Organizational Climate and Company Productivity: the Role of Employee Affect and Employee Level

Consistent with a growing number of models about affect and behaviour and with arecognition that perception alone provides no impetus for action, it was predicted thatassociations between company climate and productivity would be mediated by average levelof job satisfaction. In a study of 42 manufacturing companies, subsequent productivity wassignificantly correlated in controlled analyses with eight aspects of organizational climate(e.g. skill development and concern for employee welfare) and also with average jobsatisfaction. The mediation hypothesis was supported in hierarchical multiple regressions forseparate aspects of climate. In addition, an overall analysis showed that companyproductivity was more strongly correlated with those aspects of climate that had strongersatisfaction loadings. A second prediction, that managers¿ perceptions of climate would bemore closely linked to company productivity than would those of non-managers, was notsupported. However, managers¿ assessments of most aspects of their company¿s climatewere significantly more positive than those of non-managers.