What is an Attitude?
Certain regularities of an individuals feelings, thoughts
and predispositions to act toward some aspect of his environment Secord & Backman Feelings represent the affective, thoughts the cognitive and predispositions to act the behavioral component of an attitude. Attitudes are evaluative reflect a persons tendency to feel, think or behave in a positive or negative manner towards something or someone
What is an Attitude?
The affective component of an attitude is reflected in our physiological responses (e.g. blood pressure) or in what we say The cognitive component refers to our perception of someone and what the person says about something
The behavioral component is reflected in our observable behavior toward the person and what the person says about his/ her behavior towards something Attitude means the cognitive and/ or affective components
Behavior is the outcome of an attitude
Attitude measurement depends upon what we say about our feelings, beliefs or behavior towards the object in question
Thurstone scaling and Likert scaling are attitude questionnaires
Changing Attitude
Communicator credibility expertness and trustworthiness as perceived
Communicator attractiveness of the change agent Extremity of message extremely stated or moderately stated information One-sided vs two-sided arguments the latter is more effective Use of fear Is threat effective ..change inversely related to the intensity of fear arousal
Attitude
Relative importance To person of Attitude and Subjective norm Beliefs about how favorably or unfavorably other people would React if one performed the behavior And motivation to comply With their views
Intention
Behavior
The theory of reasoned action (Ajzen & Fishbein): the section surrounded by broken lines indicates the extension of the model to the theory of planned behavior
Job Satisfaction
What is job satisfaction? pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of ones job or job experience Attitudes towards pay, working conditions, colleagues and boss, career prospects and the intrinsic aspects of the job itself Stable positive or negative dispositions learned through nature Measuring job satisfaction scales which explore pay, work activities, working conditions, career prospects, relationships with superiors and relationships with colleagues
Task identity the extent to which the worker can complete a whole piece of work, as opposed to a small part of it
Task significance - the extent to which the job has an impact on the lives of other people, either inside or outside the organization Autonomy the extent to which the job allows the job holder to exercise choice and discretion in their work Feedback the extent to which the job itself provides information on how well the job-holder is performing
Organizational Commitment
What is organizational commitment?
A desire to maintain membership in the organization Belief in and acceptance of the values and goals of the organization A willingness to exert effort on behalf of the organization
if a person is committed to an organization, he or she has a strong identification with it, values membership, agrees with its objectives and value systems and finally is prepared to work on its behalf (Griffin & Bateman)
Examples:
I feel very little loyalty to this organization I am willing to put in a great deal of effort beyond that normally expected in order to help this organization be successful I really care about the fate of this organization I feel myself to be part of the organization