Chapter 13 Flashcards
How can job satisfaction be defined?
- An attitude that represents the extent to which a person likes or dislikes his or her job
What are the two components of job satisfaction?
- Affective component: reflects the emotions or feelings one has in response to one’s job
- Cognitive component: refers to one’s thoughts or beliefs about the job
How can job satisfaction be conceptualized?
- Global satisfaction approach -> focuses on workers’ overall attitude toward their jobs
- Facet satisfaction approach -> focuses on workers’ attitude toward specific aspects of their job (can be measured with the job descriptive index JDI)
How can job performance be defined?
Reflects the behaviours employees engage in, and from the standpoint of the organization are either productive or counterproductive.
What are the three dimensions of job performance?
- Task performance
- Organizational citizenship behaviour
- Counterproductive work behaviour
What is the difference between counterproductive work behaviour and employee withdrawal behaviour?
CWB represent one’s efforts to harm one’s employer, withdrawal represents one’s effort to distance himself from work
Why does task performance have a stronger positive relationship with global job satisfaction than with facet job satisfaction?
Relationships are the strongest when attitudes and behaviours are measured at the same level of specificity. Task performance is generally thought of as a broad/multi-faceted behaviour, so global job satisfaction will have a stronger relation with this.
Explain the theory that states that satisfaction causes performance
- Satisfaction may lead to cognitive flexibility, this may motivate workers to acquire new job-specific knowledge which leads to improved performance
- Satisfaction may lead to behavioural readiness. This causes employees to display more effort, persistence and proactive initiative
- Satisfaction may have an effect on effective interpersonal relationships, highly satisfied workers may get along well with their supervisors and co-workers.
Explain the theory that states that performance causes satisfaction
Good performance results in material rewards and non-material rewards. These rewards result in job satisfaction.
Explain the theory that states that the satisfaction-performance relation is bidirectional
Satisfaction influences the motivational processes, while performance influences material/non-material rewards
Explain the theory that states that the satisfaction performance relation is non-causal
The relationship is spurious (variables sharing a common cause). For instance, the work environment and employee personality are two categories of variables that may contribute to a spurious satisfaction-performance relationship
What did empirical research on the relationship between job satisfaction and task performance find?
The research supports the theory that states that there is a spurious relationship between the two variables. Employee personality traits can represent a common cause in the spurious relationship.
Explain how the principle of reciprocity works in job satisfaction, OCB and CWB
The principle states that satisfied workers will engage in OCB as a means of rewarding their employer for a pleasant working environment. Dissatisfied employee will engage in CWB as a way of ‘paying back’ their organization for providing an unpleasant working environment
How does reward contingency work as a moderator in the satisfaction-performance relationship?
The satisfaction-performance relation is stronger in high-reward contingency situations than in low-reward contingency situations
How does job complexity act as a moderator in the satisfaction-performance relationship?
The relationship is stronger among workers employed in a high-complexity job than among those employed in low-complexity jobs.
