Winters, Summers, and Destructive Leadership Cultures in Rich Regions

Van de Vliert's (2009) climato-economic theory of culture proposes that the impact of climatic demands on culture is influenced by wealth resources. In rich regions, much cold and heat in conjunction with relatively little wealth (undermatching) and little cold and heat in conjunction with relatively much wealth (overmatching) both are thought to produce less destructive leadership cultures than do approximations of just enough wealth to successfully cope with thermal climate (optimal matching). Avoiding confounding influences of numerous cross-national differences, we tested this tenet using employee survey data gathered in a sample of 191 Norwegian municipalities. Destructive leadership culture is less prevalent in less wealthy regions with more demanding winters and more demanding summers (undermatching) and in more wealthy regions with milder winters and milder summers (overmatching) than in more or less wealthy regions with either more demanding winters and milder summers or more demanding summers and milder winters (optimal matching). Disconfirmative tests could not obscure or destroy these findings.