Employee Satisfaction and Commitment – Week 9

Vocabulary flashcards summarizing the main theories, antecedents, consequences, and measurement tools related to employee satisfaction and commitment from Week 9 lecture notes.

Job Satisfaction

A worker’s positive or negative feelings about their job.

Organizational Commitment

The extent to which an employee identifies with and is involved in their organization.

Antecedents of Job Satisfaction

Individual predispositions, perception of fairness, person–organization fit, and the job itself.

Consequences of Job Satisfaction

Levels of commitment, absenteeism, turnover, and organizational citizenship behavior.

Genetic Predispositions Approach

Explains job satisfaction partly through personality traits and genetic factors.

Social Information Processing

Theory stating that employees form attitudes by observing others in their social environment.

Equity Theory (Adams, 1965)

Proposes employees are motivated by fair treatment and equity comparisons.

Organizational Justice

Overall perception of fairness in the workplace, influencing satisfaction and motivation.

Distributive Justice

Fairness of decision outcomes (e.g., pay, promotions).

Procedural Justice

Fairness of the processes used to make organizational decisions.

Interactional Justice

Fairness of interpersonal treatment received from authorities.

Person–Organization Fit

Compatibility between employee values, interests, skills, and organizational culture.

Job Characteristics Approach

Holds that nature of the job (skill variety, task identity, task significance) drives satisfaction.

Affective Commitment

Emotional attachment and loyalty to the organization.

Continuance Commitment

Staying with an organization due to perceived investment or lack of alternatives.

Normative Commitment

Remaining with an organization out of a felt moral obligation.

Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

Employees’ belief that the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being.

Psychological Contract

Unwritten expectations between employee and employer regarding mutual obligations.

Voluntary Absenteeism

Missing work by choice to engage in other activities.

Involuntary Absenteeism

Missing work due to legitimate reasons such as illness.

Voluntary Turnover

Competent employees choose to leave the organization.

Involuntary Turnover

Employees are fired or laid off by the organization.

Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB)

Discretionary actions that are not part of formal job duties but improve the workplace.

Job Descriptive Index (JDI)

Survey measuring satisfaction with job, supervision, pay, co-workers, promotion, and the work itself.

Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ)

Instrument assessing satisfaction with 20 job facets such as pay, security, and responsibility.

Need Satisfaction Questionnaire (NSQ)

Measures gap between expected and received need satisfaction on the job.

Pay Satisfaction Questionnaire (PSQ)

Assesses satisfaction with pay level, benefits, raises, and pay administration.

Faces Scale

Visual measure using drawings of faces to indicate overall job satisfaction.

Job Rotation

Systematic movement of employees between tasks to reduce boredom and broaden skills.

Job Enlargement

Expanding a job to include additional and more varied tasks.

Job Enrichment

Increasing a job’s responsibility and employee control over planning and evaluation.

Skill-Based Pay

Compensation tied to an employee’s knowledge and skills instead of position title.

Merit Pay

Base pay plus additional compensation based on individual performance.

Gainsharing

Bonuses distributed when a group or unit meets performance targets.

Profit-Sharing

Plan granting employees a share of the organization’s profits.

Compressed Work Week

Working longer hours per day to reduce the number of workdays each week.

Flextime

Schedule allowing employees to choose daily start and end times within limits.

Benefits Programs

Packages (health care, retirement, child care, etc.) offered to boost job satisfaction.