Organizational climate: Another look at a potentially important construct.

Abstract

Abstract : Organizational climate is examined from the standpoint of the need to demonstrate interrater reliability (agreement) among individuals' perceptions of psychological climate. It is shown that if prior estimates of interrater reliability are accurate, then organizational climate is a moot issue. It is then demonstrated that at least some prior estimating procedures likely provided underestimates of interrater/perceptual agreement. A new procedure for estimating interrater reliability is suggested and illustrated. The new procedure provided substantially higher estimates of interrater reliability than prior methods. It is concluded that the concept of organizational climate is potentially salvageable, although more attention needs to be given to the appropriate level of explanation for climate variables. (Author)