Chapter

Chapter Learning
Learning Objectives
Objectives
 After studying this chapter, you should be able to:
– Understand the concept and three components of an
attitude.
– Explain sources of Attitude and how they are formed.
– Understand Cognitive Dissonance Theory.
– Identify major job attitudes.
– Define job satisfaction and it’s outcomes.
– Understand ways of Changing Employee’s Attitude
– Explain Measurement of Attitude.
– Understand Managerial Implications.

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 Attitudes
Attitudes
Evaluative statements or judgments concerning objects,
people, or events.
Three components of an attitude:

The emotional or
feeling segment
The opinion or of an attitude
belief segment 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
See E X H I B I T 3–1

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 Sources
Sources of
of Attitude
Attitude

 Direct Personal Experience

 Association
 Social Learning
Formation of Attitudes
 Psychological factors
 Family factors
 Social factors
 Organisational factors
 Economic factors
 Cognitive
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance Theory
Theory
 In the late 1950s, Leon Festinger proposed the theory of
cognitive dissonance to explain the linkage between
attitudes and behaviour.
 Cognitive Dissonance: Dissonance means an
inconsistency. Cognitive dissonance refers to any
incompatibility that an individual might perceive
between two or more of his her attitudes, or between
his or her behaviour 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.
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– He proposed that desire to reduce dissonance depends
on:
• the importance of elements creating dissonance,
• the degree of influence, individual believes he or she
has over the elements and
• the rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

Thus, if individuals are required by the demands of

their job to say or do something that contradict their
personal attitude, they will tend to modify their
attitude in order to make it compatible with the
cognition of what they have said or done.

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What
What are
are the
the Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes?
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
 Organizational Commitment
– Identifying with a particular
organization and its goals, while
wishing to maintain membership
in the organization.
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And
And Yet
Yet More
More Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes…
Attitudes…
 Perceived Organizational Support (POS)
– Degree to which employees believe the organization
values their contribution and cares about their well-
being.

 Employee Engagement
– The degree of involvement with, satisfaction with, and
enthusiasm for the job.
– Engaged employees are passionate about their work and
company.

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Outcomes
Outcomes of
of Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
 Job Performance
– Satisfied workers are more productive AND more
productive workers are more satisfied!
 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.

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More
More Outcomes
Outcomes of
of Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
 Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.

 Workplace Deviance
– Dissatisfied workers are more likely to unionize, abuse,
steal, be tardy, and withdraw.

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 Changing
Changing Employee’s
Employee’s Attitude
Attitude
 Providing New Information and Ideas

 Use of Group Pressure

 Influence of Friends

 Organisational Change

 Use of Coercive tactics or fear

Measurement
Measurement of
of Attitude
Attitude
 Thurstone Attitude Scale

 Likert’s Scale

 Opinion Surveys

 Interviews
Managerial
Managerial Implications
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

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