Organizational Behavior

Attitude and Job Satisfaction

Chapter 3
Attitude
“Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects,
people, or events”.

 It reflects how someone feels about something.

For instance: When student says I like my university or I

like to study.

 There are complex reasons behind these responses,

 To understand these complex reasons need to study

important components.
Main Components of Attitudes

Cognitive component
The opinion or belief segment
Attitude
of an attitude.

Affective Component
The emotional or feeling segment
of an attitude.

Behavioral Component
An intention to behave in a certain
way toward someone or something.
Main Components of Attitudes
Cognitive Component:

The employee thought he deserved the promotion.

Affecting component:

He or She strongly dislikes the supervisor or manager.

Behavioral Action:

He or she is looking for another job.

Does Behavior Always follow from
Attitude?

 Early research on attitude assumed they were casually

related to behavior.

 The attitudes people hold determine what they do.

 1960’s, One researcher-Leon Festinger argued that

attitude follow behavior.

 He argued that people change what they say so it

doesn’t contradict what they do.
Does Behavior Always follow from
Attitude?

He argued that cases of attitude following behavior

illustrate the effects of cognitive dissonance.
Cognitive Dissonance:

Any incompatibility between two or more attitudes or

between behavior and attitudes.

Desire to reduce dissonance

• Importance of elements creating dissonance
• Degree of individual influence over elements
• Rewards involved in dissonance
Major Job Attitude
 Job Satisfaction:

“A positive feeling about one’s job resulting from an

evaluation of its characteristics”. Or

“A collection of positive and/or negative feelings that an

individual holds toward his or her job”.

 Job Involvement:

“The degree to which a person identifies with a job,

actively participate in it, and considers performance
important to self-worth”.
Major Job Attitude
 Psychological Empowerment:

Employees belief in the degree to which they affect their

work environment, their competence, the meaningfulness
of their job, and their perceived autonomy in their work”.

 Organizational Commitment:

“Identifying with a particular organization and its goals, and

wishing to maintain membership in the organization”.

Three separate dimensions to organizational commitment.

 Major Job Attitude
Dimension to Organizational Commitment;

1. Affective Commitment:

“An emotional attachment to an organization and a belief in its value”.

2. Continuance Commitment:

“The perceived economic value of remaining with an organization

compared with leaving it”.

3. Normative Commitment:

“An obligation to remain with an organization for moral or ethical

reasons”.
Major Job Attitude
 Perceived Organization Support (POS):

“It is the degree to which employees believe the

organization value their contribution and cares about
their well-being”.

 Employee Engagement:

“An individual’s involvement with, satisfaction with, and

enthusiasm for, the work he or she does”.
Job Attitude Really That Distinct
 If people feel deeply engaged by their job (high job
involvement), isn’t it probable the like it (high job
satisfaction).
 People who think their organization is supportive (high
perceived organizational support) also feel committed
to it (strong organizational commitment).
 Evidence suggests these attitudes are highly related,
perhaps to a troubling degree… and
There is some distinctiveness among attitudes, but
overlap greatly, for various reasons including the
employees personality.
Measuring Job satisfaction
 A job is more than just shuffling papers, writing
programming code, waiting on customers, or driving a
truck.
 Job requires interacting with co-workers and bosses,
following organizational rules and politics, meeting
performance standards etc..
To measure job satisfaction there are two approaches:
 Measuring Job Satisfaction
 Single global rating
 Summation score
The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied
Employees on The Workplace
How Employees Can Express Dissatisfaction:

Exit Voice
Behavior directed toward Active and constructive
leaving the organization. attempts to improve
conditions.

Loyalty Neglect
Passively waiting for Allowing conditions to
conditions to improve. worsen.
The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied
Employees on The Workplace

 Job Satisfaction and Performance:

 Satisfied workers aren't necessarily more productive.
 Worker productivity is higher in organizations with more
satisfied workers.

 Satisfaction and Absenteeism:

 Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable absences.

 Satisfaction and Turnover:

 Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
 Organizations take actions to retain high performers and to
weed out lower performers.
The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied
Employees on The Workplace

Job Satisfaction and Organizational Citizenship

Behavior (OCB):
 Satisfied employees who feel fairly treated by and are
trusting of the organization are more willing to engage in
behaviors that go beyond the normal expectations of their
job.
The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied
Employees on The Workplace

Job Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction:

 They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.

 They are less likely to turnover which helps build long-term
customer relationships.
 They are experienced.

 Dissatisfied customers increase employee job

dissatisfaction.
The Impact of Satisfied and Dissatisfied
Employees on The Workplace

 Job satisfaction can affect bottom line.

 High morale organizations have 70% employees satisfaction

compared with lower morale companies having fewer than
70% employees satisfaction.

 High morale companies grew 19.4% comparing to others that

grew 10%.

 Despite these results many managers still unconcerned with

employees satisfaction.

 Regular surveys are needed to reduce the gaps between what

managers think employees feel and what they really feel.
 Are Employees in Some Cultures
More Satisfied with their Jobs?
 Although job satisfaction appears relevant across cultures,
that doesn’t mean there are culture differences in job
satisfaction.

 Evidences show that employees in Western culture have higher

level of job satisfaction that Eastern cultures.

Because of culture employees may have more positive thinking

or less self critical. On the other side, they have more
satisfying job opportunities.

 Denmark 5.68%, Switzerland 5.43% , USA 5.32%, Hungary

4.77% and Japan 4.74 respectively from higher to lower.