Interpersonal conflict management by higher education students: a systematic literature review

Abstract

Higher education is a highly heterogeneous environment, where professionals and students with diverse characteristics interact and coexist on a daily basis. Due to the complexity inherent in these relationships, it is natural and to be expected that multiple conflicts will arise. A systematic review of the literature on the subject indicates that, internationally, there are several studies that seek to understand the types, causes, and approaches to conflicts in higher education. In Portugal, research into this phenomenon is scarce. This article presents a mapping and synthesis of existing scientific literature on the management of interpersonal conflicts in higher education, in particular on students’ perceptions and the conflict management styles they use. Different databases were used to locate the studies, favouring those published from 2015 onwards in Portuguese, English, and Spanish. In total, 21 studies were selected. The main results obtained, from synthesising and analysing the studies, show that: higher education students have a negative perception of conflict; the relationship that generates the most conflict is the student-teacher relationship, followed by the student-student relationship; and the conflict management styles that students use most often are the collaborative, avoidant and competitive styles. As this is an emerging topic, with few scientific papers on the subject, this literature review is important for characterising this phenomenon, justifying its importance in the Portuguese national context, and encouraging other future studies on the subject.