Abstract:

Coping in conflict situations is one of the most desired competencies in a labor market, which determines students’ employability. The main goal of the research is the identification of students’ domineering styles of conflict management and the factors related to established patterns of behaviors. The study was conducted in the group of 138 students of Cracow University of Economics assisting in one of two programs: Marketing and Market Communication (M&MC) and Accountancy and Controlling (A&C). K-means cluster analysis enabled the identification of three homogeneous types of compound conflict-dealing behaviors: passive-competing, prudential, and ambivalent. The most significant differences were observed between the students of different types of studies: creative (the example of M&MC) and analytical (the example of A&C). In the case of the first group, an ambivalent (consisting of competing and avoiding styles) type of behavior was domineering, whereas in the second – a prudential type (the combination of avoiding and accommodating styles). Moreover, the impact of the level of studies and preferred values was described.