The role of personal work goals in newcomers' job satisfaction and organizational commitment: A longitudinal analysis.

This study examined the importance of 3 characteristics of personal work goals (i.e., commitment, attainability, and progress) in accounting for changes in newcomers' affective job attitudes (i.e., job satisfaction and organizational commitment) during the 1st months of employment. Twenty weeks after organizational entry, 81 newcomers provided a list of their personal work goals. Goal attributes and job attitudes were assessed at 3 testing periods covering 8 months. Goal commitment was found to moderate the extent to which differences in the attainability of personal goals at the workplace accounted for changes in job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Goal progress mediated the interactive effect of goal commitment and attainability on newcomers' job attitudes. Findings are discussed with respect to their relevance for proactive approaches to organizational socialization. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Autonomy and workload among temporary workers: Their effects on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and self-rated performance.

This study investigates the role of autonomy and workload in explaining responses of temporary employees (N=189) compared with permanent employees (N=371) on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, life satisfaction, and performance. Results based on regression analyses suggest that the effects of contract type are not mediated by autonomy or by workload. Rather, this study partially supports hypotheses on the differential reactions of temporaries and permanents to autonomy or workload; autonomy was not predictive for temporaries' job satisfaction and organizational commitment, and workload was not predictive for temporaries' life satisfaction, whereas they were predictive for permanents' responses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Moderators of the Relationships Between Coworkers' Organizational Citizenship Behavior and Fellow Employees' Attitudes.

The authors developed and tested the prediction that the relationship hetween coworkers' organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and fellow employees' attitudes depends on the supervisors' abusiveness. Results of a longitudinal study using data collected from 173 supervised employees at 2 points in time (separated by 7 months) suggested that coworkers' OCB was positively related to fellow employees' job satisfaction and affective commitment when abusive supervision was low. However, when abusive supervision was high, coworkers' OCB was negatively related to job satisfaction and was unrelated to organizational commitment. The results of a 2nd study were consistent with the idea that the attributions employees make for their coworkers' OCB explains the moderating effect of abusive supervision on the relationship between coworkers' OCB and job satisfaction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Influence of Prior Commitment on the Reactions of Layoff Survivors to Organizational Downsizing.

Nurses (N := 179; Study 1) and managers (N = 154; Study 2) participated in 2 panel studies examining the relationship among prior commitment (affective and continuance commitment and perceived organizational support), coping strategies, and survivors' attitudes and perceptions during and following downsizing. In Study 1, perceived organizational support was significantly positively related to control-oriented coping, job satisfaction, and intention to remain and negatively related to perceived job insecurity and burnout 2 years later. In Study 2, coping mediated the relationship between the prior commitment variables and job alienation, health symptoms, and burnout following the downsizing. Control-oriented coping was associated with elevated levels of health symptoms and burnout following the downsizing, suggesting that control-oriented coping may have positive effects in the short term but potentially harmful effects in the long term. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Role of Temporal Shifts in Turnover Processes: It's About Time.

To better understand the process of organizational withdrawal, a turnover model incorporating dynamic predictors measured at 5 distinct points in time was examined by following a large occupationally and organizationally diverse sample over a 2-year period. Results demonstrated that turnover can be predicted by perceived costs of turnover, organizational commitment, and critical events measured soon after entry into the organization. Occupational unemployment rates, job satisfaction, and search for alternative jobs also become significant predictors when measured over time. Critical events predicted turnover in a manner distinct from the operation of attitudes, consistent with the unfolding model (Lee & Mitchell, 1994). The path to turnover was marked by consistently low perceived costs of turnover and satisfaction, decreases in commitment, and increases in job search over time. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Affective Underpinnings of Job Perceptions and Attitudes: A Meta-Analytic Review and Integration.

Using psychometric meta-analysis, the authors present a quantitative and qualitative review (k = 205, total pairwise N = 62,527) of the literature relating trait and state positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) to job-related attitudes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and dimensions of job burnout. Results indicated substantial correlations, ranging in absolute value from -.17 (PA and turnover intentions; NA and personal accomplishment) to .54 (NA and emotional exhaustion). Correlational results largely were consistent across hypothesized and exploratory moderator conditions. Meta-analytic multiple regression results generally supported the unique contribution of each affect to each attitude variable of interest. Implications and suggestions for future research on emotion-related aspects of job attitudes are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The relationship between satisfaction, attitudes, and performance: An organizational level analysis.

Previous research has consistently shown little relationship between job satisfaction, job attitudes, and performance for individuals, but little work has investigated these relationships at the organizational level of analysis. This study investigated the relationship between employee satisfaction, other job-related attitudes (commitment, adjustment, and psychological stress), and organizational performance. Organizational performance data were collected for 298 schools; employee satisfaction and attitude data were collected from 13,808 teachers within these schools. Correlation and regression analyses supported the expected relationships between employee satisfaction/attitudes and organizational performance. Implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior: A review and conceptual analysis.

Presents a theoretical framework for understanding age-related differences in work attitudes and behavior. Based on a review of more than 185 research studies, age-related differences in 3 major categories of variables are examined: work attitudes, work behaviors, and values, needs, and preferences. The work attitudes include overall job satisfaction; satisfaction with work itself, pay, promotions, co-workers, and supervision; job involvement; internal work motivation; organizational commitment; and turnover intention. Among the behavioral characteristics are performance, turnover, absenteeism, and accidents. Consistent age-related differences are reported for a number of work attitudes and behaviors, but conceptual and methodological difficulties preclude identifying causal factors in the relationship between age and work attitudes and behaviors. Some theoretical orientations having utility for guiding theory development and research on age differences are discussed. (6 p ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature.

The authors reviewed more than 70 studies concerning employees' general belief that their work organization values their contribution and cares about their well-being (perceived organizational support; POS). A meta-analysis indicated that 3 major categories of beneficial treatment received by employees (i.e., fairness, supervisor support, and organizational rewards and favorable job conditions) were associated with POS. POS, in turn, was related to outcomes favorable to employees (e.g., job satisfaction, positive mood) and the organization (e.g., affective commitment, performance, and lessened withdrawal behavior). These relationships depended on processes assumed by organizational support theory: employees' belief that the organization's actions were discretionary, feeling of obligation to aid the organization, fulfillment of socioemotional needs, and performance-reward expectancies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reexamining the Job Satisfaction-Performance Relationship: The Complexity of Attitudes.

The present article argues that organizational researchers tend to adopt an overly simplistic conceptualization and operationalization of job satisfaction (and job attitudes in general). Specifically, past research has failed to examine the affective-cognitive consistency (ACC) of job attitudes and the implications this has for the strength of the attitude and its relationship with behavior (e.g., job performance). Results from Study 1 suggest ACC is a significant moderator of the job satisfaction-job performance relationship, with those employees higher in ACC showing a significantly larger correlation between job satisfaction and performance than those lower in ACC. Study 2 replicated these findings. Implications for the study of job attitudes, limitations of the current studies, and multiple avenues for future research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Unlocking the black box: Exploring the link between high-performance work systems and performance.

With a growing body of literature linking systems of high-performance work practices to organizational performance outcomes, recent research has pushed for examinations of the underlying mechanisms that enable this connection. In this study, based on a large sample of Welsh public-sector employees, we explored the role of several individual-level attitudinal factors—job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment—as well as organizational citizenship behaviors that have the potential to provide insights into how human resource systems influence the performance of organizational units. The results support a unit-level path model, such that department-level, high-performance work system utilization is associated with enhanced levels of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and psychological empowerment. In turn, these attitudinal variables were found to be positively linked to enhanced organizational citizenship behaviors, which are further related to a second-order construct measuring departmental performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analytic review of occupational commitment: Relations with person- and work-related variables.

Relations between occupational commitment (OC) and several person- and work-related variables were examined meta-analytically (76 samples; across analyses, Ns ranged 746–15,774). Major findings are as follows. First, OC was positively related to job-focused constructs such as job involvement and satisfaction, suggesting that attitudes toward the job itself may be a central concern in committing to one's occupation. Second, consistent with previous work, OC and organizational commitment were positively related. This relation was found to be moderated by the compatibility of the profession and the employing organization. Third, OC was positively related to job performance and had an indirect effect on organizational turnover intention through occupational turnover intention. This latter effect suggests that understanding of organizational turnover can be enhanced by incorporating occupation-related variables into turnover models. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stability in the midst of change: A dispositional approach to job attitudes.

Analyzed data on the job satisfaction of over 5,000 45–59 yr old males to investigate the dispositional argument that job attitudes are consistent within individuals, showing stability both over time and across situations. Data were collected longitudinally over multiple waves, with the majority of the sample assessed on job satisfaction during 1966, 1969, and 1971. Results show significant stability of attitudes over a 5-yr time period and significant cross-situational consistency when individuals changed employers and/or occupations. Prior attitudes were also a stronger predictor of subsequent job satisfaction than either changes in pay or the social status of the job. Implications of these results for developing dispositional theories of work behavior are discussed, along with possible implications for popular situational theories (e.g., job design, social information processing). (40 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research.

The field of organizational justice continues to he marked by several important research questions, including the size of relationships among justice dimensions, the relative importance of different justice criteria, and the unique effects of justice dimensions on key outcomes. To address such questions, the authors conducted a meta-analytic review of 183 justice studies. The results suggest that although different justice dimensions are moderately to highly related, they contribute incremental variance explained in fairness perceptions. The results also illustrate the overall and unique relationships among distributive, procedural, interpersonal, and informational justice and several organizational outcomes (e.g., job satisfaction, organizational commitment, evaluation of authority, organizational citizenship behavior, withdrawal, performance). These findings are reviewed in terms of their implications for future research on organizational justice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Correlates of university faculty interest in unionization: A replication and extension.

In an extension of the work of W. J. Bigoness (see record 1979-09336-001) and others, this study examined the relationship between the perceived need for a union and the following factors: age, salary level, perceived relationship between future performance and future salary adjustments, and perceived raise equity. Additionally, the relative importance of satisfaction with economic factors and intrinsic job attributes in accounting for the perceived need for a union was investigated using 220 university faculty members. As reported in other studies, the data revealed that age was inversely related to union attitudes. This relationship, however, was not significant when the effect of salary was controlled. Also, satisfaction with economic factors and the administration of extrinsic rewards accounted for more variance in the perceived need for a union than did overall job satisfaction and intrinsic job satisfaction. Instrumentality of job performance in determining future pay raises appeared more important than salary or raise equity in explaining union attitudes among Ss. (19 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Individual reactions to high involvement work processes: Investigating the role of empowerment and perceived organizational support.

This study sought to understand how high involvement work processes (HIWP) are processed at the employee level. Using structural equation modeling techniques, the authors tested and supported a model in which psychological empowerment mediated the effects of HIWP on job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job performance, and job stress. Furthermore, perceived organizational support (POS) was hypothesized to moderate the relationships between empowerment and these outcomes. With exception for the empowerment-job satisfaction association, support was found for our predictions. Future directions for research and the practical implications of our findings for both employees and organizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Stress at work: Linear and curvilinear effects of psychological-, job-, and organization-related factors: An exploratory study of trinidad and tobago.

In this study, the authors operationalized job stress as a two-dimensional construct consisting of time pressure and anxiety. The authors hypothesized that the relationship between job stress and job-related attitudes such as job involvement and job satisfaction would be curvilinear but would be linear with psychosomatic problems. In addition, the authors proposed that attitudinal factors would mediate the relationship between job stress and organizational commitment. Data were obtained from 241 respondents in Trinidad and Tobago. Our findings revealed that curvilinear relationships were supported for anxiety and the outcome variables but not for time pressure. The results also provided full support for our mediation hypotheses in the case of anxiety. However, partial support for mediation was obtained for time pressure. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: A meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature.

The authors developed and meta-analytically examined hypotheses designed to test and extend work design theory by integrating motivational, social, and work context characteristics. Results from a summary of 259 studies and 219,625 participants showed that 14 work characteristics explained, on average, 43% of the variance in the 19 worker attitudes and behaviors examined. For example, motivational characteristics explained 25% of the variance in subjective performance, 2% in turnover perceptions, 34% in job satisfaction, 24% in organizational commitment, and 26% in role perception outcomes. Beyond motivational characteristics, social characteristics explained incremental variances of 9% of the variance in subjective performance, 24% in turnover intentions, 17% in job satisfaction, 40% in organizational commitment, and 18% in role perception outcomes. Finally, beyond both motivational and social characteristics, work context characteristics explained incremental variances of 4% in job satisfaction and 16% in stress. The results of this study suggest numerous opportunities for the continued development of work design theory and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in newcomer job satisfaction over time: Examining the pattern of honeymoons and hangovers.

In this study, the authors contribute insight into the temporal nature of work attitudes, examining how job satisfaction changes across the 1st year of employment for a sample of organizational newcomers. The authors examined factors related to job change (i.e., voluntary turnover, prior job satisfaction) and newcomer experiences (i.e., fulfillment of commitments, extent of socialization) that may strengthen or weaken the job satisfaction pattern. Results of a study of 132 newcomers with data collected at 4 unique time periods show a complex curvilinear pattern of job satisfaction, such that satisfaction reached a peak following organizational entry and decreased thereafter. However, examination of moderating factors revealed that individuals who reported less satisfaction with their prior job and those having more positive experiences on the new job, such as greater fulfilled commitments and a higher degree of socialization, were most likely to experience this pattern. Findings from this study offer important implications for theory and research on changes in newcomer attitudes over time as well as practical insight on key factors that shape the pattern of job attitudes as individuals enter and experience a new workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)