Complementary or Competing Climates? Examining the Interactive Effect of Service and Ethical Climates on Company-Level Financial Performance

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Myer, Adam T.; Thoroughgood, Christian N.; Mohammed, Susan
• 署名单位: Johnson & Johnson; Johnson & Johnson USA; Villanova University; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/apl0000119
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 1178-U141
• 关键词: organizational climate; SERVICE CLIMATE; ETHICAL CLIMATE; competing values framework; role conflict theory; behavioral integrity theory; organizational identification theory

摘要

By bending rules to please their customers, companies with high service climates may be less ethical but ultimately more profitable. In this article, we pose the question of whether being ethical comes at a cost to profits in customer-oriented firms. Despite the organizational reality that multiple climates coexist at a given time, research has largely ignored these types of questions, and the simultaneous analysis of multiple climate dimensions has received little empirical attention to date. Given their scientific and practical importance, this study tested complementary and conflicting perspectives regarding interactions between service (outcome-focused) and ethical (process-focused) climates on company-level financial performance. Drawing on a sample of 16,862 medical sales representatives spread across 77 subsidiary companies of a large multinational corporation in the health care product industry, we found support for a complementary view. More precisely, results revealed that profitability was enhanced, not diminished, in service-oriented firms that also stressed the importance of ethics. Results suggest studying the interactive effects of multiple climates is a more fruitful approach than examining main effects alone.