Attitude, Emotions and Ethics

Chapter 4
 Learning Objectives
Students will understand:
• Explain the ABC model of an attitude
• Describe how attitudes are formed
• Identify sources of job satisfaction and commitment
• Distinguish between organizational citizenship and workplace
deviance behaviors
• Identify characteristics of the source, target, and message that affect
persuasion
 Learning Objectives
• Discuss the definition and importance of emotions at work
• Contrast the effects of individual and organizational influences on ethical
behavior
• Identify factors that affect ethical behavior
• Explain the ABC Model of an attitude
 LO 1

Table 4.1 ABC Model of an Attitude

Component Measured By Example

A Affect • Physiological indicators • I don’t like my boss
• Verbal statements about
feelings
B Behavioral • Observed behavior • I want to transfer to
intent • Verbal statements about another department
intentions
C Cognition • Attitude scales • I believe my boss plays
• Verbal statements about favorites at work
beliefs
 Cognitive Dissonance
• State of tension produced when an individual experiences conflict between
attitudes and behavior
• Should be understood by the managers
• Employees find themselves in situations in which their attitudes conflict with their
behavior
• Describe how attitudes are formed
 LO 2

Influences on Attitude Formation

Direct experience

• Stronger attitudes which are held confidently and are resistant to

change
• Active in one’s cognitive processes
Social learning

• Deriving attitudes from one’s environment

• Modeling is acquiring attitudes by observing others
 LO 2

Attitude–Behavior Correspondence
Attitude specificity
Greater the attitude specificity, stronger is its link to the behavior

Attitude relevance
Attitudes addressing an issue of self-interest result in behavior
consistent with the expressed attitude
Timing of measurement
The shorter the time between the attitude measurement and observed
behavior, the stronger the relationship
 LO 2

Attitude–Behavior Correspondence (continued)

Personality factors
Self-monitoring affects the consistency between attitudes and behavior

Social constraints
Social context provides information about acceptable attitudes and
behaviors
• Identify sources of job satisfaction and
commitment
 Job Satisfaction
• Pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s
job or job experiences
• Contributing factors
• Challenging work, valued rewards, opportunities for advancement, competent
supervision, and supportive coworkers
• Job Descriptive Index (JDI) measures specific facets of satisfaction
• Distinguish between organizational citizenship and
workplace deviance behaviors

Work Attitudes
Organizational
citizenship behavior
(OCB)
• Above and beyond the call of
duty
• Observed in satisfied workers
• Results in lower turnover and
higher productivity rates at the
organizational level
LO 4
Counterproductive work
behavior (CWB)
• Violates organizational norms
and causes harm to the
organization and/or employees
• Caused by negative events in the
business
• Encourage positive attitude to
tackle CWB
 LO 4

Organizational Commitment
• Strength of an individual’s identification with an organization
• Affective commitment: Based on an individual’s desire to remain in an
organization
 LO 4

Organizational Commitment (continued)

• Continuance commitment: Occurs when an individual cannot afford to
leave
• Normative commitment: Based on an individual’s perceived obligation to
remain with an organization
• Identify characteristics of the source, target, and message
that affect persuasion
 LO 5

Characteristics That Affect the Persuasion

Source Process
• Expertise, trustworthiness, and attractiveness

Target

• Level of self-esteem and mood

Message

• Approach used and emotional tone of the message

 LO 5

Figure 4.2 Elaboration Likelihood Model of

Persuasion
• Discuss the definition and importance of emotions at
work

Emotions and Moods
Emotions
• Mental states that include feelings,
physiological changes, and the
inclination to act
• Short-lived and intense reactions to an
event
• Have a specific and known cause
• Impact both work attitudes and
behaviors
LO 6
Moods
• Classified as positive or negative and
are made up of various emotions
• Last longer than emotions
• Do not have a specific cause
• Affects work behavior and attitude
 LO 6

Emotional Contagion at Work

Emotional contagion
• One’s emotions are transferred to another, consciously or unconsciously, via
nonverbal channels

Emotional intelligence (EI)

• Ability to recognize and manage emotions in oneself and in others

Emotional labor
• Work that employees do to control their feelings and expression of emotions
in their workplace
• Type of emotion regulation
• Contrast the effects of individual and organizational
influences on ethical behavior
 LO 7

Ethical Behavior
• Involves acting in ways consistent with one’s personal values and the
commonly held values of the organization and society
• Effects
• Well-reputed firms attract more job applicants
• Illegal behavior negatively affects a firm’s returns and growth for almost five years
• Identify factors that affect ethical behavior
 LO 8

Figure 4.3 Individual/Organizational Model of

Ethical Behavior
SUMMARY

• Affect, behavioral intent, and cognition are three

components of attitude
• Direct experience and social learning influence attitude
• Challenging work, valued rewards, opportunities for advancement, competent
supervision, and supportive coworkers contribute to job satisfaction
• Organizational citizenship behavior is above and beyond the call of duty
• Through persuasion, one individual tries to change the attitude of another person
in regard to a certain issue
• Emotional contagion, emotional intelligence, and emotional labor influence
employees emotions

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