Adaptation of a social climate scale in the context of work teams

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to validate a scale assessing the social climate of work teams. The data were obtained from a sample of 521 persons. The instrument contains 35 items which were responded to using a 5-point Likert scale. The factorability of the correlation matrix was verified through the inspection of the matrix, and the calculation of the KMO and the determinant of the matrix. To factor analyze the data Principal Axis Factoring (PAF) with Promax rotation was used. The most satisfying factorial solution contains two factors (33 items) explaining 54,2% of the shared variance. The reliability of the two factors was very satisfactory (factor 1: ? =0.95, mean item-total correlation = 0.68; factor 2: ? =0.94, mean item-total correlation = 0.70). The first factor, Management of Work, exists of 18 questions, while the second factor, Management of Relations, contains 15 items. Considering the diverse contents within each factor, the presence of facets was investigated. The extraction of facets within each factor followed the same procedures followed with the actual factors. The results revealed the presence of two facets within each factor. The contents of these facets are compatible with the theoretical dimensions of the social climate construct.