An Investigation of the Predictors and Moderators of Climate Strength

Abstract

Organizational climate is a useful set of variables used to describe and better understand work environments that has been shown to relate to various individual and group outcomes. While most of this research has focused on the means of individual climate perceptions aggregated to higher levels, the degree of agreement or "strength"� has received markedly less attention. The climate strength hypothesis states that climate strength moderates the relationship between climate perceptions and outcomes, where a stronger link is found for stronger climates (Denison, 1984; Schneider, Ehrhart, & Macey, 2013). Though this hypothesis has been empirically tested by several researchers, sample and group sizes were limited, and they were smaller scale examinations. This study used a large multi-level survey to look at climate strength from a more macro perspective involving individuals nested within large subagencies, nested within larger agencies comprising the U.S. federal government sector. First, demographic variables including gender, age, organization size, tenure, and minority status were examined as possible antecedents of climate strength, where members of the same groups (e.g., ethnic minorities, females) were expected to have greater agreement regarding their climates. Second, links between climate strength, climate level, and individual-level satisfaction were examined, including a test of the climate strength hypothesis. Results demonstrated that larger organizations had stronger climates up to a certain threshold, the youngest and newest employees were the only groups to have stronger climates than the overall group, and groups of similar gender did not display greater climate strength. In terms of links to satisfaction, relationships depended on the type of facet-specific climate strength and level. Mixed support was found for the climate strength hypothesis, such that greater strength generally only mattered when climate level was low. Implications of these results on future climate research and change interventions are discussed.