Attitudes and

Job Satisfaction

Chapter 3

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Attitudes

Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events.Three components of an attitude:

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The emotional or The emotional or feeling segment feeling segment of an attitudeof an attitudeThe opinion or The opinion or

belief segment of belief segment of an attitudean attitude An intention to behave An intention to behave

in a certain way in a certain way toward someone or toward someone or somethingsomething

See E X H I B I T 3–1See E X H I B I T 3–1

How consistent are attitudes?

• People seek consistency among their attitudes and between their attitudes and behaviors

• They reconcile divergent attitudes and behaviors to appear rational and consistent

• They remove inconsistency by altering either the attitude or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization for the discrepancy

• Tobacco executives example – pg. 86

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Cognitive Dissonance

• An incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes, or between behavior and attitude

• No one can avoid dissonance• Desire to reduce dissonance will be

determined by:1.Importance of the elements creating the

dissonance- If unimportant, pressure to correct imbalance is

low4

Cognitive Dissonance (contd.)

• If namaaz is considered important: – (1) Change behavior: Start praying

regularly – (2) Conclude dissonant behavior is not so

important: “It’s OK to miss one namaaz, I will pray next time”

– (3) Change attitude: Namaaz is just a ritual

– (4) Seek alternative elements to outweigh the dissonant ones: “I can make up for missed namaazes through fasting”

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Cognitive Dissonance (contd.) 2. The degree of influence the individual believes s/he has over

the elements• If no control over what is causing the dissonance, less likely to

try for attitude change; will rationalize/justify– Eg.: Dissonance-producing behavior is required as a result

of boss’s directive3. Rewards involved: High rewards reduce the tension of high

dissonance

CONCLUSION: If individuals are required by the demands of their jobs to say or do things that contradict their personal attitude, they will modify their attitude

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Class Activity: Overcoming Dissonance

• Think of a element which causes dissonance in you

• What steps will you take to reduce this dissonance?

• Work individually• 10 Minutes

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Does behavior follow from attitude: Moderating Variables

• Important attitudes have a strong relationship to behavior– Eg.: “Deadlines build reputation”: Hardworking

employee• Easily remembered (by frequent expression)

attitudes are more likely to predict behavior – Eg.: SZABIST takes punctuality seriously

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Does behavior follow from attitude? (contd.)

• Strong social pressures create discrepancies between attitude and behavior– Eg.: Peer pressure for doing drugs

• Individual’s direct personal experience with the attitude– Eg.: How will you respond to a belligerent

customer on the phone?

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Self-Perception Theory• Do behaviors influence attitudes?

• When asked about an attitude towards some object

– Individuals recall their behavior towards it

– Infer their attitude from past behavior

• Theory: Attitudes are used to make sense of an action that has already occurred rather

than as devices that precede and guide action

• If the attitude is vague, you’ve had few experiences regarding an attitude issue or given

little previous thought to it, you infer your attitudes from your behavior

• If attitude is established for a while and well defined, then attitudes guide behavior

• Behavior follows attitude and equally attitude follows behavior

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Major Job Attitudes• Job satisfaction

– Positive feelings about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics

– Employee attitude = Job Satisfaction• Job involvement

– Degree to which people are personally involved with their jobs

– Consider their perceived performance-level important to self-worth

– High levels of involvement are positively related to organizational citizenship, job performance, fewer absences and lower resignation rates

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Major Job Attitudes (Contd.)

• Organizational commitment– Employee identifies with the organization and its goals and

wishes to maintain membership – 3 dimensions:

• Affective commitment (strongest): emotional attachment• Continuance commitment (weakest): perceived economic

value of remaining with the organization as compared to leaving it

• Normative commitment: obligation to remain with the organization for moral or ethical reasons

– OC has a modest positive relationship with job productivity; occupational commitment does

– OC has a negative r/s with absenteeism and turnover12

Major Job Attitudes (contd.)

• Perceived Organizational Support– Degree to which the employees believes that the

organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being.

• Eg. Forgiving an honest mistake– People perceive their organizations are supportive

if:• Rewards are fair• Employees have a voice in decisions• Supervisors are perceived supportive

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How to measure Employee Attitude?

• Attitude Surveys– Consists of statements or questions– With a rating scale indicating degree of agreement– Questions/statements such as:

• My job makes the best use of my abilities• I know what my boss expects of me• I am paid a competitive salary

• Conduct periodically to provide valuable feedback about employees’ perceptions of the working conditions

• Apparently fair policies and practices maybe perceived as inequitable by employees

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Class Activity: What do I value?• Treat each list separately• Number from 1-10

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Job Satisfaction

• Measuring Job Satisfaction– Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best– Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK

• How Satisfied Are People in Their Jobs?– In general, people are satisfied with their jobs. – Depends on facets of satisfaction—tend to be less

satisfied with pay and promotion opportunities.

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Causes of Job Satisfaction

• Pay only influences Job Satisfaction to a point– After about $40,000 a year, there is no

relationship between amount of pay and job satisfaction.

• Personality can influence job satisfaction– Negative people are usually not satisfied with

their jobs

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Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction

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See E X H I B I T 3–4See E X H I B I T 3–4

Active

Passive

ConstructiveDestructive

The Effect of Job Satisfaction on Employee Performance

• Satisfaction and Productivity– Satisfied workers are more productive AND more

productive workers are more satisfied! – Worker productivity is higher in organizations with

more satisfied workers.• Satisfaction and Absenteeism

– Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.• Satisfaction and Turnover

– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.– Organizations take actions to retain high performers

and to weed out lower performers.

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Job Satisfaction and OCB

• Satisfaction and OCBs– Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and

are trusting of the organization are more willing to engage in behaviors that go beyond the normal expectations of their job.

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Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

• Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction– Satisfied workers provide better customer service

• Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction because:– They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.– They are less likely to turnover, which helps build long-

term customer relationships.– They are experienced.

• Dissatisfied customers increase employee job dissatisfaction.

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Summary and Managerial Implications

• Managers should watch employee attitudes: – They give warnings of potential problems– They influence behavior

• Managers should try to increase job satisfaction and generate positive job attitudes– Reduces costs by lowering turnover,

absenteeism, tardiness, theft, and increasing OCB

• Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make work challenging and interesting– Pay is not enough

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In general, when we think of attitudes and organizations, we think of In general, when we think of attitudes and organizations, we think of

1) Job Satisfaction1) Job Satisfaction

2) Happiness2) Happiness

3) Job Involvement3) Job Involvement

4) Mood at work4) Mood at work

5) Organizational Commitment5) Organizational Commitment

6) 1 and 2 6) 1 and 2

7) 1, 3, and 5 7) 1, 3, and 5

Chapter Check-Up: Attitudes

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Ernesto is the known as the Donut Hut King---every day he brings donuts Ernesto is the known as the Donut Hut King---every day he brings donuts

and coffee to the office for everyone. He says it helps everyone think and coffee to the office for everyone. He says it helps everyone think

more clearly! Ernesto is demonstrating more clearly! Ernesto is demonstrating

1.1. Job satisfactionJob satisfaction

2.2. Organizational citizenship Organizational citizenship

behaviorbehavior

3.3. ProductivityProductivity

4.4. Job involvementJob involvement

5.5. ConscientiousnessConscientiousness

Chapter Check-Up: Attitudes

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