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

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.)

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.