KEY TERMS – CHAPTER 14

behavior How people act.

organizational behavior The study of how people act at work.

employee productivity A performance measure of both efficiency

and effectiveness.

absenteeism The failure to report to work.

turnover The voluntary and involuntary permanent

withdrawal from an organization.

organizational citizenship Discretionary behavior that is not part of an

behavior employee’s formal job requirements, but that
promotes the effective functioning of the
organization.

job satisfaction An employee’s general attitude toward his or her

job.

workplace misbehavior Any form of intentional behavior that has negative

consequences for the organization or individuals
within the organization.

Attitudes Evaluative statements—favorable or unfavorable—

concerning objects, people, or events.

cognitive component That part of an attitude that’s made up of the

beliefs, opinions, knowledge, or information held
by a person.

affective component That part of an attitude that’s the emotional or

feeling part.

behavioral component That part of an attitude that refers to an intention to

behave in a certain way.

job involvement The degree to which an employee identifies with his

or her job, actively participates in it, and considers
his or her job performance to be important to self-
worth.
organizational commitment An employee’s orientation toward the organization
in terms of his or her loyalty to, identification with,
and involvement in the organization.

perceived organizational support Employees’ general belief that their organization

values their contribution and cares about their well-
being.

cognitive dissonance Any incompatibility or inconsistency between

attitudes or between behavior and attitudes.

attitude surveys Surveys that ask employees how they feel about
their jobs, work groups, supervisors, or the
organization.

personality The unique combination of emotional, thought, and

behavioral patterns that affect how a person reacts
and interacts with others.

big-five model Five-factor model of personality.

locus of control The degree to which people believe they control

their own fate.

Machiavellianism The degree to which people are pragmatic, maintain

emotional distance, and believe that ends justify
means.

self-esteem An individual’s degree of like or dislike for himself

or herself.

self-monitoring An individual’s ability to adjust his or her behavior

to external situational factors.

impression management When individuals attempt to control the impression

others form of them.

emotions Intense feelings that are directed at someone or

something.

emotional intelligence (EI) The ability to notice and to manage emotional cues
and information.

perception The process of organizing and interpreting sensory

impressions in order to give meaning to the
environment.
attribution theory A theory that explains how we judge people
differently depending on the meaning we attribute
to a given behavior.

fundamental attribution error The tendency to underestimate the influence of

external factors and overestimate the influence of
internal factors when judging other’s behavior.

self-serving bias The tendency for individuals to attribute their own

successes to internal factors while putting the blame
for failures on external factors.

assumed similarity The belief that others are like oneself.

stereotyping Judging a person on the basis of one’s perception of

a group to which he or she belongs.

halo effect A general impression of an individual based on a

single characteristic.

learning Any relatively permanent change in behavior that

occurs as a result of experience.

operant conditioning A type of learning in which desired voluntary

behavior leads to a reward or prevents a
punishment.

social learning theory A learning theory that says people learn through
observation and direct experience.

shaping behavior Systematically reinforcing each successive step to

move an individual closer to the desired behavior.