RELATIONSHIP QUALITY MEDIATE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONALITY TRAITS AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT STYLES AT PEJABAT SETIAUSAHA KERAJAAN NEGERI PAHANG

Abstract

This research will investigate the relationship between personality traits, relationship quality, and conflict management style among employees during the pandemic at the Secretary of Pahang State Government. The purpose of this research determines how variables in the extended Theory of the Five-factor of Personality Traits and the mediating relationship quality can be tested as a predictor of the conflict management style. The researcher specifically expected that conflict management style would be related to extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and neuroticism, which are the five-factor model of personality traits as well as the relationship quality. The researcher also looked at how relationship quality mediated the relationship between personality traits and conflict management style. To better understand the relationship, this study developed a framework and analyzed how well the model fits the data using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) method. A total of 214 respondents from the departments and units in the State of Secretary of Pahang State Government were selected to complete a questionnaire to provide the empirical data for the analysis. All hypotheses were supported in this research with the presence of the mediator showing that personality traits were significantly related to Conflict Management Style. The limitation of this research in terms of scope of research covers only focusing on the government sector during the pandemic.