Abstract
This chapter is designed to test which of the competing perspectives, ‘work satisfaction
as intermediary’ or ‘work satisfaction as outcome’, is more appropriate to describe the
role of work satisfaction in the relationship between climate for efficiency, climate for
service and productivity in business units. Longitudinal data obtained from more than
14,000 employees in 171 branches of a financial services organization provided no
evidence for the ‘work satisfaction as intermediary’ perspective. Work satisfaction is not
related to productivity in this study. In line with a ‘work satisfaction as outcome’
perspective, climate for efficiency is more associated with productivity than climate for
service, and climate for service is more associated with work satisfaction than climate for
efficiency. Across time a trade-off was found: climate for service at time point 1 is
negatively related to productivity at time point 2, and climate for efficiency at time point
1 is negatively related to work satisfaction at time point 2. These findings highlight the
need to study the differential effects of strategic climate types on work satisfaction and
productivity.
