The Relationship between Perceptions of Safety Climate and Relational Conflict within R&D Teams: Taking Need for Closure as a Moderator

Abstract

This study examines the safety climate for innovation within teams at the individual level. A sample of 165 respondents in 25 R&D teams was used to test our hypothesis. We proposed and found that team members’ individual differences in need for closure mitigated the negative relationship between perceptions of team safety climate and team relational conflict. We discuss the implications of our findings and the study’s limitations.