Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus U., Netherlands
Employees around the globe are facing an increasing amount of psychological tension – the experience of conflict as a result of having competing desires that cannot be easily reconciled. Despite its acknowledged importance in management theory, research in this area has been disjointed and uncoordinated. Our comprehensive analysis synthesizes existing studies to establish a typology of strategies for navigating psychological tension. We delineate four principal strategies: avoidance, compartmentalization, integration, and acceptance. This typology is contextualized across three pivotal research domains where psychological tension is most prevalent: the work-nonwork interface, moral decision-making, and identity conflicts. By mapping these strategies onto the respective domains, we offer a nuanced understanding of how psychological tension manifests and is addressed in different contexts. The review culminates in a discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of these findings, setting a foundation for future research and organizational applications in managing psychological tension.
