Collaboration and conflict: structural causes and researcher responses in university STEM labs

University STEM laboratories are spaces where collaboration is essential, yet structural tensions frequently arise. This study analyzes the structural causes of conflict that emerge during collaborative processes in university STEM labs and explores how researchers respond to these tensions. Grounded in conflict theory and conflict management models, the study developed analytical categories and systematically coded interview data from 13 researchers. The analysis was structured through the theoretical lens of contingency theory, with the aim of identifying how five structural categories—role ambiguity, resource scarcity, hierarchical power imbalances, goal misalignment, and insufficient communication—manifest as conflict within the specific institutional contexts of university STEM labs. Researchers adopted a range of strategies to address these conflicts, including avoidance, accommodation, compromise, and competition, depending on their positionality and institutional circumstances. This study conceptualizes collaborative conflict not as a matter of interpersonal misunderstanding but as a phenomenon rooted in structural contexts, and it proposes institutional and organizational reforms to support fairer and more sustainable collaboration in academic research environments.