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ATTITUDES AND JOB SATISFACTION

Robbins & Judge, Organizational Behavior, 14th ed

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Chapter Learning Objectives


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After studying this chapter, you should be able to:


Contrast the three components of an attitude. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Compare and contrast the major job attitudes. Define job satisfaction and show how it can be measured. Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction. Show whether job satisfaction is a relevant concept in countries other than the United States.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Attitudes and Consistency


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Did you ever notice how people change what they say so it doesnt contradict what they do? Perhaps a friend of yours has consistently argue that the quality of Malaysian cars isnt up to that of the import brands and that hed never own anything but a Japanese or German car. But his dad gives him a Proton Persona and suddenly Malaysian cars arent so bad.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Or when going through sorority rush, a new freshman believes that sorority are good and that pledging a sorority is important. If she fails to make a sorority, however she may say, I realized that sorority life isnt all its cracked up to be, anyway

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Research have generally concluded that people seek consistency among their attitudes and their behavior. This means individuals seek to reconcile or align their attitudes and behavior so that they appear rational and consistent.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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

Affective

The opinion or belief segment of an attitude

The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude

Behavioral

Attitude

An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something


See E X H I B I T 31

Does Behavior Always Follow from Attitudes?


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Leon Festinger No, the reverse is sometimes true!

Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes

Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance, to reach stability and consistency Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes, modifying the behaviors, or through rationalization Desire to reduce dissonance depends on:

Importance of elements
Degree of individual influence Rewards involved in dissonance

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Cognitive dissonance is the theory sought to explain the linkage between attitudes and behaviors. Dissonance means an inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any incompatibility that an individual might perceive between two or more of his or her attitudes . Any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and that individual will attempt to reduce the dissonance and hence the discomfort.
Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Therefore, individuals will seek a stable state, in which there is a minimum of dissonance. No individual, can completely avoid dissonance. You know that by cheating on your income tax is wrong, but you fudge the numbers a bit every year and hope that youre not audited. Or you tell your children to floss their teeth everyday, but you dont. So how do people cope?
Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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It is proposed that the desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by the importance of the elements creating the dissonance, the degree of influence the individual believes he or she has over the elements, and the reward that may be involved in dissonance.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Example
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A corporate manager- Mrs Baker believes strongly that no company should pollute the air or water. Unfortunately, Mrs Baker is placed in the position of having to make decisions that would trade off her companys profitability against her attitudes on pollution. She knows that dumping the companys sewage into local river (which we assume is legal) is in the best economic interest of her firm. What will she do?
Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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Clearly Mrs Baker is experiencing high degree of dissonance. There are few alternatives on what she can do: 1. She can change her behavior (stop polluting the river) 2. Reduce dissonance by concluding that the dissonant behavior is not so important after all (Ive got to make a living and my role as corporate manager)
Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

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3. Changer her attitude (There is nothing wrong with polluting the river).

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Moderating Variables
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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 Variables

Predicting Behavior from Attitudes


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Important attitudes have a strong relationship to behavior. The closer the match between attitude and behavior, the stronger the relationship: Specific attitudes predict specific behavior General attitudes predict general behavior The more frequently expressed an attitude, the better predictor it is. High social pressures reduce the relationship and may cause dissonance. Attitudes based on personal experience are stronger predictors.

What are the Major Job Attitudes?


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Job Satisfaction

A positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics Degree of psychological identification with the job where perceived performance is important to self-worth Belief in the degree of influence over the job, competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy

Job Involvement

Psychological Empowerment

Job Satisfaction
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The term job satisfaction refers to a collection of feelings that an individual holds toward his or her job. A person with high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about the job, while a person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative feelings about the job.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Job involvement
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Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about the kind of work they do. A high level of job involvement is positively related to organizational citizenship and job performance. In addition, high job involvement has been found to be related to fewer absences and lower resignation rates.

Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Another Major Job Attitude


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Organizational Commitment Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, while wishing to maintain membership in the organization. Three dimensions: 1. Affective emotional attachment to organization 2. Continuance Commitment economic value of staying 3. 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.

Organizational Commitment
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Organizational commitment is defined as a state in which an employee identifies with a particular organizations and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization. It appears there is a positive relationship between organizational commitment and job productivity. Studies demonstrates that an individuals level of organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover.
Copyright 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

And Yet More Major Job Attitudes


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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.

Employee Engagement
The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the job. Engaged employees are passionate about their work and company.

Are These Job Attitudes Really Distinct?


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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!

Job Satisfaction
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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.

Causes of Job Satisfaction


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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.

Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction


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Active
Exit Behavior directed toward leaving the organization Voice Active and constructive attempts to improve conditions Loyalty Passively waiting for conditions to improve

Destructive

Neglect Allowing conditions to worsen

Passive

See E X H I B I T 34

Constructive

Outcomes of Job Satisfaction


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Job Performance
Satisfied workers are more productive AND more productive workers are more satisfied! The causality may run both ways.

Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Satisfaction influences OCB through perceptions of fairness. Satisfied frontline employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Satisfied employees are moderately less likely to miss work.

Customer Satisfaction

Absenteeism

More Outcomes of Job Satisfaction


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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.

Global Implications
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Is Job Satisfaction a U.S. Concept?


No,

but most of the research so far has been in the U.S.

Are Employees in Western Cultures More Satisfied With Their Jobs?


Western

workers appear to be more satisfied than those in Eastern cultures. Perhaps because Westerners emphasize positive emotions and individual happiness more than do those in Eastern cultures.

Summary and Managerial Implications


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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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