Date of Completion

8-21-2014

Embargo Period

8-21-2014

Keywords

Health climate, organizational climate, workplace health, employee health, workplace health promotion, climate measurement

Major Advisor

Robert Henning

Associate Advisor

Vicki Magley

Associate Advisor

Pouran Faghri

Field of Study

Psychology

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy

Open Access

Open Access

Abstract

The concept of healthy organizations has been explored theoretically in the research literature yet until recently a lack of sound and practical psychometric work in the area has prevented fundamental research as to what are the benefits of making an organization healthier. Viewing organizational health climate as one component of a healthy organization, the overarching goal of the current study was to argue for, and find evidence of, the importance of having a healthy workplace climate. Three complementary studies examined multiple questions about the importance and impact of organizational health climate. First, Study 1 examines the outcomes of physical health and mental health as they relate to the three facets of organizational health climate assessed via the Multi-faceted Organizational Health Climate Assessment survey tool (MOHCA; Zweber, Henning, & Magley, under review). The underlying mechanisms through which these facets affect employee health are also examined, as well as whether all three of these facets are necessary in combination to experience benefits of a healthy workplace climate. Study 2 then examines health climate at the group-level, rather than an individual-level, as it relates to other workplace outcomes. Lastly, Study 3 extends the scope of the investigation by examining the broader level of objective job context as it relates to organizational health climate and outcomes. Results from these three studies indicate some indirect effects of health climate facets on employee health as well as significant relationships with the facets and employee engagement, performance and organizational citizenship behaviors. Results also suggest the importance of strength in all three facets in order for organizations to maximally experience the benefits of a healthy workplace climate. Lastly, results from Study 3 indicate that, for the most part, the type of organization, or job type does not directly influence perceptions of health climate. Combined, the results from these three studies have important implications for organizations in terms of developing interventions to potentially benefit employee health and health climate perceptions.

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