Chapter 10:

Organizational
Attitudes and
Behavior

History of Job Attitudes

Based in history of Job Satisfaction
Formal research began in mid-1930s
1932 I/O textbooks had no mention of job
satisfaction or organizational commitment
By 1972 over 3000 articles published
specifically exploring worker attitudes

Why interest developed

Methodological breakthroughs
Survey methods
Statistical techniques

Attitudes Defined
Briefly defined, an attitude represents a
predisposition to respond in a favorable or
unfavorable way to persons or objects in ones
environment.
For instance, when we say we like something
or dislike something, we are in effect
expressing an attitude toward the person or
object.

Attitudes: Three Important

Assumptions
Three important assumptions underlie the
concept of attitudes:
1) An attitude is a hypothetical construct
2) An attitude is a unidimensional construct
3) Attitudes are believed to be somewhat
related to subsequent behavior, although as
well see, this relationship can be unclear

Job Attitudes: Three Related

Components
The job attitude is the middle component in a
belief-evaluation-behavior chain:
1) Beliefs about aspects of the job.
My work has long stretches with nothing to do.

2) The evaluative component, i.e., the attitude itself.

I am dissatisfied with my job.

3) Work-related behavioral intentions that follow

from the attitude.
Im intending to quit my job.

Job Attitudes and Actual

Behavior
The belief, attitude, intention sequence is
presumably followed by actual behavior.
This traditional model suggests that behaviors
(including job performance) are largely influenced
by job attitudes.
Recently, this traditional model has been
questioned as being too simple and some more
comprehensive alternatives have been developed.

Job Attitudes and Behavior

Overview

Job Satisfaction
Job Involvement
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Justice
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors
Antisocial Behavior

What is Job Satisfaction?

Job Satisfaction: The degree of pleasure an
employee derives from his or her job.
2 levels of Job Satisfaction:
Global Job Satisfaction - Overall Good
Feelings
Job Facet Satisfaction - Selected Dimensions

pay
promotions
work tasks
coworkers
supervisors

Antecedents to Job Satisfaction

What causes satisfaction
Environment/Job Features
Skill variety Task identity
Task significance Autonomy
Feedback

Role Variables
Ambiguity Conflict
Work-family conflict

Person variables

Negative affectivity
Gender
Age
Culture
Genetics
Life satisfaction

Locus of Control

How do Americans feel

about going to work?
Most Americans like their jobs overall
People are relatively satisfied with the nature of
the work itself:
How interesting it is
Having lots of contact with people
People less happy with rewards
Pay
Benefits
Chances for promotion

Why all the fuss?

Cultural interest
Something most of us believe we are entitled
to or at least desire from our work

Functional (practical) reasons

Link to important organizational outcomes

Performance
Turnover
Absenteeism
Counterproductive behaviors

Job Satisfaction and

Performance
Is a happy worker a productive worker?
Correlations positive and low to
moderate
.16 with overall satisfaction in individual
studies
.30 with overall satisfaction in metaanalytic studies
.10 with specific facets

Why is the association not larger?

Some Possible Explanations:

1) Research and Measurement Issues:
Is job performance defined correctly?
Can you predict specific behaviors from a general attitude toward
the job.

Some Possible Explanations:

2) Moderator Effects:
Sat-performance relationship is highly complex (Katzell, Thompson & Guzzo,
1992)
For example, the relationship may be limited by constraints on performance (e.g.,
group norms for performance, environmental variables such as the speed of an
assembly line)
3) Dispositional Effects:
Some research has found a substantial amount of the variability in job satisfaction
may relate to trait affect

Job Satisfaction and

Turnover
Negative relationship
Moderate level
= -.40
Unlike satisfaction, turnover is well thought out
Why not higher
People leave jobs for lots of reasons
Better opportunities
Health reasons
More interesting work

Job Satisfaction and

Absenteeism
Absenteeism costs organizations in lost time and
productivity
General satisfaction with absenteeism
Low negative correlation
r = -.25
Facets of job satisfaction (e.g., Career future,
Supervision, Financial rewards) with absenteeism
Correlate better (moderate to high)
range - .46 to -.60
Why so low?
Not all absenteeism due to satisfaction
Company policies, Personal work habits, Ability to
attend (illness, transportation, etc)

Job Satisfaction

Positive
Affectivity
Interpretation of
job circumstances

Job
Satisfaction

Objective job
circumstance

Brief (1998)

Job Satisfaction: Is It Genetic?

People have stable traits that
predispose them to be satisfied or
dissatisfied (positive vs negative
affectivity)
Happy people are happy workers

Emotions
There is evidence that as much as 30%
of the variability in job satisfaction is due
to genetics

Specific Tools to Assess

Satisfaction
Job Descriptive Index (JDI)
Measure of 5 facets of job satisfaction
Pay, promotions, coworkers, supervisors, work itself
9 to 18 items on each facet

Pros
Extremely easy to use with all types of respondents
Most commonly used measure of job satisfaction
Normative data available from hundreds/thousands of
studies
No racial differences in assessment

Cons
Shouldnt sum across facets
Is there more to job satisfaction than just the 5 facets?

YOUR PAY AND PROMOTIONS

What are YOUR PAY AND PROMOTION OPPORTUNITIES like?

Circle
YES if the item describes your PAY AND PROMOTIONS, NO if
the item
does not describe your PAY AND PROMOTIONS, and ? if you
cannot
decide. Choose a response for each item.
Pay
UNDERPAID.........................................................
INCOME ADEQUATE FOR NORMAL EXPENSES........
BARELY LIVE ON INCOME....................................Yes
INCOME PROVIDES LUXURIES..............................
BAD.................................................................... Yes
HIGHLY PAID....................................................... Yes

Yes
Yes
?
Yes
?
?

Promotions
GOOD OPPORTUNITY FOR ADVANCEMENT.............. Yes
PROMOTION ON ABILITY........................................ Yes
DEAD-END JOB........................................................Yes
GOOD CHANCE FOR PROMOTION............................ Yes
UNFAIR PROMOTION POLICY................................... Yes

?
?
No
?
No
No

No
No

?
?
?
?
?

No
No
No
No
No

No

Specific Tools to Assess

Satisfaction
Minnesota Satisfaction Survey

2 forms (Long form (100 items) & Short form (20 items)
Assesses 20 facets
Uses a 5-point scale
Good measure of General satisfaction and Intrinsic vs.
extrinsic satisfaction
Pros
Reliable, valid measure of job satisfaction
Cons
Very long
Are there really 20 different facets and/or is it
meaningful to have info on each of them

Specific Tools to Assess

Satisfaction
Job In General Scale (JIG)
Developed as a global measure of job
satisfaction
Similar to JDI
Pros
Quick and easy to use
Cons
Doesnt give information regarding
specific factors

YOUR JOB IN GENERAL

What is your JOB like MOST OF THE TIME? Choose YES if the
item describes your JOB, NO if it does not describe your JOB,
and ? if you cannot decide.

PLEASANT..............................

Yes

No

BAD......................................

Yes

No

IDEAL..............................................

Yes

No

WASTE OF TIME..................................

Yes

No

GOOD.............................................

Yes

No

UNDESIRABLE......................................

Yes

No

WORTHWHILE...............

Yes

No

WORSE THAN MOST................

Yes

No

ACCEPTABLE....

Yes

No

MAKES ME CONTENT.........

Yes

No

INADEQUATE...........................

Yes

No

ROTTEN......

Yes

No

Theres More to it than just

General Job Satisfaction
Other commonly measured job attitudes
include:
Attitudes toward specific job features
Job Involvement
Organizational Commitment
Organizational Justice
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

Job Involvement
Job Involvement: The degree to which a
person identifies psychologically with his or
her work and the importance of work to
ones self-image

Job Involvement

Job satisfaction
Performance
Turnover
Conscientiousness

.45
.09
-.13
.53

Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment: The degree to
which an employee feels a sense of allegiance
to his or her employee
3 components (Allen and Meyer, 1990):
Affective
Continuance
Normative
Commitment can be to different focal points

Organizational Commitment
Organizational Commitment has been
related to many different job outcomes

Organizational
Commitment

Overall job
satisfaction

.53

Performance
Turnover
Conscientiousness
Job involvement

.11
-.28
.67
.50

Think of a time youve been

unfairly treated at work
Were you ever treated rudely or
disrespectfully?
Were you up for a promotion / raise / job,
and didnt get it when you thought you
should have?
Why was it unfair? How did you know?
How did you react? Did you take action?
Why or why not?

Organizational Justice
Organizational Justice: The overarching
theoretical concept pertaining to the fair
treatment of people in organizations.
Three types:
Distributive (equity, equality, need)
Procedural
Interactional (interpersonal, informational)

Organizational Justice:
Distributive Justice
Distributive Justice: The fairness with which
the outcomes or results are distributed among
members of an organization.
Rules for allocating resources
Equity resources are distributed to employees
with respect to their abilities or contributions

Equality resources are distributed so each

person gets the same outcome, regardless of
their contributions

Need resources are distributed to the person

who needs them more

Organizational Justice:
Procedural Justice
Procedural Justice: The fairness by which
means are used to achieve results in an
organization.
What are some things that lead to a procedure
being seen as fair?

Voice getting a say in things

Consistency
Bias Suppression
Accuracy
Correctability
Representativeness
Ethicality

Organizational Justice:
Interactional Justice
Interactional Justice: The fairness with which
people are treated within an organization and the
timeliness, completeness, and accuracy of the
information received in an organization.
Interpersonal component treating people
with dignity and respect; refraining from
improper remarks or comments
Informational component providing
adequate explanations for decisions

Organizational Justice:
Relationships
Justice Perceptions in organizations have
been found to be related to:
Job Satisfaction
Organizational Commitment
Job Performance
Withdrawal Behaviors
Counterproductive behaviors
Self-perceptions

Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors
Organizational Citizenship Behaviors: The
contributions that employees make to overall
welfare of the organization that go beyond required
duties of their job.
Also referred to as extra-role behavior, prosocial behavior, and contextual performance.
5 Dimensions of Citizenship Behaviors:
1. Altruism
2. Conscientiousness
3. Courtesy
4. Sportsmanship
5. Civic virtue

Organizational Citizenship
Behaviors
Why do people perform citizenship
behaviors?
Disposition:
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness

Situations:
Fairness

Research (Lam, Hui & Law, 1999) found that more

employees in Hong Kong and Japan regarded some
facets of OCBs as part of their job than employees
from USA and Austria

Psychological Contract
Psychological Contract: The implied exchange
relationship that exists between an employee and
the organization.
Transactional
Antisocial behaviors
Violence
Threats
Negligence
Negativism
Alienation

Relational
Indifferent social
behaviors
Compliance

Prosocial Behaviors
Conscientiousness
Sportsmanship
Courtesy
Civic virtue
Altruism
Commitment

Psychological Contract:
Violations of the Psychological
Contract
The psychological contract is violated when
one party in a relationship perceives another
as failing to fulfill promised obligations.
Pattern of responses to
psychological contract:
Voice
Silence
Retreat
Destruction
Exit

Downsizing
Downsizing is a deliberate organizational
decision to reduce the workforce that is
intended to improve organizational
performance.
The individuals most affected by downsizing
are those who lose their jobs.
The surviving employees are also affected
by downsizing.
Teams and groups are impacted by
downsizing.

Downsizing: Contingent workers

Many organizations are using temporary
or contingent workers.
Contingent workers perform tasks for a specific
time period.
Contingent workers usually are:
- staffed through an agency
- paid less
- receive few benefits
- younger, female and minorities

Mergers and Acquisitions

Merger: The joining or combining of two
organizations of approximately equal status and
power.
Acquisition: The process by which one
organization acquires or subsumes the resources
of a second organization.
Usually organizations are more concerned
about strategic fit (shared business strategies,
financial goals) than organizational fit (culture
and match between workforce).

Antisocial Behavior at Work

Antisocial Behavior: Any behavior that brings
harm or is intended to bring harm to an
organization or its members.
Examples: insults, threats, lying, theft, sabotage,
physical violence, workplace homicide.

Antisocial Behavior at Work:

Violence in the Workplace
Perceived
Injustice

Physical
Violence

Perpetrators often see them selves as the

victims of workplace injustice.
Perpetrators usually want more from the
organization in terms of personal identity and
purpose than the organization can provide.