Attitudes, Values and Job Satisfaction

WHAT IS AN ATTITUDE?
 Attitude is a state of mind
 Your attitude is your mind-set
 It is the way you look at things mentally
 Attitudes are evaluative statements
 They indicate one’s feelings either favorably or
unfavorably to persons objects and or events
 DEFINITION
• An “attitude” represents a predisposition to
respond in a favorable or unfavorable way to
persons or objects in one’s environment.
• For instance, when we say we “like” something or
“dislike” something, we are in effect expressing an
attitude toward the person or object.
 COMPONENTS OF ATTITUDES

Cognitive (My job is interesting)

Affective (I love my job)

Behavioral (I am going to get to work early

with a smile on my face- my intention to act)
 ATTITUDE FORMATION

 Attitudes are not inherited

 They are acquired or learned by people from the
environment in which they interact.
SOURCES OF ATTITUDE FORMATION
• Experience with an object or
Direct person
Experience • Past experience about an object or
person

Social • Family, friends, religion, culture

Learning • Observing the models
COGNITIVE DISSONANCE
THEORY
Why do actions affect attitudes?

One explanation is that when our attitudes and

actions are opposed, we experience tension. This is
called cognitive dissonance.

To relieve ourselves of this tension we bring our

attitudes closer to our actions (Festinger, 1957).
Cognitive Dissonance
Functions of Attitudes
 Adjustment - attitude serves as a means to reach a goal or
avoid what is undesirable
 Ego defensive - attitude used to protect centrality, or ego
 Value expressive - attitude functions as a means of making
concrete expressions about certain values
 Knowledge - provides a frame of reference for
understanding and adapting to the world
Determinants of Job Satisfaction
JOB RELATED ATTITUDES
Job satisfaction- Job involvement –
pleasurable positive Degree to which people
emotional state immerse themselves into
the job

Organizational Employee
Commitment- Loyalty Engagement-
towards the organization Passionate about the
job they perform

Psychological
empowerment-
autonomy, freedom
to perform
OUTCOMES OF JOB SATISFACTION
Organizational
Job performance-
citizenship behavior
more productivity
(OCB)

Absenteeism,
Customer
turnover and
Satisfaction
workplace deviance
 Hackman & Oldham’s Job
Characteristics Model

Core Dimensions Psychological States Outcomes

Skill Variety
Task Identity Meaningfulness High intrinsic
Task Significance of Work Motivation

High job per-

formance
Responsibility
Autonomy for outcomes High job satis-
Faction

Low absentee
Knowledge of ism & turnover
Feedback
Results