Chapter 3 - Attitudes & job satisfaction

Attitudes

• @@Attitudes@@: evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people or events.   * $3 main components of attitudes$     * Cognitive component: opinion or belief segment of an attitude.       * e.g., “My pay is low”.     * Affective component: emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.       * e.g., “I’m angry over how little I’m paid”.     * Behavioral component: intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something.       * e.g., “I’m going to look for another job that pays better”.
• @@Cognitive dissonance@@: any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.   * e.g., A friend constantly says that French cars are worse than German cars. His father gives him a Renault. He starts saying that the cars are not actually as bad.
• Moderators of the attitudes-behavior relationship   * Importance of the attitude   * Correspondence to behavior   * Accessibility   * Social pressures   * Direct experience with the attitude
• Main job attitudes   * @@Job satisfaction@@: positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.   * @@Job involvement@@: degree to which a person identifies with a job, actively participates in it and considers performance important to self worth.     * $Psychological empowerment$: employees’ belief in the degree to which they affect their work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness of their job and their perceived autonomy in their work.   * @@Organizational commitment@@: degree to which an employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and wishes to maintain membership in the organization.     * $Affective commitment$: emotional attachment to an organization and a belief in its values.     * $Continuance commitment$: perceived economic value of remaining with an organization compared to leaving it.     * $Normative commitment$: obligation to remain with an organization for moral or ethical reasons.   * @@Perceived organizational support (POS)@@: degree to which employees believe an organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being.   * @@Employee engagement@@: employee’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the work he/she does.     * Benefits of employee engagement       * Higher customer satisfaction       * More productive       * Higher profits       * Lower turnover       * Fewer accidents

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Job satisfaction

• Measuring job satisfaction   * @@Single global rating@@: “How satisfied are you with your job?” (number between 1-5).   * @@Summation score@@: key elements in a job and asks about employees feelings about each.

    → Both methods are equally valid and both have their pros and cons.

• How satisfied are people in their jobs?   * Across Europe and most developed countries people are usually satisfied with their jobs.   * Satisfaction levels vary a lot depending on which facet of job satisfaction.
• Causes of job satisfaction   * Job conditions   * Pay   * Personality     * @@Core self-evaluations@@: bottom-line conclusions individuals have about their capabilities, competence and worth as a person.
• The impact of satisfied and dissatisfied employees on the workplace   * Employee responses to dissatisfaction     * @@Exit@@: dissatisfaction expressed through behavior directed towards leaving the organization.     * @@Voice@@: dissatisfaction expressed through active and constructive attempts to improve conditions.     * @@Loyalty@@: dissatisfaction expressed by passively waiting for conditions to improve.     * @@Neglect@@: dissatisfaction expressed through allowing conditions to worsen.   * Outcomes of job satisfaction and dissatisfaction     * $Job satisfaction and job performance$ → pretty strong correlation, organizations with more satisfied workers are more effective     * $Job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)$ → moderately correlated       * People who are satisfied are more likely to engage       * Workers with certain personality traits are also more likely       * When people are in a good mood → more likely to take part     * $Job satisfaction and customer satisfaction$       * Satisfied employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty       * Upbeat and friendly employees = happy customers     * $Job satisfaction and absenteeism$ → moderate to weak       * Dissatisfied workers are likely to miss work       * Workers can be satisfied but still want to have some vacation     * $Job satisfaction and turnover$ → stronger than absenteeism       * Workers can be offered something better, not necessarily dissatisfied     * $Job satisfaction and workplace deviance$       * Workers who are dissatisfied are likely to act in some way or another       * They will find a way to “get even” (stealing, slacking, etc.)

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Global implications

• Job satisfaction is a concept that exists everywhere, across all cultures. However, there are still cultural differences in job satisfaction.   * Western cultures tend to have higher levels of job satisfaction than in Eastern cultures.     * Reasons: maybe they emphasize positive emotions and individual happiness.

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