Attitudes and Job Satisfaction 3 Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

Chapter Learning Objectives After studying this chapter, you should be able to: Contrast the three components of an attitude. Summarize the relationship between attitudes and behavior. Compare and contrast the major job attitudes. Define job satisfaction and show how it can be measured. Summarize the main causes of job satisfaction. Identify four employee responses to dissatisfaction. Show whether job satisfaction is a relevant concept in countries other than the United States. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Attitude isn’t everything, but it’s close. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

The opinion or belief segment of an attitude Attitudes Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events Three components of an attitude: Attitude Behavioral Cognitive Affective The emotional or feeling segment of an attitude The opinion or belief segment of an attitude Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are made up of three components. The cognitive component is made up of the belief in the way things are. The affective component is the more critical part of the attitude as it is calls upon the emotions or feelings. The behavioral component describes the intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something. These three components work together to aid in our understanding of the complexity of an attitude. An intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something See E X H I B I T 3–1 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Does Behavior Always Follow from Attitudes? Leon Festinger – No, the reverse is sometimes true! Cognitive Dissonance: Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior and attitudes Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance, to reach stability and consistency Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes, modifying the behaviors, or through rationalization Desire to reduce dissonance depends on: Importance of elements Degree of individual influence Rewards involved in dissonance Sometimes we observe people who will change what they say so it doesn’t contradict their behavior. When attitudes and behaviors don’t line up, individuals will experience cognitive dissonance. This incongruity is uncomfortable and individuals will seek to reduce the dissonance to find consistency. People are willing to live with some discomfort but the degree to which this is true depends upon the importance of the elements, how much influences the individual has in the situation, and the rewards available. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Moderating Variables Behavior Predict Attitudes The most powerful moderators of the attitude-behavior relationship are: Importance of the attitude Correspondence to behavior Accessibility Existence of social pressures Personal and direct experience of the attitude Behavior Predict Attitudes Some variables do moderate the relationship between attitude and behavior. These factors include the importance of the attitude, the correspondence of the attitude to the behavior, the accessibility of the attitude, the existence of social pressures on behavior, and the personal and direct experience of the attitude. These variables will impact the ability to predict how a certain attitude will predict behavior. Moderating Variables Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Predicting Behavior from Attitudes ? Important attitudes have a strong relationship to behavior. The closer the match between attitude and behavior, the stronger the relationship: Specific attitudes predict specific behavior General attitudes predict general behavior The more frequently expressed an attitude, the better predictor it is. High social pressures reduce the relationship and may cause dissonance. Attitudes based on personal experience are stronger predictors. Predicting behavior from attitudes is more of an art than a science. There are many relationship factors that influence the ability to predict behavior. Some factors include the importance of the attitudes. The more tightly related the attitude is to values we hold dear, the stronger the relationship will be to the behavior. Also, the stronger the match between attitude and behavior, the stronger the relationship. Attitudes that are frequently expressed, based on experience or where there is high social pressure, will also have a stronger relationship to the resulting behaviors. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

What are the Major Job Attitudes? Job Satisfaction A positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics Job Involvement Degree of psychological identification with the job where perceived performance is important to self-worth Psychological Empowerment Belief in the degree of influence over the job, competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy The field of Organizational Behavior focuses on how attitudes will influence the workplace. There are several major job attitudes we will look at throughout the book. The first is job satisfaction, which is the positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. The second is job involvement. Job involvement looks at the degree of psychological identification with the job. An additional job attitude is psychological empowerment, the belief in the degree of influence over the job, competence in the job, and job meaningfulness. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Another Major Job Attitude Organizational Commitment Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, while wishing to maintain membership in the organization. Three dimensions: Affective – emotional attachment to organization Continuance Commitment – economic value of staying Normative – moral or ethical obligations Has some relation to performance, especially for new employees. Less important now than in the past – now perhaps more of an occupational commitment, loyalty to profession rather than a given employer. A very important job attitude is organizational commitment or identifying with a particular organization and its goals. There are three dimensions to this job attitude – affective, continuance commitment, and normative. Organizational commitment has been found to have some relationship to performance and in particular for new employees. Over the years, this may be losing importance as people are tending to be more loyal to their profession than to a given employer. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

And Yet More Major Job Attitudes… Perceived Organizational Support (POS) Degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in decision making, and supervisors are seen as supportive. High POS is related to higher OCBs and performance. Employee Engagement The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the job. Engaged employees are passionate about their work and company. Perceived Organizational Support is the degree to which employees believe the organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being. Perception of fairness is a key factor in determining employees’ willingness to work hard for the organization. Employee Engagement goes beyond just job satisfaction and includes involvement and enthusiasm for the job. The more engaged the worker is, the more passionate they will be about their work. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Are These Job Attitudes Really Distinct? No: these attitudes are highly related. Variables may be redundant (measuring the same thing under a different name) While there is some distinction, there is also a lot of overlap. There is a high degree of overlap between the different job attitudes. If a worker has higher job satisfaction, they tend to be more engaged and show a stronger commitment to the organization. Researchers are looking into trying to find ways to measure the different attitudes to get at their distinctiveness. Be patient, OB researchers are working on it! Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Job Satisfaction One of the primary job attitudes measured. Broad term involving a complex individual summation of a number of discrete job elements. How to measure? Single global rating (one question/one answer) - Best Summation score (many questions/one average) - OK Are people satisfied in their jobs? In the U. S., yes, but the level appears to be dropping. Results vary by employee facets of the job. Pay and promotion are the most problematic elements. Job satisfaction is defined as a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics. This is an important job attitude because it incorporates so many of the other measures. There are multiple ways to measure job satisfaction, but the most accurate way is to ask the question if people are satisfied in their jobs and provide them with a scale to report their degree of satisfaction. People are generally satisfied in their jobs in the United States, but over the last several years, job satisfaction has been decreasing. When work is divided up into facets, results vary. Typically, workers are more satisfied with the work itself and coworkers, while remaining less satisfied with promotion and pay. See E X H I B I T 3–2 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Define Job Satisfaction and Show How It Can Be Measured Insert Exhibit 3.2 Most people are satisfied with their jobs in the developed countries surveyed. Research shows that over the past 30 years, the majority of U.S. workers have been satisfied with their jobs. As shown in Exhibit 3-2, people have typically been more satisfied with their jobs overall, with the work itself, and with their supervisors and co-workers than they have been with their pay and with promotion opportunities. Workers do seem to be less satisfied with their pay and promotion opportunities. Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Causes of Job Satisfaction Pay influences job satisfaction only to a point. After about $40,000 per year (in the U.S.), there is no relationship between amount of pay and job satisfaction. Money may bring happiness, but not necessarily job satisfaction. Personality can influence job satisfaction. Negative people are usually not satisfied with their jobs. Those with positive core self-evaluation are more satisfied with their jobs. Pay has an influence on job satisfaction but not as much as one might think. Typically, once a worker exceeds $40,000 per year, pay has limited impact on the level of satisfied workers. Personality tends to be a bigger influence in job satisfaction levels. People who have a negative outlook on life tend to be less satisfied with their jobs. In addition, workers who have a strong sense of self-evaluation are more satisfied. See E X H I B I T 3–3 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Summarize the Main Causes of Job Satisfaction LO 5 Insert Exhibit 3-4 For people who are poor or who live in poor countries, pay does correlate with job satisfaction and overall happiness. But once an individual reaches a level of comfortable living (in the United States, that occurs at about $40,000 a year, depending on the region and family size), the relationship between pay and job satisfaction virtually disappears. Money does motivate people, as we will discover in Chapter 6. But what motivates us is not necessarily the same as what makes us happy. Maybe your goal isn’t to be happy. But if it is, money’s probably not going to do much to get you there. Insert Exhibit 3-22 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction Active Exit Behavior directed toward leaving the organization Voice Active and constructive attempts to improve conditions Neglect Allowing conditions to worsen Loyalty Passively waiting for conditions to improve Destructive Constructive When employees are dissatisfied with their jobs, they have four basic responses they can utilize. These options are divided into active and passive choices. The active options are exit and voice. If employees select to exit, they choose to leave or move in a direction of leaving the organization. In voice, the employees will work toward active and constructive attempts to improve conditions. The passive options are neglect and loyalty. Employees may choose to neglect their work and just allow conditions to worsen or they may choose to remain loyal to the organization and just wait for change. Passive See E X H I B I T 3–4 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Outcomes of Job Satisfaction Job Performance Satisfied workers are more productive AND more productive workers are more satisfied! The causality may run both ways. Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Satisfaction influences OCB through perceptions of fairness. Customer Satisfaction Satisfied frontline employees increase customer satisfaction and loyalty. Absenteeism Satisfied employees are moderately less likely to miss work. When employees are satisfied with their work, there are many positive outcomes in the workplace. However, the inverse is true as well, if employees are dissatisfied in their work, these same job outcomes will be negatively impacted. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

More Outcomes of Job Satisfaction Turnover Satisfied employees are less likely to quit. Many moderating variables in this relationship. Economic environment and tenure Organizational actions taken to retain high performers and to weed out lower performers Workplace Deviance Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse substances, steal, be tardy, and withdraw. Despite the overwhelming evidence of the impact of job satisfaction on the bottom line, most managers are either unconcerned about or overestimate worker satisfaction. ! If a worker is satisfied in their job, they will remain in the job for a longer period of time than dissatisfied workers. However, as we have seen recently, workers are willing to stay in jobs where they are not satisfied because the job market is tight due to tough economic conditions. Dissatisfied workers are more likely to cause problems in the workplace by stealing, absenteeism, limiting productivity, and other negative work outcomes. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Global Implications Is Job Satisfaction a U.S. Concept? No, but most of the research so far has been in the U.S. Are Employees in Western Cultures More Satisfied With Their Jobs? Western workers appear to be more satisfied than those in Eastern cultures. Perhaps because Westerners emphasize positive emotions and individual happiness more than do those in Eastern cultures. Job satisfaction is not solely a U.S. concept, but much of the research has been done in the U.S. so more research is needed to effectively expand these theories to other cultures. Workers in Western cultures do tend to be more satisfied in their jobs, but this could be due to the fact that Western cultures put greater emphasis on emotions and individual happiness than other cultures do. See E X H I B I T 3–5 Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.

Summarize the Main Causes of Job Satisfaction Insert Exhibit 3-3 Interesting jobs that provide training, variety, independence, and control satisfy most employees. There is also a strong correspondence between how well people enjoy the social context of their workplace and how satisfied they are overall. Interdependence, feedback, social support, and interaction with co-workers outside the workplace are strongly related to job satisfaction even after accounting for characteristics of the work itself. Insert Exhibit 3-22 Copyright © 2013 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall

Summary and Managerial Implications Managers should watch employee attitudes: They give warnings of potential problems They influence behavior Managers should try to increase job satisfaction and generate positive job attitudes Reduces costs by lowering turnover, absenteeism, tardiness, theft, and increasing OCB Focus on the intrinsic parts of the job: make work challenging and interesting Pay is not enough Attitudes are important components of the workplace and definitely influence behaviors. Managers should be aware of job attitudes and their influence on job satisfaction. The most effective way to do this is to focus on making work challenging and interesting, especially at higher-level jobs where pay is not enough to satisfy workers. Copyright © 2011 Pearson Education, Inc. publishing as Prentice Hall (c) 2008 Prentice-Hall, All rights reserved.