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Much of the prior literature on arbitrator acceptability is focused primarily on demographic characteristics of arbitrators and parties. This article draws from several behavioral theories to build a single conceptual model of arbitrator acceptability. Key concepts from the theory of planned behavior, control theory, organizational justice theories, and the decision making literature are integrated into a single framework that enhances our understanding of this topic and provides useful directions for future research.

The aim of this study is to take a construct validation approach toward developing and testing a parsimonious, yet comprehensive, higher‐order factor model of arbitrator acceptability that helps to identify what matters most in the arbitrator selection process.

The paper uses structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques to examine data from a sample of union advocates attending an arbitration conference to test a hypothesized model of arbitrator acceptability that includes procedural justice, experience, and education as first‐order indicators of arbitrator acceptability. Three competing alternative models that add age, race/gender, and distributive justice, respectively, to the hypothesized model as an additional indicator of arbitrator acceptability were also examined.

Results suggest that the hypothesized model is the best fitting of the four models tested. In addition, the path coefficients of the added paths in each of the alternative models were non‐significant.

Knowledge regarding the relative importance of the various factors involved in arbitrator acceptability will be of interest to future researchers in determining which variables to study in arbitrator selection research as well as to practitioners seeking to better understand and manage the complex arbitrator selection process.

This study makes an important contribution to the literature by being among the first to examine both arbitrator characteristics and organizational justice concepts simultaneously in a single model. This study also takes an important step toward more clearly defining and validating the arbitrator acceptability construct. Finally, this study helps to provide an answer to the question of what matters most in the arbitrator selection process.

The five studies included in this special issue focus on emotions and conflict management. These studies highlight how conflict management research can help managers, employees, and organizations more effectively manage the emotional aspects of conflict. This paper aims to summarize these studies.

Five studies were selected and combined in this single issue so that researchers could have an integrative review of recent research on emotions in the workplace. The studies were chosen to highlight the relationships between emotions and key conflict variables, such as task, relationship, and process conflict; trust; venting; and forgiveness. The studies were also chosen to represent a broad range of samples, including participants from more than 14 countries and cultures.

These studies indicate that a broad range of positive and negative emotions, such as anger, enthusiasm, excitement, guilt, and remorse, are significantly related in complex and varied ways to various aspects of conflict management. The studies highlight not only the importance of understanding specific emotions in conflict situations, but also the need to understand how and when the regulation of emotions can facilitate effective conflict management.

These cutting‐edge studies demonstrate how emotions are a needed and important addition to the field of conflict management research – above and beyond cognitions and behaviors. Such findings highlight the need for additional research on emotions in conflict situations. Although these studies represent many different countries, more research is needed that specifically compares and contrasts the influence of emotions on conflict management across various cultures.

This special issue is the first publication to focus on the influence of conflict management in many different countries and cultures.

Is there a need for more influential international conflict management research? This question takes on two dimensions. The first is whether there is a need for more influential conflict management research. The second is whether there is a need for more international conflict management research. Both questions can be answered in the affirmative. Research should be influential so that it will help to guide and shape future research efforts. If it is not influential, it is an unfortunate waste of intellectual and other resources. Research should also be more international because business is becoming more international and there are an increasing number of international influences in many areas of everyday life. Thus, it is important for journals to encourage the publication of influential international conflict management research. The extent to which this journal has disseminated influential international conflict management research is addressed in this note.

In this chapter, the authors examine the turnover of employees in Latin America, with a particular focus on Mexico. Employee turnover is important in Latin America and in Mexico, as it is in many other places, because the cost of labor typically accounts for 70% of a firm’s operating cost. When employees leave, it requires that the employer replaces the workers through human resource management processes that include recruiting, selection, orientation, and training. These costs are a significant expense to firms that they could avoid if turnover was lower. The authors identify cultural, economic, legal, and other factors that could influence employee turnover. The authors also summarize many managerial practices that can help employers to effectively manage employee turnover. Finally, the authors provide insights for future research on employee turnover in this important region of the world.

To address the increasingly turbulent environments that businesses face, the purpose of this study is to build on prior research to propose a comprehensive model aimed at enhancing business school education in Latin America.

The authors modified and adapted prior meta-analytic research on workplace training programs to create a model that is applicable to the context of business school education in Latin America.

The creation of this model enabled the identification of many propositions that can guide future research.

In addition to insightful research propositions, the authors also provide specific suggestions on the methods for data collection and analysis.

This model can serve as a comprehensive summary of important factors that education leaders can use to enhance the success of business education in Latin America.

In addition to helping to improve business education in Latin America, this model can guide research that will benefit other types of education programs in science, technology, medicine, etc.

The authors used findings to build this integrated mode and adapted and refined the model to fit the setting of higher education institutions.

This introduction aims to summarize five studies included in this themed issue that focus on conflict management and performance outcomes. These studies highlight how conflict management research can help organizations perform more effectively.

The five selected studies were combined into this single issue so that readers can compare and contrast scholarships from many countries and cultures, including Brazil, Canada, Indonesia, The Netherlands, Norway, and Taiwan to see how conflict management research relates to actual performance outcomes around the world.

These studies show that negotiations conducted by two‐person dyads resulted in higher outcomes when compared to negotiations conducted by multi‐person groups. In addition, when negotiators consider more than one issue at a time and use a constructive problem solving approach, they can reach better outcomes. In addition, higher self‐efficacy of the negotiator can increase objective negotiation outcomes, but only to a point beyond which more self‐efficacy can have a negative effect. One dimension of employee work performance, innovation, is shown to have several interesting relationships with other variables. Two studies found that innovative work behaviors had a positive relationship to workplace conflict. One study showed that task conflict seemed to relate to increased innovative work behaviors. Another study found a positive relationship between a broader measure of innovative work behaviors and conflicted with workers. The positive relationship between task conflict and innovative behaviors seemed to increase when there was more support for innovation. In addition, the positive relationship between innovative behavior and conflict with coworkers seem to decrease when there was more distributive justice in workplace rewards. These studies also showed significant relationships between conflict management and subjective outcomes, such as subjective perceptions of negotiations, job satisfaction, turnover intentions, and relationships between coworkers.

These studies outline ways for organizations to design conflict management principles both to increase the objective outcomes of negotiations and to induce their employees to be more innovative at work.

All five studies used original data not reported elsewhere and gathered in various countries that have not been reported in prior studies.