The Ups and Downs of Collaboration: Investigating the U-Curve between Interorganizational Routines and Conflict Resolution Behaviors

Abstract Conflicts are common in construction projects, stemming from incomplete contracts and inherent project complexity. Seeking a stable and operable foundation for conflict resolution poses a practical challenge in project management. This study focuses on interorganizational routines—mutually recognized habitual behaviors that offer greater stability and operability as a foundation for resolving conflicts. Yet questions persist: Do these routines promote cooperative behavior amid conflicts, and how might organizational politics moderate this relationship? These gaps lack clear empirical answers. Drawing on survey data from Chinese professionals engaged in construction projects, this study illustrates a U-shaped relationship between interorganizational routines and cooperative behavior in conflict resolution. In early collaboration stages, immature routines fail to address conflicts effectively, leading to lower cooperative behavior. When collaboration reaches a certain level (the turning point indicated by the empirical data of this study is around three collaborations), mature routines enhance conflict resolution capacity and steadily boost cooperative tendencies. Communication frequency and media richness mediate this U-shaped relationship. This study also responds to calls for neutral analysis of organizational politics: while organizational political behavioral tendencies flatten the link between media richness and cooperative behavior during conflict resolution, they increase cooperative behavior when media richness is equivalent. The findings offer practical insights for conflict management, particularly within the Chinese construction context.