University of Technology, Jamaica

School of Business Administration

Unit 3 – Attitudes and Job Satisfaction

Lecturer: Audrey Hastings
Aspencer-hastings@utech.edu.jm
 Recap
Recap –– Week
Week 33
 3 learning theories:

– Classical conditioning (Ivan Pavlov) - learning a

new behaviour through the process of association

– Operant conditioning (B.F. Skinner) - behaviour

is controlled by its consequences

– Social learning (Albert Bandura) - learning

through observation
 Objectives
Objectives for
for this
this session
session
1. Describe the components of attitudes

2. Distinguish among the major job

attitudes

3. Describe the determinants of job

satisfaction

4. Assess the impact of job satisfaction

on the other dependent variables of
organizational Behaviour
 Image credit

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 ATTITUDE
ATTITUDE

“You have an attitude,” said the

supervisor to Mary.

What is an attitude?

Is it positive or negative?
 Attitudes
Attitudes -- Definition
Definition

 Attitudes are evaluative statements

or judgments whether favorable or
unfavorable concerning objects,
people, or events.

 It is important because it influences

perception, learning, emotions and
motivation
 Source
Source of
ofAttitudes
Attitudes

 Parents
 Teachers
 Peer group members
 Those we admire, respect or maybe even
fear

 NB: Attitudes can be altered.

 E.g. advertising messages attempt to
change our attitudes towards a certain
product or service.
 Components
Components of of an
an
attitude:
attitude: A-B-C
A-B-C
1.Affective Component – (emotional or feeling
segment): I like or do not like my manager.

2.Behavioral Component – (action): I will avoid

Rene and Sanjay the next time I see them

3.Cognitive component – (belief segment) e.g.

I believe people should not work on Saturday or
my supervisor is unfair.
Exercise
Exercise
Identify the different components of
attitude in the following sentence:

 “I believe the highway is very busy at 5

p.m. and is scary to drive, so I’ll wait until
7 p.m. to go home.”

 Note: cognitive and affective are closely

related
 The
The Theory
Theory of
of Cognitive
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance
 Any incompatibility between two or more
attitudes or between behavior and attitudes
(Robbins & Judge)

 For example, People who work at the

cigarette factory might believe that smoking
really kills (cognitive) but still work at the
cigarette factory (behaviour).
 Cognitive
Cognitive Dissonance
Dissonance
 Research said that people seek consistency among
their attitudes and between their attitudes and their
behaviour.

 Individuals normally seek to reduce this gap, or

“dissonance.”
 To reduce the dissonance, one would
– Alter the attitude or the behaviour
– Rationalize the discrepancy

 E.g. The cigarette factory employee seek to reduce

the dissonance by rationalizing why she continues to
work there or by altering her attitudes
 Reducing
Reducing the
the Dissonance
Dissonance

 The greater the dissonance, the greater the

pressure to reduce
 No individual can totally avoid dissonance
 Desire to reduce dissonance depends on
– Importance of elements creating the dissonance
[if elements are unimportant, pressure to reduce
will be low]
– Degree of individual influence over elements
– Rewards involved in dissonance
Factors
Factors that
that moderate
moderate attitudes
attitudes relationship
relationship
 Importance of the attitude
– Attitudes that our memories can easily access are more
likely to predict our behaviour. The more you talk
about attitudes on a subject, the more likely to
remember it and the more likely this will shape
behaviour.
 The presence of social pressures
– In organization, the pressure to behave in a certain
way can affect attitude. E.g. an employee who is anti-
union attends a pro-union meeting with colleagues.
 Direct personal experience
– Attitude-behaviour relationship would be much
stronger if there is direct personal experience. E.g.
asking college students with very little work experience
about working with authoritarian supervisors.
 Self-Perception
Self-Perception Theory
Theory
 Attitudes are used after the fact to make
sense out of an action that has already
occurred.

 For example, someone has been in a job for

over 10 years, and are now happy with the
job since they are in it already. Also, when
people are asked about some issues that
they do not feel strongly about, Self-
Perception Theory says that people give
plausible answers.
 Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes
 Job Involvement
– Identifying with the job, actively participating in it,
and considering performance important to self-
worth.

• JI and OCB = positive relationship

• JI and productivity = positive relationship
• JI and absenteeism = negative relationship
• JI and turnover = negative relationship
 Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes

 Organizational Commitment (OC)

– Identifying with a particular organization and its
goals, and wishing to maintain membership in the
organization.

• OC and productivity = positive relationship

(modest) but strong for new employees
• OC and absenteeism = negative relationship
• OC and turnover = negative relationship
 Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes cont’d
cont’d

 Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

– Degree to which employees feel the
organization cares about their well-being.
– Research shows organization is perceived as being
supportive when rewards are deemed fair, employees
have a voice in decisions and when supervisors are
supportive.

• POS and OCB = positive relationship

• POS and Absenteeism, turnover = negative
relationship
• POS and Customer service = positive
relationship
 Major
Major Job
Job Attitudes
Attitudes cont’d
cont’d

 Employee Engagement (EE)

– An individual’s involvement with,
satisfaction with, and enthusiasm for the
work he or she does.
– Passion for their work, deep connection to
their company
• EE and productivity = positive relationship
• EE and turnover, absenteeism – negative
relationship
• EE and customer satisfaction = positive
• EE and accident rates on the job = negative
Major
Major Job
JobAttitudes
Attitudes cont’d
cont’d –– Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction
 Job Satisfaction
– A collection of positive feelings that an individual
holds toward his or her job as a result of
evaluating its characteristics.

Causes/determinants of Job Satisfaction

 Work itself, coworkers, pay, advancement,
supervision, leadership, independence,
training, variety, etc.
 Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction

 Measuring Job Satisfaction

– Single global rating – simply asking people
to rate their satisfaction with the job.

– Summation score – identifies key facets of

a job and ask employees how they feel about
each facet.
• None is rated more valid than the other
• Single global rating – less time consuming
• Summation score – helps managers identify
problems
 How
How Employees
Employees Express
Express Dissatisfaction
Dissatisfaction
 Exit - Behavior directed toward leaving
the organization.

 Voice - Active and constructive attempts

to improve conditions.

 Loyalty - Passively waiting for conditions

to improve

 Neglect - Allowing conditions to worsen.

 The
The Impact
Impact of
of Satisfied
Satisfied Employees
Employees on
on
the
the Workplace
Workplace
 Satisfaction and Productivity
– Satisfied workers are more productive AND more
productive workers are more satisfied!
– Worker productivity is higher in organizations with
more satisfied workers.

 Satisfaction and Absenteeism

– Satisfied employees have fewer avoidable
absences.

 Personality can influence job satisfaction

– Negative people are usually not satisfied with their
jobs
 The
The Impact
Impact of
of Satisfied
Satisfied Employees
Employees
on
on the
the Workplace
Workplace
 Satisfaction and Turnover
– Satisfied employees are less likely to quit.
– Organizations take actions to retain high
performers and to weed out lower
performers.

 Satisfaction and OCBs

– 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
 The
The Impact
Impact of
of Satisfied
Satisfied Employees
Employees
on
on the
the Workplace
Workplace

 Satisfaction and Customer Satisfaction

– Satisfied workers provide better customer service

 Satisfied employees increase customer

satisfaction because:
– They are more friendly, upbeat, and responsive.
– They are less likely to have turnover, which helps
build long-term customer relationships.
– They are experienced.

 Dissatisfied customers increase employee job

dissatisfaction
Job
Job Satisfaction
Satisfaction and
and Workplace
Workplace
Deviance
Deviance
 Workers who don't like their jobs
"get even" in some ways:
unionization attempts, stealing at
work, tardiness, undue
socialization
Implications
Implications for
for Managers
Managers
 Managers should be interested in employees’
attitudes because they give warnings of potential
problems and influence behaviour.
 Satisfied and committed employees have lower rates
of turnover, absenteeism and higher levels of
production and customer service.
 Managers should focus on intrinsic parts of the job
(challenging and interesting work) more than pay to
raise job satisfaction.
 Attitudes are important because they influence
perception, learning, emotions and motivation

 Job satisfaction feeds into productivity as well

as lowering turnover and absenteeism rates
Video:
Video: Summary
Summary on
onAttitudes
Attitudes
 Reference
Reference

Organizational Behaviour, Stephen

Robbins & Timothy Judge, 15th ed.,
Pearson
End
End of
of slides
slides