ATTITUDES & JOB

SATISFACTION
Session 3

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Learning Objectives
1. Contrast 3 components of an attitude
2. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior
3. Compare the major job satisfaction
4. Define job satisfaction
5. Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction
6. Identify 3 outcomes of job satisfaction
7. Identify 4 employee responses to job dissatisfaction

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Contrast the 3 Components of an Attitude
Attitudes Cognitive = evaluation
• Attitudes are evaluative The opinion or belief segment of an
statements or judgments attitude.
concerning objects, people,
or events
Affective = feeling
• The feelings and beliefs
The emotional or feeling segment of an
that largely determine how
employees will perceive attitude.
their environment, commit
themselves to intend Behavioral = action
actions and ultimately An intention to behave in a certain way toward
behave someone or something.
• Less stable than values
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ATTITUDES & BEHAVIOR
• The attitudes people hold determine what they do
• Leon Festinger proposed that cases of attitude following
behavior illustrate the effects of cognitive dissonance
• Cognitive dissonance is incompability an individual might
perceive between two or more attitudes or between behavior
& attitudes
• The desire to reduce dissonance depends on : the importance,
influence & rewards
• Research has generaly concluded that people seek consistency
among their attitudes & between their attitudes & their behavior
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Powerful Moderators of the Atittudes
Relationship
1. Importance of the attitude
2. Its correspondence to behavior
3. Its accessibility
4. The presence of social pressure
5. Whether or not a person has had direct experience with
the behavior
6. The attitude/behavior relationship is stronger if it refers
to something in our direct personal experience
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Compare & Contrast the Major Job
Attitudes
• Job Satisfaction
• A positive feellings about the job resulting from an evaluation of
its characteristics – related to Job Involvement
• Job Involvement
• Degree of which a person identifies with a job, actively
participates in it, & considers performance is important to self-
worth
• Psychological Empowerment
• Belief in the degree of influence over the job, competence, job
meaningfulenss, & autonomy
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Compare & Contrast the Major Job
Attitudes
• Organizational Commitment
• Identifying with a particular organization and its goal,
while wishing to maintain membership in the organization
• 3 Dimensions:
• Affective – emotional attachment to organization
• Continuance Commitment – economic value of staying
• Normative – moral or ethical obligations

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Compare & Contrast the Major Job
Attitudes
• Organizational Commitment
• Has some relation to performance, esp. For new
employees
• Theoretical models proposed that employees who are
commited will be less likely to engage in work withdrawal
even if they are dissatisfied, because they have a sense of
organizational loyalty

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Compare & Contrast the 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, employess are involved in
decision making, and supervisors are seen as supportive
• POS is important where the power distance is lower
• High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance

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Compare & Contrast the Major Job
Attitudes
• Employee Engagement
• The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthuasiasm for the job
• Engaged employees are passionate about their work and
company

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Compare & Contrast the Major Job
Attitudes
• Are these Job Attitudes Really Distinct?
• No: these attitudes are highly related
• Variable may be redundant (measuring the same thing
under a different name)
• While there is some distinction, there is also a lot of
overlap
• Overlap may cause confusion

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JOB SATISFACTION
• Job Satisfaction is a positive feeling about one’s job resulting
from an evaluation of is characteristics
• Two approaches for measuring Job Sarisfaction :
• The single global rating
• “How satisfied are you w/ your job?”
• The summation of job facts – more accurate
• Identifies key elements : type of work, skills needed,
supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, etc

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Define Job Satisfaction & Show How It Can Be Measured
(Average Job Level Satisfaction by Facts)

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Summarize the Main Causes of Job Satisfaction
(Average Levels of Job Satisfaction by Country - 2011)

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Main Causes of Job Satisfaction
• Job Conditions
• Jobs provide training, variety, independence, and control
satisfy most employees.
• Pay influence job satisfaction only to a point
• After a certain amount of money there is no relationship
between amount of pay and job satisfaction
• Money may bring hapiness, but not necessarily job
satisfaction

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Main Causes of Job Satisfaction

• Personality also plays an important role in a Job Satisfaction

• People who have positive core self-evaluations, who believe in
their inner worth and basic competence are more satisfied with
their jobs that those with negative core self-evaluations
• Those with negative core self-evaluatioinis set less ambitious goals
and are more likely to give up when confronting difficulties
• Corporate Social Responsiblity (CSR)
• Employees whose personal values fit with the organization’s CSR
mission are often satisfied

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Outcomes of Job Satisfaction
1. Job Performance
• Job satisfaction leads to productivity
2. Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB) -is a flexible
behavior that contributes to the psychological and social
environment of the workplace
• 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.
3. Customer Satisfaction
4. Life Satisfaction
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Identify 4 Employee Responses to
Dissatisfaction

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Summary & Implication for Managers
• Satisfied & commited employees have lower rates of turnover, absenteeism,
and withdrawal behaviors
• Managers will also want to measure job attitudes effectively so they can tell
how employees are reacting to their work
• The most important thing managers can do to raise employee satisfaction is
focus on the intrinsic parts of the job, such as making the work itself
cahllenging & interesting
• Although paying employees poorly will likey not attract high-quality
employees to the vorganization or keep high performers, managers should
realize that high pay alone is unlikely to create a ssatisfying work
environment
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