Faculty Publications

Explaining Psychological Climate: Is Perceptual Agreement Necessary?

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Journal of Social Psychology

Volume

130

Issue

2

First Page

239

Last Page

248

Abstract

The question examined was whether individual and position variables of interest qualify as determinants of individuals' perceptions of their work environment (psychological climate). A criterion of within-unit perceptual agreement was suggested and used, in addition to the more conventional association criterion of across-units aggregate difference. The purpose was to establish within-unit perceptual agreement as a condition for a variable to qualify as a determinant of psychological climate. The findings, based on American employees, implied that research using only across-units difference criteria may have overestimated the extent of the relationship between psychological climate and various individual or position variables. Within-unit perceptual agreement may be a necessary criterion for establishing determinants of perceptual variables. © 1990 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Department

Department of Management

Original Publication Date

1-1-1990

DOI of published version

10.1080/00224545.1990.9924574

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