| Internal |
Internal direct: Legal and dispute costs, discrimination claims, grievance, compensation settlements, litigation, theft and damage, fees to lawyers and professionals, vandalism, sabotage, performance declines, decreased quality, inability to meet deadlines, loss in productivity, increased supervision costs, accidents |
Internal indirect: Wasted time worrying about conflict, dealing with conflict, and resolving conflict, pretending to work, absenteeism, presenteeism |
| External |
External direct: Legal suits, compensation claims, customer complaint handling, loss of ongoing relationship |
External indirect: Employer reputation, difficulty to attract talent, damage to brand image |
Conflict duration in national and international cooperation
| Conflict Duration | Samples | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Group Rank | Description | National | International |
| 1 | Up to 1 week | 229 | 88 |
| 2 | Up to 1 month | 115 | 52 |
| 3 | 1-6 months | 84 | 26 |
| 4 | 6 to 12 months | 26 | 11 |
| 5 | Longer than 12 months | 36 | 8 |
| Median | 2 | 2 | |