Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
Lecture Notes
Chapter 4: Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
Learning Objectives
4.1: Define the concept of an attitude and know its three components.
4.2: Define job satisfaction and know the consequences of dissatisfaction.
4.3: Explain the role of job attitudes in the job search process.
Chapter Summary
Chapter summary here.
Annotated Chapter Outline
I. Job Satisfaction: Trends and Causes
A. Overall job satisfaction in the United States experienced a positive trend from
2013-2016, after it had slumped in 2012-2013
i. The following survey items were rated “very important” by high
percentages of respondents:
a. Respectful treatment of employees (65%)
B. Organizational satisfaction has been lower than job satisfaction every year of the
survey, with a small decline in 2016
i. Possible explanations:
a. Stagnant wages
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
II. What is an Attitude?
A. Attitude: A psychological tendency that is expressed by evaluating a particular
entity with some degree of favor or disfavor—that is, a person’s evaluation of
something
B. Components of an Attitude
i. Cognitive: A statement of belief about something
a. Ex: “My boss is a mean person.”
iv. These three attitudes are closely related and converge.
C. Cognitive Dissonance
i. Cognitive dissonance: The incompatibility between two or more attitudes
or between attitudes and behavior
ii. Festinger proposed that the degree to which people are motivated to
resolve dissonance is related to:
a. The importance of what creates it
b. How much influence the person has over it
c. Reward
D. Do Attitudes Matter?
i. Gauging satisfaction and engagement is important:
III. Job Satisfaction
A. Job satisfaction is a pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the
appraisal of one’s job or job experience.
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
B. High job satisfaction often translates into improved performance (such as higher
customer satisfaction and engagement).
C. Job satisfaction changes over time:
i. Satisfaction increases after starting a new job, then decreases around the 1–
year point.
ii. Graduates who enter the workforce during economic downturns are more
satisfied with their current jobs than those who enter during more
iv. The “gender paradox”: women are more satisfied with their jobs than
men, despite income disparities and, sometimes, fewer opportunities for
promotion.
v. Transitioning employees are more satisfied with their work during and
after transitioning to their preferred gender.
D. Job Satisfaction Facets
i. Job Descriptive Index (JDI) includes different scales that measure attitudes
about aspects of the work experience:
a. Pay (lowest relationship to overall job satisfaction)
ii. Relationship between pay and satisfaction:
a. Highly paid employees were just as satisfied as those who made
less.
b. Once an individual reaches an income level where they can live
comfortably, the relationship between income and job satisfaction
goes away.
E. Responses to Job Dissatisfaction
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. Active response: Responses that require significant action on the part of
the employee, such as leaving an organization or voicing dissatisfaction
iv. Destructive response: Responses that negatively impact the organization,
such as finding another job or becoming frequently tardy/absent
v. There are four main reactions that combine these four qualities of a
response, known as the EVLN approach to job satisfaction:
a. Exit: The employee searches for another job and leaves. This is an
active/destructive response.
IV. Job Search Attitudes
A. The job search is characterized by ups and downs in attitudes during the process.
B. Career adaptability: A psychosocial construct that denotes an individual’s
resources for coping with current and anticipated tasks, transitions, and traumas in
their occupational roles. Composed of the “Four Cs”:
i. Concern
ii. Control
iii. Curiosity
iv. Confidence
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
V. Organizational Commitment
A. Organizational commitment closely related to turnover, as well as absences,
motivation, and performance
B. Organizational commitment: A psychological state that describes an employee’s
relationship with their organization and a propensity to continue the relationship
with the organization.
i. Three components of organizational commitment:
a. Affective commitment: Refers to an employee’s emotional
attachment to an organization (caring and loyalty)
iii. Increased job insecurity, such as that following the Great Recession of
2008, led to lower organization commitment.
C. Job Involvement
i. Job involvement: How much an employee identifies with his or her job
and views their performance at work as an essential part of their self-
esteem
a. Related to turnover, organizational citizenship, and performance
v. “Corporate Citizens”
a. Not often star performers, but loyal employees.
b. Low job involvement, but attentive to the maintenance of the team.
D. Employee Engagement
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
i. Employee engagement: Related to job involvement and enthusiasm for
the work performed; the investment of an individual’s complete self into a
role
VI. Perceived Organizational Support
i. Perceived organizational support (POS): Employees’ perception of
whether the organization values their contributions and cares about their
well-being
ii. Three major categories of beneficial treatment:
a. Fairness
b. Supervisor support
c. Organizational rewards/favorable job conditions
iv. Strategies for increasing POS to enhance engagement:
a. Implement supportive workforce services that go beyond what you
are required to do
b. Be fair and equitable in making, monitoring, and enforcing
management practices
c. Set achievable goals and reward proportionately
VII. Psychological Empowerment
Instructor Resource
Scandura, Essentials of Organizational Behavior, 3e
SAGE Publishing, 2022
A. Psychological empowerment: 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
i. Meaning: How much work goals align with your personal standards (“fit”
your values)
B. Psychological empowerment is positively related to managerial effectiveness,
innovation, and organizational commitment, as well as lower stress.
C. Team members feel more empowered when they are allowed discretion in how
they do their work, which translates into higher team performance.
D. Sense of meaning: Creating a sense of meaning at work may enable leaders to
activate other positive attitudes about work and improve employee motivation.
VIII. Leadership Implication: Creating Meaning at Work
A. Individuals who feel committed to their career derive more meaning from their
work and have higher job satisfaction.
i. These individuals see their careers less as a “job” than living their true
“calling.”