An Exploration of Climates for Technical Updating and Performance

Rapid technological innovation has made updating the knowledge and skills of technical professionals, such as engineers, a key concern for many organizations. The facilitation of performance and updating activities to prevent obsolescence is thought to require the development of a congruent organizational climate. To date, this issue has received some theoretical but little research attention. This study assessed the efficacy of the concept of updating climate. It was hypothesized that the technical updating climate construct would (1) be able to distinguish among organizations under different pressures for technological innovation, (2) evidence interobserver consensus within organizations, and (3) be associated with relevant organizational context features and affective, performance, and updating responses. Data gathered from 447 engineers and their 218 supervisors drawn from 10 diverse organizations provided support for the hypotheses. It was concluded that the concept of updating climate provides a useful framework for understanding factors that facilitate technical competence and performance.