Chapter THREE

Attitudes and Job

Satisfaction

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 Learning Objectives

 Contrast terminal and instrumental values.

 Identify Hofstede’s five value dimensions of national
culture.
 Contrast the three components of an attitude
 Identify the role that consistency plays in attitudes
 Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior
 Discuss similarities and differences between job
satisfaction and other job attitudes discussed
 Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction
 Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction

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 Attitudes

Attitudes Cognitive component

The opinion or belief
Evaluative segment of an attitude.
statements or
judgments Affective Component
concerning The emotional or feeling
objects, segment of an attitude.
people, or
events. ( either Behavioral Component
favorable or unfavorable) An intention to behave in a
certain way toward someone or
something.

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 Explanation
Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated.

”Discriminating is wrong” is a Value Statement.

Such an opinion is the Cognitive component.

(cognition – the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge through
thought, experience and senses)

It sets the stage for more critical part of an attitude – its Affective
Component.

Affect is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude, and is

reflected in the statement ” I do not like Jon because he dicriminates
against miniorities”.

Behavioral Component – of an attitude refers to an intention to

behave in a certain way toward someone or something – I might
choose to avoid Jon because of my feelings about him.

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 Attitudes & Consistency Principal
 Did you ever notice how people change what they
say so it does not contradict what they do?
 Research has generally concluded that people
seek consistency among their attitudes &
between their attitudes and their behavior.
 Individuals seek to reconcile divergent attitudes
and allign their attitudes & behavior so they
appear rational and consistent.
 When there is an inconsistency, forces are
initiated to return the individual to an equilibirium
state where attitudes & behavior are again
consistent.

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 Attitudes & Consistency Principal
 This can be done by altering either the attitudes
or the behavior, or by developing a rationalization
for the discrepancy.
 Example:
 How people cope up with the ongoing barrage of
data linking cigarette smoking & negative health
outcomes?
 They can deny that any clear causation b/w
smoking & cancer, for instance, has been
established.
 They can , either, accept the research evidence &
begin actively working to make more healthy
cigarettes or at least readuce their availability to
teenagers.
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 Attitudes & Consistency Principal
 Can we assume from this “consistency principle”
that an individual’s behavior can always be
predicted if we know his or her attitude on a
subject?
 For example, if Mr.A views his pay too low, will an
increase in his salary will change his behavior,
that is, make him work harder?
 The answer to this is more complex than merely a
Yes or No.
 Theory of “Cognitive Dissonance” sought to
explain the linkage b/w attitudes & behavior.
 Dissonance means an inconsistency.

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 The Theory of Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive Dissonance
•Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between
behavior and attitudes.
•Mr. Festinger argued that any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable &
that individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance and, hence the
discomfort.
• Individual will seek a stable state where there is a minimum of
dissonance.
•So how do people cope?

Desire to reduce dissonance depends on

• Importance of elements creating dissonance
• Degree of influence individual believes, has over elements
• Rewards involved in dissonance

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 Example

A corporate manager – Mrs. Smith – believes

strongly that no company should pollute the air
or water.
Mrs. Smith is appointed as a decision maker to
trade off between her firm`s profitability against
her attitudes on pollution.
Mrs. Smith knows that dumping the company`s waste into
local river ( which is assumed legal) is in the best economic
interest of her firm.

What several paths, can she follow? (discussion)

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 several paths
 She can change her behavior i.e., stop polluting
the river.
 Or, she can reduce dissonance by concluding
that the dissonant behavior is not so important
after all – I have to make my living.
 Or, she may change her attitude – there is
nothing wrong with polluting the river.
 Or, she may seek out more consonant elements
to outweigh the dissonant ones – the benefits to
society from manufacturing our products are
more than the cost to society of the resulting
water pollution.

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 Measuring the A-B Relationship
Recent research indicates that attitudes (A) significantly
predict behaviors (B) when moderating variables are taken
into account. ( protecting the environment – recycling)

A B

Moderating Variables
• Importance of the attitude
• Specificity of the attitude
• Social pressures on the individual
• Direct experience with the attitude

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Moderating Variables
 The most powerful moderators of the attitude-
behavior relationship are:
– Importance of the attitude
– Correspondence to behavior
– Accessibility
– Existence of social pressures
– Personal and direct experience of the attitude

Attitudes Predict Behavior

Moderating
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Variables
 Moderating Variables
 Important attitudes reflect our fundamental values, self-
interest, or identification with individuals or groups we
value. These attitudes tend to show a strong relationship to
our behavior.
 Specific attitudes tend to predict specific behaviors,
whereas general attitudes tend to best predict general
behaviors.
 For instance, asking someone about her intention to stay
with an organization for the next 6 months is likely to better
predict turnover for that person than asking her how
satisfied she is with her job overall.
 On the other hand, overall job satisfaction would better
predict a general behavior, such as whether the individual
was engaged in her work or motivated to contribute to her
organization.

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 Moderating Variables
 Attitudes that our memories can easily access are more
likely to predict our behavior. Interestingly, you’re more
likely to remember attitudes you frequently express. So the
more you talk about your attitude on a subject, the more
likely you are to remember it, and the more likely it is to
shape your behavior.
 Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior tend to
occur when social pressures to behave in certain ways hold
exceptional power, as in most organizations.

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 Self-Perception Theory

Attitudes are used after the fact to make sense out of an action
that has already occurred.

( when asked about an attitude toward some object,

individuals recall their behavior relevant to that object &
then infer their attitude from their past behavior ).

And,

B A!
(Behaviors influence attitudes)

”It seems that we are very good at finding reasons for

what we do, but not so good at doing what we find reasons for”

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 Self-Perception Theory…….continued
 Self-perception theory has been well supported.
 Although the traditional attitude-behavior
relationship is generally positive, the behavior-
attitude relationship is stronger.
 This is particularly true when attitudes are vague
& ambiguous.
 When you have had few experiences regarding an
attitude issue or give little previous thought to it,
you will tend to infer your attitudes from your
behavior.
 However, when your attitudes have been
established for a while & are well defined, those
attitudes are likely to guide your behavior.

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 Types of Attitudes –three attitudes

Job Satisfaction
A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that
an individual holds toward his or her job.

Job Involvement
Identifying with the job, actively participating in it,
and considering performance important to self-worth.

Organizational Commitment
Identifying with a particular organization and its
goals, and wishing to maintain membership in the
organization.( so, high job involvement means identifying with one’s
specific job, while high OC means identifying with one’s employing org.)

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 What are the Major Job Attitudes?
 Job Satisfaction
– A positive feeling about the job
resulting from an evaluation of its
characteristics
 Job Involvement
– Degree of psychological identification
with the job where perceived
performance is important to self-worth
 Psychological Empowerment
– Belief in the degree of influence over
the job, competence, job
meaningfulness, and autonomy (
another closely related concept to job
involvement)
3-17
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 Another Major Job Attitude
 Organizational Commitment
– Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, while
wishing to maintain membership in the organization.
– Three dimensions:
• Affective – emotional attachment to organization
• Continuance Commitment – economic value of staying
• Normative – moral or ethical obligations
– Has some relation to performance, especially for new
employees.
– Less important now than in the past – now perhaps more of
an occupational commitment, loyalty to profession rather
than a given employer.

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Hall
 Organizational Commitment
 Three separate dimensions of organizational
commitment:
 Affective – is an emotional attachment to the organization & a
belief in its values. For example, a Pet.co employee may be
affectively committed to the firm because of its involvement with
animals.
 Continuance Commitment – is the perceived economic value
of remaining with an organization. An employee may be
committed to an employer because she is paid well & feels it would
hurt her family economically if she quits.
 Normative Commitment – is an obligation to remain with an
organization for moral or ethical reasons.

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And Yet More Major Job Attitudes…
 Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
– Degree to which employees believe the organization values
their contribution and cares about their well-being.
– Higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in
decision making, and supervisors are seen as supportive.
– High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance.
– For example, an employee believes his organization would
accommodate him if he had a child care problem or would forgive
an honest mistake on his part.
– Research shows that people perceive their organization as
supportive when rewards are deemed fair, when employees have a
voice in decisions, and when they see their supervisors as
supportive. Employees with strong POS perceptions have been
found more likely to have higher levels of organizational citizenship
behaviors, lower levels of tardiness, and better customer service.

3-20
 Employee Engagement
– A new concept- the degree of involvement with, satisfaction
with, and enthusiasm for the work he/she does.
– Engaged employees are passionate about their work and
company.
 A study of nearly 8,000 business units in 36 companies found that those
whose employees had high-average levels of engagement had higher
levels of customer satisfaction, were more productive, brought in higher
profits, and had lower levels of turnover and accidents than at other
companies.
 Engagement becomes a real concern for most organizations because
surveys indicate that few employees— between 17 percent and
29 percent—are highly engaged by their work.
 Caterpillar set out to increase employee engagement and recorded a
resulting 80 percent drop in grievances and a 34 percent increase in highly
satisfied customers.

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 Are These Job Attitudes Really Distinct?

 No: these attitudes are

highly related.
 Variables may be
redundant (measuring
the same thing under a
different name)
 While there is some
distinction, there is also
a lot of overlap.

Be patient, OB researchers are working on it!

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Hall
 Job Satisfaction
 One of the primary job attitudes measured.
– Broad term involving a complex individual summation of a
number of discrete job elements.
 How to measure?
– Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best
– Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK
 Are people satisfied in their jobs?
– In the U. S., yes, but the level appears to be dropping.
– Results vary by employee facets of the job.
– Pay and promotion are the most problematic elements.

See E X H I B I T 3–2

3-23

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Causes of Job Satisfaction
 Pay influences job satisfaction only to a point.
– After about $40,000 per year (in the U.S.), there is no
relationship between amount of pay and job satisfaction.
– Money may bring happiness, but not necessarily job
satisfaction.

 Personality can influence job satisfaction.

– Negative people are usually not satisfied with their jobs.
– Those with positive core self-evaluation are more satisfied
with their jobs.

See E X H I B I T 3–3

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3-24
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 Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction

Active
Exit Voice
• Behavior • Active and
directed constructive
toward leaving attempts to
the improve
organization conditions

Destructive Constructive
Neglect Loyalty
• Allowing • Passively
conditions to waiting for
worsen conditions to
improve

Passive

See E X H I B I T 3–4

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Hall 3-25
 An Application: Attitude Surveys

Attitude Surveys
Draw out responses from employees through
questionnaires about how they feel about their jobs,
work groups, supervisors, and the organization.
Using attitude surveys on a regular basis provides managers with
valuable feedback
on how employees perceive their working conditions.

The use of regular attitude surveys can alert management to

potential problems and employes`s intentions early so that the action
can be taken to prevent repercussions.

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 Measuring Job Satisfaction
– Single global rating: This method is nothing more
than asking individuals to respond to one question
such as “ All things considered, how satisfied are you
with your job?”

Scale: 1 2 3 4 5
highly satisfied highly dissatisfied

– Summation score: This method identifies key

elements in a job & tasks for the employee's
feelings about each ( nature of work, supervision,
present pay, promotion opportunities, and relations
with co-workers etc.)

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 Causes of Job Satisfaction
 Mentally Challenging work
 Equitable Rewards
 Supportive Working Conditions
 Supportive Colleagues
 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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 How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction

Exit Voice
Behavior directed toward Active and constructive attempts
to improve conditions-
leaving the organization – suggesting improvements,
looking for new job, resigning. discussing problems.

Loyalty Neglect
Passively but optimistically
Passively allowing
waiting for conditions to
conditions to worsen-
improve – trusting org. & reduced effort, increased error
management to do the right rate.
thing

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 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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 More Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
 Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
– Many moderating variables in this relationship.
• Economic environment and tenure
• Organizational actions taken to retain high performers and to
weed out lower performers
 Workplace Deviance
– Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse
substances, steal, be tardy, and withdraw.

Despite the overwhelming evidence of the impact of job

satisfaction on the bottom line, most managers are either
unconcerned about or overestimate worker satisfaction.
3-31
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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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 Sarah Palin (Republican vice-presidential nominee ) & Asif Zardari (
President of Pakistan)

 “you are more gorgeous than you are on TV. Now I know
why the whole America is crazy about you”.

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 Chapter Check-Up: Attitudes
In general, when we think of attitudes and organizations, we think of

1) Job Satisfaction
2) Happiness
3) Job Involvement
4) Mood at work
5) Organizational Commitment
6) 1 and 2
7) 1, 3, and 5

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 Chapter Check-Up: Attitudes
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 more clearly! Ernesto is demonstrating

1. Job satisfaction
2. Organizational citizenship
behavior
3. Productivity
4. Job involvement
5. Conscientiousness

Write down three things someone could do at

work that would constitute an OCB. Compare
your list with a neighbor’s.
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