Climate strength – How leaders form consensus

This research further develops the theories concerning climate strength in organizations. Climate strength is a measure for within-group variability in climate perceptions. We studied groups in 3 military fighting brigades, using a validated military safety-climate questionnaire to check the relationship between safety climate strength and two possible antecedents: leadership (transformational and passive), and interaction with group members (military cohesion). Statistical analysis confirmed our hypotheses. When analyzed separately, cohesion and transformational leadership correlated positively, and passive leadership correlated negatively with climate strength. When cohesion was analyzed in a combined model with passive leadership, both main and interaction effects on climate strength were found. However, when cohesion was included with transformational leadership only the interaction effect was significant. The results suggest that climate strength is influenced both by leadership style and group social interaction, and emphasize the conditions under which each antecedent is relevant to forming consensus. Theoretical and methodological implications are discussed.