A tale of two climates: The cross-domain effects of service and safety climates

The domain-specific effects of service climate and safety climate are well-established, but little is known about their cross-domain effects. Adopting the multiple climate perspective, we examine the cross-domain main effects of service climate (on safety performance) and safety climate (on service performance) and their joint effects in predicting service and safety performance. Drawing on the exploration-exploitation framework, we further introduce team exploration and team exploitation as mechanisms for the cross-domain effects. We conducted two multiwave and multisource field studies using nursing teams in hospitals. Results from Study 1 show that service climate has a positive relationship with service performance but a non-significant relationship with safety performance, whereas safety climate has a positive relationship with safety performance but a negative relationship with service performance. Study 2 replicated the findings from Study 1 and further showed that safety climate moderates the indirect relationships that service climate has with service and safety performance through team exploration; Service climate moderates the indirect relationships safety climate has with team service and safety performance through team exploitation. We extend the climate literature by revealing the missing cross-domain effects of service and safety climates and their explanatory mechanisms.