Effects of Organizational Climate on Adherence to COVID-19 Guidelines: A Moderated Mediation Model

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Organizations influence their employees’ behavior in a wide range of areas. But can organizations affect how strictly employees adhere to COVID-19 guidelines? Building on organizational climate research, we predict that an organizational climate that values safety and health in times of the pandemic increases employees’ adherence to COVID-19 guidelines both at work and in their private life. The main goal of the proposed project is to test this hypothesis. By adopting a social psychological lens, we propose a new moderated mediation model which provides a thorough understanding of how organizational climate promotes adherence to COVID-19 guidelines. We hypothesize that the effect of organizational climate on adherence to guidelines is mediated by the perception of COVID-related injunctive social norms. We also predict that this mediation is moderated by climate strength (i.e., the degree of within-unit agreement of climate perceptions) and by organizational identification. Climate strength is proposed to moderate the relationship between organizational climate and the perception of COVID-related injunctive norms such that the relationship is stronger at higher levels of climate strength (i.e., a first-stage moderated mediation). The importance of organizational identification, the second proposed moderator, can be derived from social identity and self-categorization theory. According to these theories, the perceived group norms become relevant only when group membership is a vital component of one’s self-definition. Hence, we predict that the relationship between the perception of COVID-related injunctive norms and adherence to COVID-19 guidelines is stronger the more employees identify with their organization (i.e., a second-stage moderated mediation). Finally, we predict a spillover effect from work to private life. Thus, we predict that organizational climate affects adherence to guidelines in private life, which is mediated by adherence to guidelines at work. In a pre-study with N = 304 UK employees (Hubert et al., 2021), we developed a 7-item measure to assess an organizational climate for preventing infectious diseases (OCID). In the proposed project, we will significantly extend this work. Specifically, we aim to conduct two multi-wave studies that allow the entire moderated mediation model to be examined. For data analysis, we will use multilevel structural equation modeling. From a theoretical perspective, our project addresses a fundamental gap in organizational climate research: We still have scant knowledge about the mechanisms underlying the effects of organizational climate on desired behavioral outcomes. From a practical perspective, our project highlights the role of organizations in the current pandemic. So far, attention has focused on government and media as agents for promoting adherence to COVID-19 guidelines, while the role of organizational efforts in COVID-19 prevention has been neglected.