The Search for Sources of Conflicts: Supply and Demand in the Labor Market

Abstract

Classical approaches towards categorizing conflict within the field of social sciences may not be applicable to the labor market context because they are beyond economic theories. To the best of our knowledge, currently, neither national nor foreign literature contains any conceptual systematization of conflicts that occur during the hiring process. Such systematization would combine conflict factors at the intersection of economic, sociological, and conflict theories. The article proposes a categorization that is based on the prominent conflict theories while taking into consideration potential employment conflicts within the labor market. The proposed categorization groups market participants (supply and demand sides) and sorts conflicts by type (systemic and non-systemic conflicts). Four primary sources of conflict are identified, including market mechanisms and salary expectations (systemic conflicts), company values and human capital (non-systemic conflicts). Systemic factors of conflicts such as supply/ demand matching and wage expectations are determined by market mechanisms. These economic factors are determined by objective and predictable processes, but sociological theories of conflict are typically excluded from the aforementioned context, which can result in a biased portrayal of macroeconomic processes. In addition, the policy of a particular company and a job seeker’s expectations for a specific job position are nonsystemic, they depend on such types of factors as company values and human capital.This categorization enables early identification of the source of conflict and potential reduction of its destructive effects.