Employee Satisfaction and Commitment: Understanding Employee Attitudes

Definition of Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

• Job Satisfaction (Employee Satisfaction):   - Defined as the attitude employees possess toward their specific jobs.   - It serves as a measure of an employee's contentedness with their work, encompassing whether they like the job itself or specific facets of it.   - Multifaceted Nature: Job satisfaction is not a single dimension; an employee can be satisfied with one aspect (e.g., pay) while being dissatisfied with another (e.g., co-workers).   - Facets include the nature of the work, supervision, and compensation.

• Organizational Commitment:   - This is the extent to which an employee identifies with and is involved in their organization.   - It represents the psychological bond employees experience with the organization as a whole.

The Three Types of Organizational Commitment

According to Meyer and Allen (1997), there are three distinct types of commitment:

• Affective Commitment:   - The extent to which an employee wants to remain with the organization.   - Includes caring about the organization and being willing to exert effort on its behalf.   - Often referred to as "genuine commitment" or an affection for the job.   - Example: An employee of the Red Cross may like her co-workers and share the altruistic goals of the entity.

• Continuance Commitment:   - The extent to which an employee believes they must remain with the organization.   - Driven by the time, expense, and effort already invested or the difficulty of finding another job.   - Example: An employee may hate her job but realizes no other organization would hire her or provide the desired salary level.

• Normative Commitment:   - The extent to which an employee feels obligated to remain with the organization.   - Stemming from a sense of duty or ethical obligation to stay.   - Example: An employee given their first job, mentored, and trained at great cost to the company may feel an ethical obligation to stay due to that investment.

The Importance of Employee Attitudes

• General Relationship: Meta-analyses (e.g., Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005) indicate that satisfied employees tend to be committed to their organization.

• Positive Outcomes: Satisfied and committed employees are more likely to:   1. Attend work regularly.   2. Stay with the organization for a longer tenure.   3. Arrive at work on time (punctuality).   4. Perform well in their roles.   5. Engage in behaviors helpful to the organization (Organizational Citizenship Behaviors).   6. Engage in ethical behavior.

• Satisfaction and Performance:   - The relationship is not consistently strong across all roles.   - Judge et al. (2001) found a stronger relationship between satisfaction and performance for highly complex jobs compared to jobs of low or medium complexity.

Antecedents of Job Satisfaction and Commitment

There are several factors or "antecedents" that explain why workers become satisfied or committed:

• Individual Difference Theory:   - Postulates that some variability in satisfaction is due to an individual's personal tendency to enjoy what they do across different situations.   - This theory suggests some people are generally satisfied and motivated regardless of the job, while others may "whine" about every job.   - Meta-analysis results support the idea that job satisfaction can be consistent across time and situation.

• Satisfaction with Life:   - Judge and Watanabe (1994) found that for approximately $2/3$ of participants, high life satisfaction is associated with high job satisfaction.   - The "spillover effect" occurs where job satisfaction affects life satisfaction and vice versa.

• Discrepancy Theory:   - Employees become dissatisfied if there is a discrepancy between their needs, values, and expectations and the reality of the job.   - Wanous, Poland, Premack, and Davis (1992) concluded that unmet expectations lead to lower job satisfaction, decreased commitment, and increased intent to leave.   - Stresses the importance of Realistic Job Previews ($RJP$) and keeping employer promises.

• Organizational and Job Fit:   - Kristof-Brown et al. (2005) meta-analysis shows that perceived fit with the organization, job, co-workers, and supervisor leads to higher satisfaction, identification with the org, better performance, and higher retention.

• The Job Itself:   - Gately (1997): Employees with interesting work are more satisfied and motivated.   - Glanz (1997): Employees rank interesting/enjoyable work as the most important factor in a job.

• Co-workers and Supervisors:   - Mossholder, Settoon, & Henagan (2005): People enjoying their supervisors and co-workers are more satisfied.   - Bishop & Scott (1997): This satisfaction relates to higher productivity, lower intent to leave, and greater willingness to help.

Organizational Justice and Fairness

• Definition: Postulates that if employees perceive they are treated fairly, they will be more satisfied and motivated.

• Distributive Justice: Perceived fairness of actual decisions made (e.g., Was an employee's higher raise justified? Did the right person get promoted?).

• Procedural Justice: Perceived fairness of the methods used to arrive at a decision (e.g., Being fired without a chance to explain vs. following a fair process).

• Interactional Justice: Perceived fairness of interpersonal treatment received (e.g., A supervisor mentoring some while ignoring others).

Growth and Development Opportunities

To help satisfy employee self-actualization needs, employers utilize three main methods:

1. Job Rotation: Moving employees between different tasks to reduce boredom.

2. Job Enlargement: Adding more tasks of a similar level to a job.

3. Job Enrichment: Adding higher-level responsibilities to a job.

Measurement Inventories and Scales

• Job Satisfaction Measures:   1. Faces Scale (Kunin, 1955).   2. Job Descriptive Index ($JDI$; Smith, Kendall, & Hulin, 1969).   3. Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire ($MSQ$; Weiss, Dawis, England, & Lofquist, 1967).   4. Job in General Scale ($JIG$; Ironson et al., 1989).   5. Nagy Job Satisfaction Scale (Nagy, 1996).

• Commitment Measures:   1. The Allen and Meyer Survey.   2. Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (Mowday, Steers, and Porter, 1979).   3. Organizational Commitment Scale (Balfour & Wechsler, 1996).

• Organizations may also use Custom Designed Inventories.

Consequences of Dissatisfaction

• Absenteeism:   - High monetary cost and a warning sign of turnover (Griffith et al., 2000).   - Moderately correlated with turnover at $r = 0.21$.   - CCH Survey Reasons for Absence:     - Illness: $34\%$     - Family issues: $22\%$     - Personal needs/errands: $18\%$     - Employee stress: $13\%$     - Sense of entitlement: $13\%$

• Turnover:   - Approximately $2\%$ of employees leave each month.   - The cost of losing an employee is estimated at $1.5 \times$ the employee's salary.

• Counterproductive Behaviors: Dissatisfied employees may engage in negative behaviors beyond just leaving or being absent.

Reasons for Employee Turnover

1. Unavoidable Reasons: Spouse transfer, illness/death, family issues (little the organization can do).

2. Advancement: Pursuit of promotions or better pay; common when internal opportunities are scarce.

3. Unmet Needs: If the organizational culture does not fit the individual's needs (e.g., need for structure vs. independence culture).

4. Escape: Avoiding working conditions, people, or stress; mitigated by conflict resolution or mediation programs.

5. Unmet Expectations: When reality doesn't match the initial impression; mitigated by Realistic Job Previews.

Questions & Discussion

• The presentation concludes by asking if anyone has any questions regarding employee satisfaction and commitment.