Validation of a Measure of Service Climate in Organizations Validación de una Medida de Clima de Servicio en las Organizaciones

Service climate is critical for organizations pertaining to the service sector. It reflects the importance organizations attribute to service quality and efforts to please customers. Using previous work of Schneider, White, and Paul (1998) as starting point, this research validates a measure of service climate in the Spanish language. Data from two survey study projects were brought together. A total of 120 hotels, located in Spain, participated in the research. The sample consisted of 508 frontline hotel employees distributed in 152 work-units. Our results confirmed that construct and predictive validity are satisfactory, with four factors describing the facets of service climate: Global Service Climate, Customer Feedback, Customer Orientation, and Managerial Practices. Findings support the idea that frontline employees pertaining to the same work-unit are able to develop shared perceptions of service climate beyond individual differences. The scale is confirmed as a good measure of service climate in the Spanish context.