Industrial relations climate: Testing a construct

Using the concept of organizational climate, this paper reports a study conducted to validate a measure of industrial relations climate. Industrial relations climate is defined as a subset of organizational climate that pertains to the norms and attitudes reflecting union‐management relationships in an organization. Data were collected by means of extensive interviews with management and union representatives, and by distributing a questionnaire to 729 employees in two organizations in Canada. The results showed the validity and the reliability of five scales measuring industrial relations climate. Four of the climate scales also demonstrated strong within‐organization and within‐group agreement (based on union/non‐union membership, bargaining unit and departmental affiliation). The potential theoretical and practical use of this construct for future research is discussed.