Soldiers' sleep problems predict conflict most strongly with higher-ranking colleagues
Johns Hopkins researchers found U.S. Army soldiers' sleep problems predicted more conflict with everyone, most of all with higher-ranking colleagues. The team traces the gap to worn-down self-control, an explanation it tested only after the rank pattern contradicted its expectations.
The Scientist · Science desk
What happened
- Researchers collected data from U.S. Army soldiers on their sleep, their conflicts and the rank of the people they clashed with.
- Follow-up studies and analyses confirmed the rank pattern and linked it to the loss of self-control that comes with poor sleep.
- The paper, "Sleep and Strife," was published online as a preprint in Academy of Management Discoveries in August.
- The authors suggest giving managers "sleep leadership" skills, in which leaders encourage and enable employees to get healthier sleep.
Why it matters
- constraint Because the primary data come from Army soldiers, the finding is firmest where rank is formal. Nobody has yet shown that tired staff in flatter companies push back upward as sharply.
- decision An organization buying sleep-leadership training to cut friction with managers is relying on two separate results. The earlier work shows the training improves sleep, and no test has yet shown it reduces conflict.
- exposure In the safety roles the authors single out, such as air traffic control and emergency response, rosters that cut sleep also make friction with the people giving orders more likely.
The rank gap surprised the people who measured it. "When sleep problems were low, daily conflict was low regardless of the target rank," the researchers wrote. "In contrast to our expectations, when sleep problems were high, conflict with those of higher rank increased significantly more than conflict with those of lower or same rank." [7]
The order of events matters. Because the pattern ran against what the team expected, its explanation had to be tested after the fact, in the subsequent studies and analyses the release describes [2]. A finding that contradicts its authors and holds up on a second pass deserves more credit than one fitted to a theory from the start.
The explanation is about norms. "Avoiding conflict with higher-rank individuals in organizations involves following strict workplace norms," said Brian Gunia, a Carey Business School professor who chairs its management and organization area. "That requires more self-control, but we know that sleep problems compromise people's self-control." [1] According to the release, the norms for clashes with peers and juniors are usually weaker. Following them takes less self-control, so sleep loss shows less there [4]. "Employees starved for self-control simply find it harder to follow those workplace norms," Gunia said [3].
The verbs need care. In the primary study, sleep problems predicted conflict [5], while the release headline says poor sleep "can cause" clashes [10]. A daily link between bad nights and arguments is also what you would see if a third factor, such as a punishing workload, produced both. The release does not include sample sizes or effect sizes, and it does not say who took part in the follow-up studies. That means the size of the upward gap cannot be judged from it. Co-authors came from the University of South Carolina and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research [9].
The authors' own recommendation covers workload as well as sleep habits. "Accounting for the possibility of increased conflict should further incentivize organizations to promote healthy sleep patterns or at least to avoid imposing excessive work demands," the paper states [13].
For a manager trying to read friction from below, I think the finding supports a modest use. If pushback aimed at supervisors climbs during a run of short nights or heavy demands, poor sleep is a reasonable cause to check before treating it as a personnel problem. The study describes a pattern in soldiers' daily conflict. It cannot say whether any one argument with a boss came from a bad night [7].
What to watch
- The final Academy of Management Discoveries version, and whether it reports sample sizes and an effect size for the upward conflict gap.
- Whether the follow-up studies included civilian employees, and whether the rank gap holds in organizations with flatter hierarchies.
- A trial testing whether sleep-leadership training reduces conflict aimed at managers, beyond improving employee sleep.
Clarity's read
What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.
Reality
- Evidence35
- Adoption
- Insufficient
- Hype gap+30
- Incentives45
- Confidence40
Claim ledger
Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.
- [1]
"Avoiding conflict with higher-rank individuals in organizations involves following strict workplace norms," said Brian Gunia, a professor and area chair for management and organization at the Carey Business School. "That requires more self-control, but we know that sleep problems compromise people's self-control."
- [2]
A series of subsequent studies and analyses validated the finding and provided an explanation for why conflict with higher-ranking individuals increased, pointing to the association between poor sleep and lack of self-control.
- [3]
"Employees starved for self-control simply find it harder to follow those workplace norms," Gunia said.
- [4]
Norms surrounding conflicts with lower-ranking or same-rank colleagues are usually weaker, so less self-control is required for compliance, and the effects of poor sleep and compromised self-control are less pronounced in those interactions.
- [5]
The primary study collected data from U.S. Army soldiers about their sleep, conflict and hierarchy; soldiers' sleep problems predicted more conflict with everyone, with the uptick most pronounced in conflicts with higher-ranking individuals.
- [6]
A preprint of the full study, 'Sleep and Strife: The Effects of Sleep on Conflict within Organizational Hierarchy,' was published online in August in Academy of Management Discoveries.
- [7]
"When sleep problems were low, daily conflict was low regardless of the target rank. In contrast to our expectations, when sleep problems were high, conflict with those of higher rank increased significantly more than conflict with those of lower or same rank."
- [8]
The researchers note that distractions caused by conflict carry especially high stakes in public health or safety professions such as air traffic control, health care, emergency response and law enforcement.
- [9]
The research team also included members from the University of South Carolina and the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
- [10]
A series of new studies from the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and other institutions finds poor sleep can cause employees to clash with their supervisors and other higher-ranking colleagues (release headline: 'Poor sleep can cause employees to clash with superiors').
- [11]
The research suggests organizations may wish to equip managers with 'sleep leadership' skills, an approach in which organizational leaders encourage and enable their employees to obtain healthier sleep.
- [12]
The team's prior research shows that equipping leaders with sleep leadership improves employee sleep; linking that to the current paper suggests sleep leadership could proactively defuse destructive conflicts directed at managers and higher-ranking colleagues.
- [13]
"Accounting for the possibility of increased conflict should further incentivize organizations to promote healthy sleep patterns or at least to avoid imposing excessive work demands," the research states.
Sources
1 independent publisher whose own reporting we read for this story.
- phys.orgPoor sleep can cause employees to clash with superiors, research finds
1 article · October 7, 2026
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