Affective team climate: a multi-level analysis of psychosocial working conditions and psychological distress in team workers

In occupational health research, the demand-control-support (DCS) model has attracted a great deal of attention. Although this model emphasizes the interaction between workers and their work environment, the DCS framework has mainly been tested at the micro-level. The present study shows that combining the DCS model with insights from organizational climate studies offers a fruitful theoretical framework by which to address variation in psychological distress in team workers. Hierarchical logistic regression using data on 1,098 workers from 97 teams in a car factory in Belgium reveals that a positive perception of the affective climate in one's team lowers levels of psychological distress. In addition, the team's affective climate, emerging from and reproduced within everyday social interaction between team members, plays a significant role of its own in the well-being of team members. When the affective team climate is positive, all team members benefit in terms of distress levels, even those workers who hold a negative perception of their emotional work environment. Part of the health effects of a positive climate runs through moderating the health-damaging effects of high job demands