Attitude

Attitudes are evaluative statements or judgments-either favorable or unfavorable-about objects,

people, or events.
They reflect how we feel about something.
Attitudes are complex.
In order to fully understand attitudes, we need to consider their fundamental properties or
components.
Three components of an attitude
Every attitude has three components that are represented in what is called the ABC model of attitudes: A
for affective, B for behavioral, and C for cognitive.
1. Affective component:
- Affective component is the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude.
- This component deals with personal feelings or emotions that are brought to the
surface about something, such as fear or hate.
- These feeling could be positive, negative or neutral.
2. Behavioral component:
- The behavioral component refers to an intention to behave in a certain way
toward someone or something.
- This can also be called the conative component.
- Only this components of attitude is visible as the other two can only be inferred
3. Cognitive component:
- Cognitive component is the opinion or belief segment of an attitude.
- It refers to the thoughts, personal beliefs or knowledge one has about an attitude
object.
Examples Positive attitude toward Negative attitude toward
supervisor supervisor
Affective I like my supervisor I dislike my supervisor
Behavioral I am not looking for another job I am looking for another job and
and I am trying to improve my I have complained about my
performance more than before. supervisor to anyone who would
listen.
Cognitive My supervisor gave me My supervisor gave a promotion
promotion because I deserved to a coworker who deserved it
it. He is fair. less than me. He is unfair.
Does Behavior always follow from attitude?
According to Leon Festinger - No, the reverse is sometimes true. He argued that attitudes follow
behavior, which illustrate the effects of cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance refers to any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or between behavior
and attitudes.
Individuals seek to reduce this uncomfortable gap, or dissonance and try to reach stability
and consistency.
Consistency is achieved by changing the attitudes, modifying the behaviors, or through
rationalization
Festinger would propose that, the desire to reduce dissonance depends on
The importance of elements creating it

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 Degree of influence the individual believes he has over the elements.
Rewards involved in dissonance
Individuals will be more motivated to reduce dissonance when the attitudes or behavior are important or
when they believe that the dissonance are due to something they can control. High rewards
accompanying high dissonance tend to reduce the tension inherent in the dissonance.
Moderating Variables:
Attitudes predict behavior, as influenced by moderating variables. The most powerful moderators of the
attitude-behavior relationship are:
1. Importance of the attitude: Important attitudes are ones that reflect fundamental values, self-
interest, or identification with individuals or groups that a person values. Attitudes that individuals
consider important, show a strong relationship to behavior.

2. Correspondence to behavior: The more closely the attitude and the behavior are matched or
correspond, the stronger the relationship.
- Specific attitudes predict specific behavior
- General attitudes predict general behavior

3. Accessibility: Attitudes that are easily remembered are more likely to predict behavior than
attitudes that are not accessible in memory. Interestingly, we remember attitudes that are
frequently expressed. So the more we talk about our attitude on a subject, the more we
remember it, and the more we can shape our behavior.

4. Existence of social pressures: Discrepancies between attitudes and behavior occur when social
pressures to behave in certain ways, hold exceptional power. So high social pressures reduce the
relationship and may cause dissonance.

5. Personal and direct experience of the attitude: Attitudes that based on personal experience are
stronger predictors. That means the attitude-behavior relationship is stronger, if an attitude refers
to something with which the individual has direct personal experience
What are the major job attitudes?
1. Job Satisfaction
Job satisfaction refers to a positive feeling about the job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.
A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive feelings about his job, while a dissatisfied
person holds negative feelings.
2. Job Involvement
Job involvement refers to the degree to which
- Person identifies with a job
- Actively participate in it and
- Considers their perceived performance level important to self-worth.
Another closely related concept is Psychological Empowerment which is employees belief in the degree
of influence over the work environment, job competence, job meaningfulness, and autonomy.
Higher levels of both job involvement and psychological empowerment are positively related to
organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and job performance.
3. Organizational Commitment
Organizational commitment refers to the degree to which

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 - An employee identifies with a particular organization and its goals and
- Wishes to maintain membership in the organization.
There are three dimensions to organizational commitment
Affective An emotional attachment to an organization and a belief in its values.
Continuance Commitment The perceived economic value of remaining with an
organization compared with leaving it.
Normative An obligation to remain with an organization for moral or ethical
reasons.
The relationship between organizational commitment and job performance is strongest for new
employees and it is considerably weaker for more experienced employees.
4. Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
Perceived Organizational support refers to the degree to which
- Employees believe the organization values their contribution and
- Cares about their well-being.
Perceived Organizational Support (POS) is higher when rewards are fair, employees are involved in
decision-making, and supervisors are seen as supportive.
High POS is related to higher organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and job performance.
5. Employee Engagement: Employee engagement refers to the degree to which
- An individual is involved with,
- Satisfied with, and
- Enthusiastic for the job he does.
Highly engaged employees have passion for their work and feel a deep connection to their company.
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.
How do we measure job satisfaction?
Job satisfaction is a positive feeling about a job resulting from an evaluation of its characteristics.
There are two widely used approaches to measure job satisfaction.
- Single global rating (one question/one answer):
The single global ratting method is a response to one question such as All things considered, how
satisfied are you with your job?
Respondents circle a number between 1 and 5 that corresponds to answer from highly satisfied to
highly dissatisfied.
Single global rating method is considered the best. It is not very time consuming, which frees managers
to address other workplace issues and problems.
- Summation score (many questions/one average):

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It identifies key elements in a job and asks about the employees feelings about each elements. Typical
elements are nature of the work, supervision, present pay, promotion opportunities, and relation with
coworkers.
Respondents rate them on a standardized scale, and researchers add the ratings to create an overall job
satisfaction score.
This method is considered okay. It helps managers to deal with unhappy employees and solve problems
faster and more accurately.
Four Employee Responses to Dissatisfaction
One theoretical model- the exit-voice-loyalty-neglect framework- is helpful to understand the
consequences of dissatisfaction. The frameworks four response, which differ from one another along two
dimensions:
- Constructive/ destructive
- Active/ passive

Exit: The exit response involves actively and destructively directing behavior toward leaving the
organization, including
- Looking for a new position as well as resigning.
Voice: The voice response involves actively and constructively trying to improve conditions,
including
- Suggesting improvements,
- Discussing problems with superiors, and
- Undertaking some forms of union activity.
Loyalty: The loyalty response involves passively but optimistically waiting for conditions to
improve , including
- Speaking up for the organization in the face of external criticism
- Trusting the organization and its management to do the right things
Neglect: The neglect response involves passively and destructively Allowing conditions to
worsen, including
- Chronic absenteeism or lateness
- Reduced effort
- Increased error rate

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Exit and neglect encompass our performance variables productivity, absenteeism and turnover. Voice
and loyalty allow individuals to tolerate unpleasant situations or to revive satisfactory working conditions.

What outcomes does job satisfaction influence?

Job Satisfaction and Job Performance:
Organizations with more satisfied employees tend more effective than organizations with
fewer satisfied employees because-
Satisfied and committed employees are more productive and more productive workers
are more satisfied.
Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship Behavior (OCB):
Organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) is discretionary behavior that is not part of an employees
formal job requirements, but that still promotes the effective functioning of the organization. Desired
citizenship behaviors include:
- Helping others on their team
- Volunteering for extra job activities
- Avoiding unnecessary conflicts
- Respecting rules and regulations
- Tolerating occasional work-related impositions.
Satisfaction influences OCB through perceptions of fairness. Satisfied employees are more likely to talk
positively about the organization, help others and go beyond the normal expectations in their sob

Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

Customer retention and defection are highly dependent on how frontline employees deal with customers.
Satisfied employees are more likely to be friendly upbeat and responsive-which customer
appreciate
They increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Job Satisfaction and Absenteeism: Absenteeism is the failure to report to work. It reduces productivity
and becomes a management problem.
Satisfied employees are moderately less likely to miss work.
Job Satisfaction and Turnover: Turnover is the voluntary and involuntary permanent withdrawal from an
organization. Job satisfaction is also negatively related to turnover.
Dissatisfied employees are more likely to quit.
Many moderating variables in this relationship are: labor market condition, expectations
about alternative job opportunities and length of tenure with the organizations,
organizational actions taken to retain high performers and to weed out lower performers.
Job Satisfaction and Workplace Deviance: Deviant workplace behavior can be defined as voluntary
behavior that violates significant organizational norms and, in so doing, threatens the well-being of the
organization or its members
Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse substances, steal, undue
socialize, be tardy, and withdraw.