Is everyone in agreement? An exploration of within-group agreement in employee perceptions of the work environment

Multilevel researchers often gather individual-level data to measure group- level constructs. Within-group agreement is a key consideration in the meas urement of such constructs, yet antecedents of within-group agreement have been little studied. The authors found that group member social interaction and work interdependence were significantly positively related to within-g roup agreement regarding perceptions of the work environment. Demographic h eterogeneity was not significantly related to within-group agreement, Surve y wording showed a complex relationship to agreement. Both evaluative items and socially undesirable items generated high within-group agreement. The use of a group rather than individual referent increased within-group agree ment in response to descriptive items but decreased within-group agreement in response to evaluative items. Items with a group referent showed greater between-group variability than items with an individual referent.