Conflict management styles, emotional intelligence and implicit theories of personality of nursing students: a cross-sectional study.
BACKGROUND
Conflict management is an essential skill that nursing students need to master as conflict is unavoidable in clinical settings. Examining nursing students' conflict management styles and the associating factors can inform nurse educators on how to equip nursing students for effective conflict management.


OBJECTIVE
This study aimed at examining undergraduate nursing students conflict management styles in managing conflict with their supervisors in clinical placement. The associations of emotional intelligence and implicit theories of personality with conflict management styles were also investigated.


METHODS
This is a cross-sectional quantitative survey.


METHODS
This study took place at a nursing school at a university in Hong Kong.


METHODS
568 undergraduate nursing students participated in the study.


METHODS
Students completed a questionnaire which consisted of demographics, Measure of Implicit Theories of Personality, The Schutte Emotional Intelligence Scale (SEIS) and The Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory-II (ROCI-II) and received a HKD 20 book coupon as compensation. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics, reliability analyses, t-tests, correlational and linear regression analyses.


RESULTS
For managing conflict with clinical supervisors, students used obliging and integrating most frequently whereas used dominating least. Emotional intelligence was a significant predictor of all five conflict management styles. The higher the emotional intelligence, the more students used integrating, obliging, compromising and dominating. The lower the emotional intelligence, the more students used avoiding. There was a significant association between implicit theories of personality and compromising. The less malleable students perceived personality to be, the more they used compromising.


CONCLUSIONS
Emotional intelligence was significantly associated with all five conflict management styles while implicit theories of personality were significantly associated with compromising style only. Efforts of nurse educators to enhance students' conflict management skills and emotional intelligence to face conflicts in clinical settings are discussed.
The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, The New Territories, Hong Kong. Electronic address: chanchungyan@cuhk.edu.hk.
Joanne C Y
JC
Chan
The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, The New Territories, Hong Kong.
Emily N M
EN
Sit
The Nethersole School of Nursing, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, The New Territories, Hong Kong.
W M
WM
Lau
D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D056348:Emotional Intelligence; D005181:Faculty, Nursing; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013338:Students, Nursing / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
Conflict management styles; Emotional intelligence; Nursing students; Personality