Chapter 9 - job attitudes

Question 1

Define job attitude (+ why is it important)

Answer 1

Degree of positive or negative feelings or beliefs towards something. (What’s your attitude towards your current job? Pineapple on pizza? Last exam?)

Work-related attitudes: can be directed towards jobs, supervisors, coworkers, organizations, fairness, pay, etc.
Why study job attitudes?

Why study? They influence motivation and performance (including OCBs and CWBs). Also supporting happy employees is desirable in and of itself.

Question 2

Job satisfaction

Answer 2

Pleasurable, positive emotional state resulting from appraisal of one’s job

Question 3

Value-percept theory’s main idea

Answer 3

Job satisfaction depends on whether job provides what employees value

Question 4

Typical pattern of American’s job satisfaction

Answer 4

In 2023 about 40-50% of U.S. workers were satisfied with their job. Only ⅓ were satisfied with their pay and promotion opportunities.

Question 5

Antecedents of job satisfaction

Answer 5

Job characteristics, personal characteristics, social factors , growth opportunities

Question 6

Job characteristics of job satisfaction

Answer 6

Skill variety, feedback, stress and workload

Question 7

Personal/individual characteristics of job satisfaction

Answer 7

genetics, personality

Question 8

Social factors of job satisfaction

Answer 8

supervisor/co-worker relationships, role variables, organizational justice

Question 9

Growth opportunities of job satisfaction

Answer 9

Promotion, merit pay and benefits

Question 10

Consequences of job satisfaction

Answer 10

Performance (tasks), withdrawal behaviors (absenteeism, tardiness), counterproductive behaviors (theft, sabotage)

Question 11

Experience sampling methods

Answer 11

Survey participants multiple times throughout the day
Can capture how job attributes vary within-persons (across a day or week)

Question 11

Dimensionality (general vs. facet-level satisfaction)

Answer 11

General: How satisfied are you with your job (in general)
Facet-level measures: (focuses on specific aspects) - job description index and job diagnostic survey

Question 12

Performance - task vs. contextual (job satisfaction consequences)

Answer 12

Task performance
Reverse causation also possible (performance → job satisfaction)

Contextual performance (OCB)
Average r = stronger than task performance relationship

Question 13

Withdrawal behaviors (job satisfaction consequences)

Answer 13

Absenteeism and tardiness + presenteeism

Question 14

Job and life satisfaction - what hypothesis is supported by data? (job satisfaction consequences)

Answer 14

Life satisfaction: overall happiness with life
Three hypotheses for relationship between job and life satisfaction (compensation, segmentation and spillover)

Question 15

Organizational commitment

Answer 15

Strength of employee identification and involvement with an organization
Second most popular job attitude studied (after job satisfaction)

Question 16

3 main types of organizational commitment & how they each relate to job performance

Answer 16

Affective OC → emotional attachment to the organization
Continuance OC → commitment to organization based on costs associated with leaving
Normative OC → moral attachment to the organization

Question 17

Antecedents of commitment

Answer 17

Organizational factors, personal factors, social factors

Question 18

Organizational factors (commitment)

Answer 18

Socialization and team spirit; logos/gear, events
Promotions and reward systems
Organizational justice and support

Question 19

Personal factors (commitment)

Answer 19

Age (+) job tenure (+) and job level (+)
Stress (-)

Question 20

Social factors (commitment)

Answer 20

Leader-subordinate relations (LMX)
Relations with co-workers

Question 21

Consequences of commitment

Answer 21

Job performance

Withdrawal behaviors

Question 22

Job performance (commitment)

Answer 22

• relations strongest with affective commitment, followed by normative and continuance

Question 23

Withdrawal behaviors (commitment)

Answer 23

• Stronger relationships with organizational commitment
• Commitment directly captures desire to remain
• Relations also strongest for affective commitment

Question 24

Other job attitudes

Answer 24

work centrality, underemployment, levels of emotion, emotional labor & regulation

Question 25

work centrality

Answer 25

Importance of work to one’s general sense of self

Question 26

underemployment

Answer 26

Working in a job of lower quality than person should have → predicts lower job satisfaction and commitment Economic: pay insufficient for needs Skill: employee capable of higher skill job (working at Starbucks with a bachelor’s degree)

Question 27

Levels of emotion

Answer 27

State: how you feel now Mood: how you have been feeling lately Trait: tendency to feel positive/negative emotions Negative emotions associated with stress; positive emotions associated with rewards and desirable events.

Question 28

emotional labor (+ deep and surface acting)

Answer 28

Jobs can require employees to display organizationally desired emotions - Deep acting: feeling the emotions expressed - Surface acting: faking the emotions expressed

Question 29

emotional regulation

Answer 29

How we manage our mood, feelings and affect over time.

Question 30

Measures of job satisfaction

Answer 30

Dimensionality (general/facet level)

Question 31

Job description index (JDI) →

Answer 31

satisfaction with job tasks, pay, promotion, supervision, co-workers

Question 32

Job diagnostic survey (JDS) →

Answer 32

satisfaction with pay, security, social factors, supervision, growth.

Question 33

Absenteeism and tardiness (withdrawal behavior)

Answer 33

Cost of unplanned absenteeism estimated at $3,600/year per hourly worker and $2,650 per salaried employee. Total cost can reach 22% of the company's payroll.

Question 34

Presenteeism (withdrawal behavior)

Answer 34

Present at work but not able to perform the job well. Decreases productivity Numerous reasons for still going to work (e.g. “show face”)

Question 35

Compensation (hypothesis of life satisfaction)

Answer 35

one area compensates for the other = negative correlation

Question 36

Segmentation (hypothesis of life satisfaction)

Answer 36

people separate job and life = no correlation

Question 37

Spillover (hypothesis of life satisfaction)

Answer 37

domains affect on another = positive correlation ^ research supports spillover (r’s range from 0.3 to 0.5)