Climate Strength Research Articles

Current Directions in Climate Level and Climate Strength Research

Current Directions in Climate Level and Climate Strength Research

The cold accumulative effect of expressway embankment with a combined cooling measure in permafrost zones

The thermal performance of an experimentally built expressway embankment with a combined cooling measure at Beiluhe Basin in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was investigated based on long-term field monitoring. Six-year records of soil temperatures showed that the embankment cooled by a measure combining hollow concrete bricks and ventilation ducts had a significant cooling effect on the subgrade soil. Over the investigated time period, the permafrost table beneath the embankment moved upward to the natural ground surface, and the subgrade soil layers down to a depth of −15 m underwent a considerable cooling. Then, the long-term thermal performance of this kind of cooled embankment with different surface widths (13 and 26 m) is comparatively studied using numerical simulations. The simulated results show that both embankments perform well in cooling the subgrade soil. However, the annual heat loss of the subgrade soil beneath the wider cooled embankment is greater than that of the narrow ones. Via the wider cooled embankment, more cold accumulates in the subgrade soil after the embankment's construction, which we term as the “cold accumulative” effect. This cold accumulative effect can ensure the underlying permafrost thermal stability better in the context of climate warming and strength the long-term embankment stability.

The Strength of Low-Cloud Feedbacks and Tropical Climate: A CESM Sensitivity Study

Abstract Variability in the strength of low-cloud feedbacks across climate models is the primary contributor to the spread in their estimates of equilibrium climate sensitivity (ECS). This raises the question: What are the regional implications for key features of tropical climate of globally weak versus strong low-cloud feedbacks in response to greenhouse gas–induced warming? To address this question and formalize our understanding of cloud controls on tropical climate, we perform a suite of idealized fully coupled and slab-ocean climate simulations across which we systematically scale the strength of the low-cloud-cover feedback under abrupt 2 × CO2 forcing within a single model, thereby isolating the impact of low-cloud feedback strength. The feedback strength is varied by modifying the stratus cloud fraction so that it is a function of not only local conditions but also global temperature in a series of abrupt 2 × CO2 sensitivity experiments. The unperturbed decrease in low cloud cover (LCC) under 2 × CO2 is greatest in the mid- and high-latitude oceans, and the subtropical eastern Pacific and Atlantic, a pattern that is magnified as the feedback strength is scaled. Consequently, sea surface temperature (SST) increases more in these regions as well as the Pacific cold tongue. As the strength of the low-cloud feedback increases this results in not only increased ECS, but also an enhanced reduction of the large-scale zonal and meridional SST gradients (structural climate sensitivity), with implications for the atmospheric Hadley and Walker circulations, as well as the hydrological cycle. The relevance of our results to simulating past warm climate is also discussed.

Buffering the Breach: Examining the Three-Way Interaction Between Unit Climate Level, Strength, and Psychological Contract Breach.

Despite the wealth of research showing that psychological contract breach (PCB) has negative outcomes for individuals, knowledge about the influence of the social context in which breaches are experienced is still scarce. This is surprising, as scholars have argued that work climates, such as when unit members are generally highly committed, could buffer an individual’s negative experiences at work. Yet, to date, the unit climate and PCB literatures have largely remained separated and our main goal is to integrate these fields. This is especially timely and relevant, because recent work in the unit climate literature indicates that merely looking at the average climate level might not be enough, because the climate’s strength (i.e., the agreement or homogeneity within the unit) could also provide important social cues. Building on these recent advances, we develop and test a theoretical framework which links both climate concepts to PCB. More specifically, we hypothesized that especially when all unit members are highly and homogeneously committed, an employee would reframe their PCB in such a way that it would less adversely affect work engagement and turnover intentions. Using data from 1,272 employees across 36 healthcare units, multilevel structural path analyses supported this three-way interaction. By answering recent calls for more “social PCB research” and integrating the unit climate and PCB literatures, we aim to provide guidance to scholars and practitioners who want to understand in more depth the social context’s influence on PCB.

Força de Clima: Seu Papel Moderador na Relação Entre Clima e Turnover

Resumo Na literatura, o efeito da qualidade do clima, definido como as percepções positivas sobre o ambiente de trabalho, nos resultados organizacionais já é relativamente bem conhecido e estudado. No entanto, nos últimos anos, a literatura de clima tem prestado atenção crescente em um novo construto: força de clima, que se refere ao grau de consenso entre as pessoas sobre o clima dentro da unidade de trabalho ou organização. Para avançar na investigação do papel de clima nos resultados organizacionais, o presente trabalho examina o efeito de força de clima no turnover em nível organizacional. Para isso, usou-se uma amostra composta de 25.288 indivíduos de 150 empresas de médio e grande porte de diversos setores em que se testou o efeito direto e o moderador de força de clima em cinco dimensões de clima no nível de turnover coletivo. Os resultados obtidos mostraram que, após controlar a qualidade do clima organizacional, a força de clima modera a relação entre qualidade de clima e turnover coletivo em três das cinco facetas de clima estudadas, de forma que, quando a força de clima é alta, a influência do clima organizacional no turnover é potencializada, enquanto que, quando a força de clima é baixa, essa influência se enfraquece. Porém, não há efeito direto entre força de clima e turnover coletivo.

Adapting and validating the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS) for nursing students (HSOPS-NS): A new measure of Patient Safety Climate

BackgroundPatient Safety Culture and Patient Safety Climate (PSC) are different factors. PSC is the shared perception that is held within a hospital's area or unit at a specific moment in time. This measure is necessary for designing activities for promoting and improving safety. It must include the perception of all the agents involved, including future nurses throughout their patient safety education. ObjectivesThe aim was to adapt and validate a new version of the Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture (HSOPS), targeted specifically at nursing students. It provides a new comprehensive and more complete measure of PSC that contributes to improving patient safety. MethodsData were obtained from 654 undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students. PSC was tested using factor analyses and structural equation modeling. In order to facilitate the improvement of PSC, we examined differences in climate strength across different academic groups using the Rwg(j) and ICC measures of inter-rater agreement. ResultsFactor analyses confirmed a five-factor solution that explained between 52.45% and 54.75% of the variance. The model was found to have adequate fit χ2 (5) = 14.333, p = .014; CFI = 0.99; RMSEA = 0.05. Cronbach's alphas for PSC were between 0.74 and 0.77. “Teamwork within units” was the highest rated dimension, and “Staffing” the lowest rated. Medium-to-high scores were obtained for PSC. The median of Rwg (j) was high in the five dimensions of the PSC survey, supporting the idea of shared climate perceptions (0.81–0.96) among undergraduate and postgraduate nursing students. ConclusionsHSOPS-NS is a useful and versatile tool for measuring the level and strength of PSC. It screens knowledge regarding patient safety in clinical practice placements and compares nursing students' perceptions of the strength of PSC. Weaknesses perceived in relation to PSC help implement changes in patient safety learning.

Beyond the mean: Understanding firm‐level consequences of variability in diversity climate perceptions

SummaryWe develop and test an organizational‐level model of the consequences of diversity climate for company performance. Drawing from affective events theory and the organizational climate literature, we highlight the role of idiosyncrasies in employees' diversity climate perceptions. Specifically, we consider diversity climate strength (i.e., agreement in employees' climate perceptions) as a boundary condition of diversity climate's organizational‐level effects and expect high climate strength to be particularly beneficial in demographically diverse organizations. Moreover, we introduce collective positive affect as an underlying mechanism of diversity climate's conditional effects on company performance. Hypotheses are tested in a study of 82 German small‐and‐medium‐sized companies with 13,695 surveyed employees. Results show a moderated mediation relationship where diversity climate is only positively related to organizational performance (via collective positive affect) at relatively high diversity climate strength. Although this finding holds for both demographically diverse and homogeneous organizations, post hoc analyses provide initial evidence that a strong climate only helps to realize the effects of diversity climate on collective positive affect when members of age‐ and gender‐related demographic subgroups converge in their climate perceptions. Our study contributes to a better understanding of diversity climate as an effective lever for managing diversity.

Organisational Climate for Change and Innovativeness

Purpose: Acute health services around the world are increasingly required to respond to accreditation institutes, the changing needs and expectations of patients and societal values that demand continuous improvement in quality and efficiencies. Many change initiatives and innovative attempts have failed or resulted in lower performance than expected. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the organisational contextual factors such as social capital and organisational climate that interact with the change implementation processes and provide a new perspective for change management in the unique environment of acute health care.
 Methodology: This mixed methods study was executed in three different sized operating theatre suites. A survey and in-depth interviews were used to reveal a current organisational climate for innovativeness through team member perspectives. The strength of each organisational climate was assessed with reference to the level of disparity in the participant responses. In-depth interviews and observations provided understanding of how social capital is developed and maintained, then examined in context with the climate for innovativeness to understand how contextual factors, social capital and climate interact. 
 Findings: It has been demonstrated that social capital in the operating theatre suite has bearing on the organisational climate for change and innovativeness. Size and structure of an organisation influence how social networks develop; policies and management practices influence how different networks interact; and, the combination of contextual factors and social capital influences the organisational climate for innovativeness. 
 Originality/value: Managing social capital can offer a people-focused perspective through which to design and implement change and enhance an organisational climate for innovativeness.

Should psychosocial safety climate theory be extended to include climate strength?

Psychosocial safety climate (PSC; climate for psychological health) is an organizational antecedent to work conditions articulated in the job demands-resources model. We responded to calls for broader consideration of organizational climate in terms of both climate level and strength. We tested PSC level and strength as main and interactive predictors of work conditions, psychological health, and engagement. Using multilevel analysis and cross-sectional data, the effects of unit-level PSC constructs were investigated in 21 hospital work units (n = 249 employees) in Australia. The correlation between PSC levels (measured at the unit mean) and PSC strength (measured as unit -1 × SD) was moderate and positive, suggesting that ceiling effects of PSC scores were not problematic. PSC level was a better predictor than PSC strength or their interactions for job demands (psychological and emotional demands), job resources (e.g., skill discretion and organizational support), and health (emotional exhaustion). For engagement, the interaction was significant-improving engagement, therefore, benefits from high levels of PSC and PSC strength within the work units. So, in answer to the research question regarding PSC theory extension, "it depends on the outcome." Research limitations are acknowledged, and the potential of the PSC model to guide the reduction of workplace psychosocial risk factors and the negative consequences is discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of Person-HRM fit on Implementation behavior and High-Performance Work Systems

Recently, the high performance work systems (HPWS) literature has witnessed a burgeoning interest in exploring its influence measured at the within-organization level. Since extant studies in this line of research often treat human resource management (HRM) systems as independent variables, a fundamental question of why variability develops within organizations could not be addressed properly. To fill the void, this article attempts to integrate studies on HR devolution to the line with the HPWS-performance relationship, thereby placing the role of first-line managers (FLMs) at the center of inquiry. By doing so, the current research directly determines factors that contribute to the emergence of work-group HPWS, and articulate further the process through which strategically adopted HR practices are manifested in actual HRM systems, and subsequent outcomes. Analyses of 117 work group data confirmed that FLM’s person-HRM fit (i.e., value and ability dimensions) significantly influences his/her implementation behavior of espoused HR practices, which is, in turn, associated with HPWS at the group level. In addition, there was a positive interaction between value fit and climate for HR implementation in explaining variance in both implementation behavior and realized HPWS. Most conspicuously, it was found that climate strength appears to substitute for effects of FLM’s ability fit perception in predicting HR implementation. This research discusses how findings uniquely extends the current discourse of the SHRM and HR devolution literature.

Leaving the Nested Structure: The Influence of Work Relationships on Climate Strength

Climate strength indicates the degree of consensus (i.e., lack of variability) in the shared perceptions of individuals which are aggregated to the team level. An implicit assumption in this aggregation is that the nesting based on organizational structure is the closest representation of work relationships throughout the organization: individuals use their work relationships with their teammates and supervisors to make sense of their environments, thereby generating shared individual perceptions which attain a level of consensus. The nature of work has become more interdependent and connected, enabling work relationships to flourish. On the one hand, these changes further facilitate conditions to generate consensus. Yet I argue that these changes also: (a) increase the salience of relationships beyond team boundaries, and (b) differentially influence relationships within teams, both of which act as barriers to consensus. I explain and reconcile these conflicting perspectives, identifying alternate ways i...

More Than the Average: Examining Variability in Employee Perceptions of Diversity Climate

Guided by general climate models of organizational effectiveness and drawing from affective events theory and situational strength theory, we develop a comprehensive organizational-level model of the implications of diversity climate for company performance. In our model, we highlight the role of idiosyncrasies in diversity climate perceptions among members of organizations by considering diversity climate strength (i.e., agreement in employees' climate perceptions) as a moderator of diversity climate effects. Moreover, we introduce collective positive affect as an underlying mechanism linking diversity climate to organizational performance. Hypotheses were tested with a multisource dataset compromising 84 German small to medium-sized companies with a total of 15,310 surveyed employees. In line with theoretical expectations, empirical findings yield a conditional indirect relationship where diversity climate is only positively related to organizational performance (via collective positive affect) when there is high agreement in diversity climate perceptions among employees (i.e., high diversity climate strength).

Organisational Climate for Change and Innovativeness: A social capital perspective

Purpose: Acute health services around the world are increasingly required to respond to accreditation institutes, the changing needs and expectations of patients and societal values that demand continuous improvement in quality and efficiencies. Many change initiatives and innovative attempts have failed or resulted in lower performance than expected. The purpose of this paper is to increase understanding of the organisational contextual factors such as social capital and organisational climate that interact with the change implementation processes and provide a new perspective for change management in the unique environment of acute health care. Methodology: This mixed methods study was executed in three different sized operating theatre suites. A survey and in-depth interviews were used to reveal a current organisational climate for innovativeness through team member perspectives. The strength of each organisational climate was assessed with reference to the level of disparity in the participant responses. In-depth interviews and observations provided understanding of how social capital is developed and maintained, then examined in context with the climate for innovativeness to understand how contextual factors, social capital and climate interact. Findings: It has been demonstrated that social capital in the operating theatre suite has bearing on the organisational climate for change and innovativeness. Size and structure of an organisation influence how social networks develop; policies and management practices influence how different networks interact; and, the combination of contextual factors and social capital influences the organisational climate for innovativeness. Originality/value: Managing social capital can offer a people-focused perspective through which to design and implement change and enhance an organisational climate for innovativeness.

A multilevel analysis of the effects of disciplinary climate strength on student reading performance

Climate strength was first conceptualised in the organisational psychology literature as the within-group agreement on the perceptions of climate. In contrast to the deep study of climate level, climate strength has not been clarified by school climate research. The purpose of this cross-cultural study is to identify the main effect of disciplinary climate strength on student reading performance, and its moderating effect on the relationship between disciplinary climate level and student reading performance. A multilevel analysis was conducted on 2009 data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) from Shanghai-China, Japan, and the United States (US). The result showed a significantly positive relationship between climate strength and student reading performance in Shanghai-China and the US. Moreover, a moderating effect of climate strength was found in Shanghai-China and the US. The effects of climate strength were further examined in strong and weak conditions. School-level predictors of climate strength were also examined. The differences in disciplinary climate strengths and their effects on student reading performance suggested some culture differences in these countries/areas.

Development climate and work engagement: a multilevel study

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relative impact of psychological HRD climate and HRD climate quality on work engagement. In addition, the paper attempts to examine the boundary conditions of the proposed relationship by proposing and testing HRD climate strength as the moderator of the relationship between psychological HRD climate, HRD climate quality and work engagement.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from a total of 375 business executives from select business organizations in India using standardized measurement instruments. As the present study involved variables at different levels of analysis, hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) approach was utilized for the purpose of data analyses.FindingsThe results of HLM revealed that the shared employee perception of development climate accounted for significant percentage of between person variance in work engagement above and beyond individual climate perceptions. HRD climate strength was found to moderate the psychological HRD climate and work engagement relationship but the interaction of HRD climate strength with HRD climate quality did not add further to the understanding of work engagement process.Practical implicationsThe findings of the present research imply that creating a climate of human resource development is a compelling intervention, which could provide competitive advantage to the firm in terms of enhanced work engagement levels among employees.Originality/valueThe study established the importance of social system or social interaction climate in its own right by demonstrating its unique effects on individual attitudes over individuals’ idiosyncratic perceptions.

Safety Climate: Measurements, Cultural Causes, and Climate Strength

As the leading indicator of safety-related outcomes, safety climate has been extensively studied since 1980. Nevertheless, there are some emerging issues of safety climate requiring our attention. Reporting the results of two meta-analyses and two large data collection efforts in the construction and health care industries, this symposium addresses key emerging issues in safety climate research and advances our theoretical understanding of safety climate. Specifically, the first two presentations will address optimal strategies to measure safety climate (i.e., universal versus industry-specific safety climate measures; rubric-based safety climate assessment tool). Then, the third presentation will advance our understanding of safety climate by meta-analytically examining the influence of cultural values on safety climate. Finally, the last presentation will examine the impact of safety climate and safety climate strength on safety motivation.

Patient safety climate profiles across time: Strength and level of safety climate associated with a quality improvement program in Switzerland-A cross-sectional survey study.

Safety Climate has been acknowledged as an unspecific factor influencing patient safety. However, studies rarely provide in-depth analysis of climate data. As a helpful approach, the concept of “climate strength” has been proposed. In the present study we tested the hypotheses that even if safety climate remains stable on mean-level across time, differences might be evident in strength or shape. The data of two hospitals participating in a large national quality improvement program were analysed for differences in climate profiles at two measurement occasions. We analysed differences on mean-level, differences in percent problematic response, agreement within groups, and frequency histograms in two large hospitals in Switzerland at two measurement occasions (2013 and 2015) applying the Safety Climate Survey. In total, survey responses of 1193 individuals were included in the analyses. Overall, small but significant differences on mean-level of safety climate emerged for some subgroups. Also, although agreement was strong at both time-points within groups, tendencies of divergence or consensus were present in both hospitals. Depending on subgroup and analyses chosen, differences were more or less pronounced. The present study illustrated that taking several measures into account and describing safety climate from different perspectives is necessary in order to fully understand differences and trends within groups and to develop interventions addressing the needs of different groups more precisely.

Employee involvement climate and climate strength

PurposeAddressing the continuing productivity challenge, the purpose of this paper is to analyze data from the National Health Service on employee involvement (EI) in order to gain critical insights into how employees’ shared perception of EI in organizational decision making (i.e. EI climate) might address two persistent issues: how to enhance positive staff attitudes and improve organizational performance. In doing so, the authors respond to recent calls for more multilevel research and extend previous research on EI climate by attending to both EI climate level and EI climate strength.Design/methodology/approachData from 4,702 employees nested in 33 UK hospitals were used to test the moderating role of EI climate strength in the cross-level EI climate level employee level-attitudes relationship and in the organizational-level EI climate-organizational effectiveness relationship.FindingsThe results of the multilevel analyses showed that EI climate level was positively associated with individual-level employee attitudes (i.e. job satisfaction, organizational commitment). Further the results of the hierarchical regression analysis and the ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that EI climate level was also related to organizational effectiveness (i.e. lower outpatient waiting times, higher performance quality). In addition, both analyses demonstrated the moderating role of EI climate strength, in that the positive impact of EI climate level on employee attitudes and organizational effectiveness was more marked in the presence of a strong climate compared to a weak EI climate.Practical implicationsBy creating and maintaining a positive and strong climate for involvement, hospital managers can tackle the productivity challenge that UK hospitals and health care institutions more generally are currently facing while improving the attitudes of their employees who are critical in the transformative process and ultimately underpin the organizational success.Originality/valueThis is the first study which provides evidence that favorable and consistent collective recognition of EI opportunities by staff contributes to enhance both employee attitudes and hospital performance. Results highlight the role of EI climate strength and underscore its importance in future research and practice.

Organizational climate and culture: Reflections on the history of the constructs in the Journal of Applied Psychology.

We review the literature on organizational climate and culture paying specific attention to articles published in the Journal of Applied Psychology (JAP) since its first volume in 1917. The article traces the history of the 2 constructs though JAP has been far more important for climate than culture research. We distinguish 4 main periods: the pre-1971 era, with pioneering work on exploring conceptualization and operationalizations of the climate construct; the 1971-1985 era, with foundational work on aggregation issues, outcome-focused climates (on safety and service) and early writings on culture; the 1986-1999 era, characterized by solidification of a focused climate approach to understanding organizational processes (justice, discrimination) and outcomes (safety, service) and the beginnings of survey approaches to culture; and the 2000-2014 era, characterized by multilevel work on climate, climate strength, demonstrated validity for a climate approach to outcomes and processes, and the relationship between leadership and climate and culture. We summarize and comment on the major theory and research achievements in each period, showing trends observed in the literature and how JAP has contributed greatly to moving research on these constructs, especially climate, forward. We also recommend directions for future research given the current state of knowledge. (PsycINFO Database Record

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL SATISFACTION IN ORGANIZATIONS

1. IntroductionRealistic, constantly applied, unambiguously and soundly conveyed and satisfactorily grasped performance expectations generate employee confidence, employer reliability, and uninterrupted employment relationships. An agreement on performance expectations indicates employer reliability and generates employee confidence (Cesaroni et al., 2015), which may bolster an investment in reinforced job performance. The expectation climate strength clarifies the level of accord on the required conduct among job incumbents (a strong climate signals a high degree of agreement). The expectation climate strength indicates the reliability of an organization (Jenner, 2016) and is instrumental in influencing staffmembers? convictions that the entity can be confided in. In a weak climate, requirement indications are incoherent and unstable. Staff members are less inferable to have beneficial requirements of the organization?s capacity to be trustworthy. (Audenaert et al., 2016)2.The Link between Performance Appraisal Satisfaction and Individuals? Psychological ReactionsWhen there is not any agreement on job requirements, staff members may regard management to be somewhat incompetent when managing individuals in a reasonable and harmonious fashion. Confidence may be jeopardized if staff members are knowledgeable of conflicting and arbitrary requirements. Job incumbents may regard the required quality and amount of work discordantly (L?z?roiu, 2015), and may envision distinct expectations. As a result of the interplays among job incumbents, the ambiguity may be amplified and it is less obvious to individuals what is required from them to carry out steadily. When the expectation climate (Nica, 2016a, b, c) is strong, staff members confide in the organization as they can demand a coherent and foreseeable treatment. As they rely on the employer, they feel poised to work hard for a strong performance. Employees feel they can depend on the organization to be transparent and harmonious on what is required from them. (Audenaert et al., 2016)Extrinsically motivated conducts are ruled by the likelihood of instrumental gain and loss. Intrinsically motivated conducts are involved for their own benefit (Peters, 2015), not being instrumental in relation to some other result. Intrinsic motivation is related to enhanced performance. The durability of the connection is determined by how performance is construed. Both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation are somewhat functional in performance settings. Undertakings highlighting performance quality have a stable connection to intrinsic motivation (Ionescu, 2016a, b, c), whereas those stressing performance quantity have a less strong association with it. Quality-type assignments are likely to necessitate a superior level of intricacy and commitment of more expertise, which requires a lot of personal investment. The occurrence and possibility of performance-salient determinants should affect the link between intrinsic motivation and performance. (Cerasoli et al., 2014)Developmental use concentrates on experiences and expertise that staff members should assimilate and which are recognized by the utilization of performance assessments. The latter are satisfactorily adjusted to identify strong points and drawbacks (Peters and Besley, 2016) and assist in establishing goals and enhancing employee performance. Mediocre performers may be determined and may obtain feedback on how to advance in the longer haul. A gain of performance appraisals is that the supplied feedback and interaction may suggest staff members that they are being appreciated by their managers and the organization, which makes them perceive themselves more as com- ponent of the entity. As a result of the constant controlling of staff members' endeavor and conduct, some individuals may feel confined in the manner they can manage and carry out their undertakings, which may lead to an adverse influence on job satisfaction. …