A multilevel model of the effects of equal opportunity climate on job satisfaction in the military.

To date, minimal work has explored associations between equal opportunity (EO) climate and employee work attitudes, and no known research has investigated the effects of EO climate beyond the individual level. We address these gaps in the literature by testing a multilevel structural equation model in which effects of EO climate are considered at both the individual and unit levels. At the individual level, we predicted that psychological EO climate would be directly associated with job stress and job satisfaction, as well as indirectly related to job satisfaction via stress. In addition, cross-level associations between unit EO climate and job stress and job satisfaction were hypothesized to be mediated by cohesion. Findings supported the proposed model; hypothesized relations were supported at both levels of analysis. We conclude with a discussion of the findings, study limitations, and directions for future EO climate research.