Organizational Behavior: Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

Learning Objectives

• Contrast the three components of an attitude.
• Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior.
• Compare the major job attitudes.
• Define job satisfaction.
• Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction.
• Identify three outcomes of job satisfaction.
• Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction.

Emotions Defined

• Emotions are psychological, behavioral, and physiological episodes that create a state of readiness.
• All emotions are:
  • Experiences (not evaluations).
  • Brief events.
  • Mostly nonconscious.
  • Motivating (readiness to act).

Attitudes vs. Emotions

• Attitudes: Cluster of beliefs, feelings, and behavioral intentions;
  • Judgments with conscious reasoning.
  • More stable over time.
• Emotions: Experiences related to attitude object;
  • Operate as events, often nonconscious.
  • Brief experiences.

Attitude-Behavior Contingencies

• Beliefs-to-Feelings Contingencies: Two people have the same belief but different valences about that belief.
  Example: Two employees believe that AI will significantly change their job. Employee A feels excited about AI because they see it as an opportunity to upskill and reduce repetitive tasks. Employee B feels anxious or even threatened by AI due to fear of redundancy. The same belief (AI impacts jobs), but different emotional reactions (positive vs. negative).
• Feelings-to-Behavioral Intentions Contingencies: Two people have the same feelings but form different behavioral intentions due to experience, personality, norms.
  Example: Two university students feel angry about a professor's unfair grading. Student A (assertive personality) intends to file a formal complaint. Student B (conflict-avoidant or culturally restrained) intends to just work harder in the next assignment instead of confronting the issue. The same emotion (anger), but different behavioral intentions (formal action vs. passive adjustment).
• Behavioral Intentions-to-Behavior Contingencies: Two people have the same behavioral intentions, but different situations or skills enable only one of them to act.
  Example: Two coworkers intend to present an idea at a team meeting. Employee A successfully presents because they have strong communication skills and confidence. Employee B hesitates and stays silent due to fear of public speaking or lack of fluency in the meeting language. The same behavioral intention, but only one behavior is enacted due to skill or situational constraints.

The Components of an Attitude

The three components of attitude are:

• Cognitive
• Affective
• Behavioral

Attitudes in Organizations: Types of organizational commitment

• Affective commitment: Positive emotional attachment to the organization and strong identification with its values, and its goals; employees want to stay with the organization.
• Normative commitment: A feeling of moral or ethical obligation to the organization; employees stay because they believe it would be wrong to leave.
• Continuance commitment: Staying with the organization because of perceived high economic and/or social costs; employees stay because they feel they have to.

The Three Types of Organizational Commitment

• Affective Commitment (Emotion-based)
  • Core Driver: Emotional attachment
  • Representative Quotes:
    • “Some of my best friends work in my office… I’d miss them if I left.”
    • “I really like the atmosphere… It’s fun and relaxed.”
    • “My duties are rewarding… I enjoy coming to work each morning.”
  • Why Employees Stay: Because they want to stay.
• Continuance Commitment (Cost-based)
  • Core Driver: Perceived cost of leaving
  • Representative Quotes:
    • “I’m due for a promotion soon… Will I advance as quickly elsewhere?”
    • “My salary and benefits provide a good lifestyle… Cost of living is higher elsewhere.”
    • “My partner has a good job here… We’ve put down roots.”
  • Why Employees Stay: Because they need to stay.
• Normative Commitment (Obligation-based)
  • Core Driver: Sense of moral obligation
  • Representative Quotes:
    • “My boss invested so much in mentoring and training me.”
    • “My organization gave me my start when no one else would.”
    • “They helped me out of a jam… How could I leave now?”
  • Why Employees Stay: Because they ought to stay.

Cognitive Dissonance

• Cognitive dissonance is any incompatibility an individual might perceive between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.
• Emotion (e.g., doubt, regret) caused by perceived incongruence of beliefs, feelings, and behavior.
• Difficult to undo or change behavior, so reduce cognitive dissonance by changing beliefs and feelings.
  1. Amplify or discover additional positive features of the selected alternative.
  2. Amplify or discover additional problems or weaknesses with the alternatives not chosen.
  3. Compensate for the dissonant behavior by emphasizing other consonant behavior.
  4. Seek additional information to better reason that the benefits of one of the conflicting attitudes or behaviors outweigh the costs of the other.
  5. Reason that one of the conflicting attitudes or behaviors is not important in this context.

Emotional Labor

• Effort, planning, and control to express organizationally desired emotions.
• Higher in jobs requiring:
  • Variety of emotions.
  • More intense emotions.
  • Frequent, longer interactions with clients.
• Must abide by the display rules precisely rather than casually.
• May cause stress, exhaustion, psychological separation.
• Types of Emotions:
  • Felt: The individual’s actual emotions.
  • Displayed: Required or appropriate emotions.
    • Surface acting: Hiding feelings and foregoing emotional expressions in response to display rules.
    • Deep acting: Trying to modify true inner feelings based on display rules.

Emotional Intelligence and Emotional Labor

• Self-awareness allows individuals to recognize their emotions and anticipate when emotional labor is necessary.
• Self-management provides individuals with the tools to regulate emotions effectively, reducing emotional exhaustion that typically accompanies intense emotional labor.
• Social awareness and relationship management enhance empathy, enabling individuals to respond appropriately to others’ emotional states, thereby effectively managing interactions and minimizing emotional strain.

Four Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction

Voice (Active + Constructive): Employees actively attempt to improve the situation by speaking up, offering suggestions, or seeking resolution through formal or informal channels.
Exit (Active + Destructive): The employee leaves the organization or the unit (e.g., resigns, transfers). This is destructive as it results in loss of talent and may impact team morale or stability.
Loyalty (Passive + Constructive): The employee waits patiently, hoping conditions will improve. They stay committed but refrain from taking initiative. Loyalty is constructive because the person retains a positive attitude despite dissatisfaction.
Neglect (Passive + Destructive): The employee reduces effort, avoids responsibilities, or shows declining performance. This passive approach erodes productivity and signals disengagement.

Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB)

• Absenteeism: The habitual non-presence of an employee at work without valid reason.
  • Visibility: Highly visible—employee is not at the workplace.
  • Common Causes: Illness, burnout, personal obligations, lack of engagement.
  • Impact on Performance: Directly reduces workforce capacity (missed work hours).
  • Organizational Cost: Easily tracked through leave records; loss is quantifiable.
• Presenteeism: Being physically present at work but functioning at reduced productivity due to health, stress, or other issues.
  • Visibility: Less visible—employee is at work but underperforming.
  • Common Causes: Illness (e.g., flu, chronic pain), mental health issues, job insecurity, fear of being judged for taking leave.
  • Impact on Performance: Reduces quality and efficiency of output, often without being noticed.
  • Organizational Cost: Often underestimated—can cost more than absenteeism due to long-term inefficiencies.

Counterproductive Work Behavior (CWB): Stress and the Pressure Performance Curve

1. EI helps individuals identify their stress triggers and emotional responses. Recognizing stress early allows proactive management strategies to be implemented.
2. EI supports effective control over emotions during stressful situations.
3. EI enhances empathy and understanding of others’ emotional states. Recognizing stress in colleagues fosters supportive environments and better teamwork.
4. EI aids in managing interpersonal conflicts and enhancing communication.