Assessing Organizational Climate: psychometric properties of the ECALS Scale

Abstract Background: Organizational Climate (OC) is a basic construct in work and organizational environments, since it allows exploration of individual and group behaviours within organizations. The object of the present study was to develop a new scale called the Subjective Work Environment Organizational Climate Scale (Escala de Clima Organizacional del Ambiente Laboral Subjetivo - ECALS) for the Chilean context. Method: The sample consisted of 1,442 employees, mean age 39.48 years (SD= 11.13). A total of 55% were public employees, 34.5% were employees in commercial private organizations and 10.5% belonged to not-for-profit private organizations. Different exploratory factorial analyses were applied and the best exploratory model was tested in a confirmatory factorial analysis. We also analysed whether differences existed in the dimensions of ECALS between employees belonging to the different types of organization. Results: The scale consists of 38 items with adequate psychometric properties and a bifactorial structure, with one general factor (OC) and five specific dimensions (Organizational trust, Job strain, Social support, Reward and Job satisfaction). Conclusions: The results indicate that the new scale has adequate psychometric properties, providing reliable, valid evaluation of the organizational climate in the Chilean context.