Refer to Pages 86–108.

4.1: Define the concept of an attitude, and know its three components.

Refer to Page 87.             

An attitude has been defined as “a psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular entity with some degree of favor or disfavor.” Attitudes are, thus, a person’s evaluation of something else. Attitudes have three components: Cognitive, affective, and behavioral intentions. The cognitive component of an attitude is a statement of belief about something. For example, “My boss is a mean person” reflects a person’s statement that they believe to be factual. The affective component of an attitude is the emotional part. Emotions often play a powerful effect on employee motivation and work behaviors. For example, an affective statement related to the above cognitive component might be, “I am angry because my boss is mean.” The behavioral component of an attitude refers to an intention to act based on the cognitions and affect experienced. For example, “I am going to go to the Human Resources department and report my mean boss.”

4.2: Understand why the measurement of attitudes is important for the workplace.

Refer to Page 89.

Work-related attitudes are often key outcome variables in OB research. In some cases, these same attitudes are employed as predictors. As in social psychology, attitudes have become indispensable to the understanding of people’s reactions to their work and leaders. Attitudes are, thus, important in and of themselves. Knowing how satisfied people are with their work or how engaged they are is important because this contributes to their well-being and life satisfaction. Also, OB research has shown that attitudes are related to behaviors that organizations care about such as job performance and turnover. A meta-analysis and additional research were conducted to examine the link between attitudes and behaviors that relate to productivity. The findings strongly suggest that job satisfaction and organizational commitment are significantly related to job performance and turnover. Attitudes make a difference in employee behaviors such as job performance.

4.3: Define job satisfaction, and know what the consequences of dissatisfaction are.

Refer to Page 90.

Job satisfaction is defined as “a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job or job experience.” Job satisfaction is important because it shows how positive an employee is regarding their work. Job satisfaction has been shown to be related to life satisfaction and withdrawal behaviors in other cultures. Meta-analytic results show that job satisfaction is significantly and positively related to performance. The four responses to dissatisfaction are as follows: Exit—The employee can search for another job and leave. Voice—The employee can discuss their dissatisfaction with their supervisor, making suggestions for improvement. Loyalty—The employee can wait for the situation to improve, showing loyalty and trust in the management to address it in time. Neglect—The employee allows the situation to get worse and may be late or absent from work and put in less effort on the job.

4.4: Explain the role of job attitudes and core self-evaluation in the job search process.

Refer to Page 94.

Those seeking employment need to pay attention to their attitudes. Your attitudes may manifest themselves in how you conduct yourself during the process. Simply put, your job search is ongoing. You are being judged wherever you go. Advice includes don’t be arrogant, “dress for success,” your countenance matters, be outgoing, mind your manners, don’t appear desperate and despondent, and hide your anger. Research found that it is important to keep a positive attitude and maintain a positive self-image during a job search. This positive attitude about oneself is known as core self-evaluation. Core self-evaluation is defined as “fundamental premises that individuals hold about themselves and their functioning in the world.” Core self-evaluation has been strongly related to both persistence in job search behavior and success.

4.5: Discuss the concept of organizational commitment and its three components.

Refer to Page 95.

Organizational commitment is a work-related attitude that has been shown to be important to OB. It is a psychological state that describes and employee’s relationship with their organization and a propensity to continue the relationship with the organization. Affective commitment refers to an employee’s emotional attachment to an organization. Continuance commitment is the degree to which an employee is aware of the costs of leaving the organization. Normative commitment is the moral obligation to stay with the organization.

4.6: Define perceived organizational support (POS), and explain its relationship to fairness at the workplace.

Refer to Page 99.

Perceived organizational support (POS) refers to whether the organization values their contributions and cares about their well-being. Organizational justice and fair rewards are important to the perception of organizational support. A review of over 70 studies of POS indicated that there are three major categories of beneficial treatment: fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards along with favorable job conditions. The supervisor also plays an important role in the perception of POS, and it is important for employees to feel that they have a voice in decisions.

4.7: Explain psychological empowerment and its relationship to job performance.

Refer to Page 99.

Psychological empowerment refers to “intrinsic task motivation manifested in a set of four cognitions reflecting an individual’s orientation to his or her work role: competence, impact, meaning, and self-determination.” Research has shown that psychological empowerment is positively related to managerial effectiveness, innovation, and organizational commitment. Empowerment is related to lower stress as well.