case study on job attitude

Job Satisfaction and Employee Work Attitude (A Case Study of Employees Working In Commercial Banks In District Nausharo-Feroze-2015)

Case Studies Journal ISSN (2305-509X) – Volume 4, Issue 8 – Aug-2015

6 Pages Posted: 25 Jun 2019

Syed Muneer Ahmed Shah

S.A.L University (Shah Abdul Latif University) - Department of Business Administration

Faheem-ul-Hussain Dehraj

Affiliation not provided to ssrn, bilawal ali dayo.

Date Written: August 2015

Looking at the need and importance of employee’s job satisfaction for organizational success, this research was made by using workplace environment, salary, benefits and team effectiveness/work group as an independent variables for the job satisfaction, questionnaires were developed for collection of primary data from the employees of both working in public and private commercial banks at District Nausharo-feroze, SPSS 18 was used for measuring the role of discussed above variables and concluded that salary, benefits and team effectiveness/work group positively and significantly linked with job satisfaction, while the relationship between workplace environment is adversely seen to job satisfaction, however gap is seen so large to be fulfilled by other researchers to bring light on same issue.

Keywords: Work place environment, Salary & Benefits, Team effectiveness/work group, Job satisfaction

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Syed Muneer Ahmed Shah (Contact Author)

S.a.l university (shah abdul latif university) - department of business administration ( email ).

Khairpur Pakistan

Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?

Paper statistics, related ejournals, disability income & work injury compensation ejournal.

Subscribe to this fee journal for more curated articles on this topic

Development Economics: Microeconomic Issues in Developing Economies eJournal

Human resource management & organizational behavior ejournal.

• Browse All Articles
• Newsletter Sign-Up

Attitudes →

• 30 Jul 2024
• Research & Ideas

Do Social Movements Sway Voters? Not Really, Except for One

People often take to the streets to express their outrage, but research by Vincent Pons finds that only one recent social movement has shifted public opinion: Black Lives Matter. In an election year marked by widespread protests, Pons explores why marches and rallies often fail to achieve long-term results.

• 18 Jul 2024

New Hires Lose Psychological Safety After Year One. How to Fix It.

New hires begin their roles eager to offer ideas. But research by Amy Edmondson shows how they become more reluctant to share over time. She explains how psychological safety erodes on the job and provides advice for strengthening it.

• 17 Aug 2020

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

The Stockdale Paradox and survival psychology contain wisdom for how leaders can manage the coronavirus crisis, according to Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 21 Apr 2020
• Working Paper Summaries

Changing In-group Boundaries: The Role of New Immigrant Waves in the US

How do new immigrants affect natives’ views of other minority groups? This work studies the evolution of group boundaries in the United States and indicates that whites living in states receiving more Mexican immigrants recategorize blacks as in-group members, because of the inflow of a new, “affectively” more distant group.

• 25 Sep 2019

Corporate Purpose and Firm Ownership

This study shows that corporate purpose varies greatly according to the nature of firm ownership, and these differences can be least partly explained by the choices and compensation of the CEOs. The greater the pay gap between CEOs and employees, the lower the sense of corporate purpose within the organization.

• 07 Aug 2018

Gifts of the Immigrants, Woes of the Natives: Lessons from the Age of Mass Migration

Investigating the economic and political effects of immigration across US cities between 1910 and 1930, this paper finds that political opposition to immigration can arise even when immigrants bring widespread economic benefits. The paper provides evidence that cultural differences between immigrants and natives were responsible, at least in part, for natives’ anti-immigration reactions.

• 22 Jan 2018

When Gender Discrimination Is Not About Gender

Gender discrimination in a typically male workplace is not necessarily driven by misogyny. Rather, employers are less willing to hire applicants associated with a lower performing group-even if that group is defined by a demographic characteristic other than gender.

• 03 Jan 2018

Framing Violence, Finding Peace

Using data collected in a 2016 survey of 1,120 Syrian refugees in Turkey, this study finds that 1) framing civilians’ wartime ordeal as suffering or sacrifice influences their attitudes about ending the conflict, and 2) the identity of who advocates for peace affects civilians’ attitude about supporting it. These results suggest new possibilities for reconciliation processes.

• 14 Dec 2017

Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature

This paper brings together recent findings in the academic literature on the prevalence of various personality traits among entrepreneurs and their impact on venture performance. It focuses on three themes: (1) personality traits of entrepreneurs and how they compare to other groups; (2) attitudes towards risk that entrepreneurs display; and (3) overall goals and aspirations that entrepreneurs bring to their pursuits.

• 11 Oct 2017

Crime and Violence: Desensitization in Victims to Watching Criminal Events

Findings from an experiment show that victims of crimes become desensitized to violence in biological and cognitive ways. These results may help explain a troubling contradiction in Latin America: rising crime along with decreasing public concern about it. As the rate of crime victimization increases, a larger group of the population shares this increased desensitization.

• 03 Oct 2017

When Exit is an Option: Effects of Indiscriminate Violence on Attitudes Among Syrian Refugees in Turkey

This study examines the attitudes of civilians displaced by violence in a conflict where the strategic logic was not to control people but to remove them. Results show that civilians who can leave the conflict zone do not necessarily politically align with one or another armed group. Rather, they engage in civic activities that benefit the civilian refugee community itself.

• 23 Nov 2015

Self Control and Commitment: Can Decreasing the Liquidity of a Savings Account Increase Deposits?

John Beshears and colleagues find evidence to show commitment accounts can help would-be savers with self-control problems.

• 17 Nov 2014
• Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Are Optimists or Pessimists Better Leaders?

In general, optimists are best suited to lead family-run entrepreneurial organizations. At least until disaster strikes. John A. Davis explains why both perspectives are so valuable. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 Sep 2011

How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

In their new book, The Progress Principle: Using Small Wins to Ignite Joy, Engagement, and Creativity at Work, authors Teresa M. Amabile and Steven J. Kramer discuss how even seemingly small steps forward on a project can make huge differences in employees' emotional and intellectual well-being. Amabile talks about the main findings of the book. Plus: book excerpt. Key concepts include: Of all the factors that induce creativity, productivity, collegiality, and commitment among employees, the single most important one is a sense of making progress on meaningful work. Seemingly small signs of progress will induce huge positive effects on employees' psyches. On the other hand, seemingly small setbacks will induce huge negative effects. The catalysts that induce progress include setting clear goals; allowing autonomy; providing resources; giving enough time-but not too much; offering help with the work; learning from both problems and successes; and allowing ideas to flow. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 06 May 2010

Introductory Reading For Being a Leader and The Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological Model

Effective leadership does not come from mere knowledge about what successful leaders do; or from trying to emulate the characteristics or styles of noteworthy leaders; or from trying to remember and follow the steps, tips, or techniques from books or coaching on leadership. And it certainly does not come from merely being in a leadership position or in a position of authority or having decision rights. This paper, the sixth of six pre-course reading assignments for an experimental leadership course developed by HBS professor emeritus Michael C. Jensen and coauthors, accompanies a course specifically designed to provide actionable access to being a leader and the effective exercise of leadership as one's natural self-expression. Key concepts include: One of the conditions for realizing the promise of the leadership course is that students must be open to examine, question, and then transform their worldviews (models of reality) and frames of reference (mindsets). Students create for themselves a powerful 4-part contextual framework that calls them into being as a leader. Having done this what remains is to confront one's own Ontological Perceptual and Functional constraints so as: 1) to relax their ability to restrict one's perceptions of what must be dealt with in any leadership situation, and 2) to relax their ability to restrict one's freedom of choice for action in any leadership situation. Students cannot master that which they do not create for themselves. This is especially true of anything that is at first counterintuitive. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 25 Nov 2009

The Devil Wears Prada? Effects of Exposure to Luxury Goods on Cognition and Decision Making

Gandhi once wrote that "a certain degree of physical harmony and comfort is necessary, but above a certain level it becomes a hindrance instead of a help." This observation raises interesting questions for psychologists regarding the effects of luxury. What psychological consequences do luxury goods have on people? In this paper, the authors argue that luxury goods can activate the concept of self-interest and affect subsequent cognition. The argument involves two key premises: Luxury is intrinsically linked to self-interest, and exposure to luxury can activate related mental representations affecting cognition and decision-making. Two experiments showed that exposure to luxury led people to think more about themselves than others. Key concepts include: Luxury does not necessarily induce people to be "nasty" toward others but rather causes them to be less concerned about or considerate toward others. Experiment 1 showed that when primed with luxury, people are more likely to endorse self-interested business decisions (profit maximization), even at the expense of others. Experiment 2 further demonstrated that exposure to luxury is likely to activate self-interest but not the tendency to harm others. Exposure to luxury goods may activate a social norm that it is appropriate to pursue interests beyond a basic comfort level, even at the expense of others. It may be this activated social norm that affects people's judgment and decision-making. Alternatively, exposure to luxury may directly increase people's personal desire, causing them to focus on their own benefits such as prioritizing profits over social responsibilities. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 05 Nov 2009

A Market for Human Cadavers in All but Name?

A shortage of cadavers has hampered medical education and training, a market that entrepreneurs are stepping forward to address. HBS professor Michel Anteby argues that scholars must learn more about the market dynamics of this uncomfortable subject in order to inform political debate. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

• 01 Dec 2006
• What Do You Think?

How Important Is Quality of Labor? And How Is It Achieved?

A new book by Gregory Clark identifies "labor quality" as the major enticement for capital flows that lead to economic prosperity. By defining labor quality in terms of discipline and attitudes toward work, this argument minimizes the long-term threat of outsourcing to developed economies. By understanding labor quality, can we better confront anxieties about outsourcing and immigration? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

The PMC website is updating on October 15, 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• Front Psychol

Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Job Involvement: The Mediating Role of Job Involvement

We conducted an empirical study aimed at identifying and quantifying the relationship between work characteristics, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational policies and procedures in the transition economy of Serbia, South Eastern Europe. The study, which included 566 persons, employed by 8 companies, revealed that existing models of work motivation need to be adapted to fit the empirical data, resulting in a revised research model elaborated in the paper. In the proposed model, job involvement partially mediates the effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment. Job satisfaction in Serbia is affected by work characteristics but, contrary to many studies conducted in developed economies, organizational policies and procedures do not seem significantly affect employee satisfaction.

1. Introduction

In the current climate of turbulent changes, companies have begun to realize that the employees represent their most valuable asset (Glen, 2006 ; Govaerts et al., 2011 ; Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014 ; Vomberg et al., 2015 ; Millar et al., 2017 ). Satisfied and motivated employees are imperative for contemporary business and a key factor that separates successful companies from the alternative. When considering job satisfaction and work motivation in general, of particular interest are the distinctive traits of these concepts in transition economies.

Serbia is a country that finds itself at the center of the South East region of Europe (SEE), which is still in the state of transition. Here transition refers to the generally accepted concept, which implies economic and political changes introduced by former socialist countries in Europe and beyond (e.g., China) after the years of economic stagnation and recession in the 1980's, in the attempt to move their economy from centralized to market-oriented principles (Ratkovic-Njegovan and Grubic-Nesic, 2015 ). Serbia exemplifies many of the problems faced by the SEE region as a whole, but also faces a number of problems uniquely related to the legacy of its past. Due to international economic sanctions, the country was isolated for most of the 1990s, and NATO air strikes, related to the Kosovo conflict and carried out in 1999, caused significant damage to the industry and economy. Transitioning to democracy in October 2000, Serbia embarked on a period of economic recovery, helped by the introduction of long overdue reforms, major inflows of foreign investment and substantial assistance from international funding institutions and others in the international community. However, the growth model on which Serbia and other SEE countries relied between 2001 and 2008, being based mainly on rapid capital inflows, a credit-fueled domestic demand boom and high current account deficit (above 20% of GDP in 2008), was not accompanied by the necessary progress in structural and institutional reforms to make this model sustainable (Uvalic, 2013 ). The central issue of the transition process in Serbia and other such countries is privatization of public enterprises, which in Serbia ran slowly and with a number of interruptions, failures and restarts (Radun et al., 2015 ). The process led the Serbian industry into a state of industrial collapse, i.e., deindustrialization. Today there are less than 400,000 employees working in the industry in Serbia and the overall unemployment rate exceeds 26% (Milisavljevic et al., 2013 ). The average growth of Serbia's GDP in the last 5 years was very low, at 0.6% per year, but has reached 2.7% in 2016 (GDP, 2017 ). The structure of the GDP by sector in 2015 was: services 60.5%, industry 31.4%, and agriculture 8.2% (Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2017 ).

Taking into account the specific adversities faced by businesses in Serbia, we formulated two main research questions as a starting point for the analysis of the problem of work motivation in Serbia:

• To what extent are the previously developed models of work motivation (such as the model of Locke and Latham, 2004 ) applicable to the transition economy and business practices in Serbia?
• What is the nature of the relationships between different segments of work motivation (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement and work characteristics)?

The Hawthorn experiment, conducted in early 1930s (Mayo, 1933 ), spurred the interest of organizational behavior researchers into the problem of work motivation. Although Hawthorn focused mainly on the problems of increasing the productivity and the effects of supervision, incentives and the changing work conditions, his study had significant repercussions on the research of work motivation. All modern theories of work motivation stem from his study.

Building on his work, Maslow ( 1943 ) published his Hierarchy of Needs theory, which remains to this day the most cited and well known of all work motivation theories according to Denhardt et al. ( 2012 ). Maslow's theory is a content-based theory , belonging to a group of approaches which also includes the ERG Theory by Alderfer ( 1969 ), the Achievement Motivation Theory, Motivation-Hygiene Theory and the Role Motivation Theory.

These theories focus on attempting to uncover what the needs and motives that cause people to act in a certain way, within the organization, are. They do not concern themselves with the process humans use to fulfill their needs, but attempt to identify variables which influence this fulfillment. Thus, these theories are often referred to as individual theories , as they ignore the organizational aspects of work motivation, such as job characteristics or working environment, but concentrate on the individual and the influence of an individual's needs on work motivation.

The approach is contrasted by the process theories of work motivation, which take the view that the concept of needs is not enough to explain the studied phenomenon and include expectations, values, perception, as important aspects needed to explain why people behave in certain ways and why they are willing to invest effort to achieve their goals. The process theories include: Theory of Work and Motivation (Vroom, 1964 ), Goal Setting Theory (Locke, 1968 ), Equity Theory (Adams, 1963 ), as well as the The Porter-Lawler Model (Porter and Lawler, 1968 ).

Each of these theories has its limitations and, while they do not contradict each other, they focus on different aspects of the motivation process. This is the reason why lately they have been several attempts to create an integrated theory of work motivation, which would encompass all the relevant elements of different basic theories and explain most processes taking place within the domain of work motivation, the process of motivation, as well as employee expectations (Donovan, 2001 ; Mitchell and Daniels, 2002 ; Locke and Latham, 2004 ). One of the most influential integrated theories is the theory proposed by Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), which represents the basis for the study presented in this paper.

The model of Locke and Latham is show in Figure ​ Figure1. 1 . As the figure shows, it includes individual needs, values and motive, as well as personality. Incorporating the theory of expectations, the goal-setting theory and the social-cognitive theory, it focuses on goal setting, goals themselves and self-efficiency. Performance, by way of achievements and rewards, affects job satisfaction. The model defines relations between different constructs and, in particular, that job satisfaction is affected by the job characteristics and organizational policy and procedures and that it, in turn, affects organizational commitment and job involvement. Locke and Latham suggested that the theory they proposed needs more stringent empirical validation. In the study presented here, we take a closer look at the part of their theory which addresses the relationship between job satisfaction, involvement and organizational commitment. The results of the empirical study conducted in industrial systems suggest that this part of the model needs to be improved to reflect the mediating role of job involvement in the process through which job satisfaction influences organizational commitment.

Diagram of the Latham and Locke model. The frame on the right indicates the part of the model the current study focuses on.

Job satisfaction is one of the most researched phenomena in the domain of human resource management and organizational behavior. It is commonly defined as a “pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of oneś job or job experiences” (Schneider and Snyder, 1975 ; Locke, 1976 ). Job satisfaction is a key element of work motivation, which is a fundamental determinant of one's behavior in an organization.

Organizational commitment, on the other hand, represents the degree to which the employees identify with the organization in which they work, how engaged they are in the organization and whether they are ready leave it (Greenberg and Baron, 2008 ). Several studies have demonstrated that there is a strong connection between organizational commitment, job satisfaction and fluctuation (Porter et al., 1974 ), as well as that people who are more committed to an organization are less likely to leave their job. Organizational commitment can be thought of as an extension of job satisfaction, as it deals with the positive attitude that an employee has, not toward her own job, but toward the organization. The emotions, however, are much stronger in the case of organizational commitment and it is characterized by the attachment of the employee to the organization and readiness to make sacrifices for the organization.

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been researched relatively frequently (Mathieu and Zajac, 1990 ; Martin and Bennett, 1996 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Morrow, 2011 ). The research consensus is that the link exists, but there is controversy about the direction of the relationship. Some research supports the hypothesis that job satisfaction predicts organizational commitment (Stevens et al., 1978 ; Angle and Perry, 1983 ; Williams and Hazer, 1986 ; Tsai and Huang, 2008 ; Yang and Chang, 2008 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Valaei et al., 2016 ), as is the case in the study presented in this paper. Other studies suggest that the organizational commitment is an antecedent to job satisfaction (Price and Mueller, 1981 ; Bateman and Strasser, 1984 ; Curry et al., 1986 ; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992 ).

In our study, job involvement represents a type of attitude toward work and is usually defined as the degree to which one identifies psychologically with one's work, i.e., how much importance one places on their work. A distinction should be made between work involvement and job involvement. Work involvement is conditioned by the process of early socialization and relates to the values one has wrt. work and its benefits, while job involvement relates to the current job and is conditioned with the one's current employment situation and to what extent it meets one's needs (Brown, 1996 ).

2.1. Research method

Based on the relevant literature, the results of recent studies and the model proposed by Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), we designed a conceptual model shown in Figure ​ Figure2. 2 . The model was then used to formulate the following hypotheses:

• H0 - Work motivation factors, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, job satisfaction and work characteristics, represent interlinked significant indicators of work motivation in the organizations examined.
• H1 - Work characteristics will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.
• H2 - Organizational policies and procedures will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.
• H3 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with job involvement.
• H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment.
• H5 - Job involvement will have a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

The research model.

2.2. Participants

For the purpose of this study, 125 organizations from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce database ( www.stat.gov.rs ) were randomly selected to take part in this study. Each organization was contacted and an invitation letter was sent. Eight companies expressed a desire to take part and provided contact details for 700 of their employees. The questionnaire distribution process was conducted according to Dillman's approach (Dillman, 2011 ). Thus, the initial questionnaire dissemination process was followed by a series of follow-up email reminders, if required. After a 2-month period, out of 625 received, 566 responses were valid. Therefore, the study included 566 persons, 235 males (42%) and 331 women (58%) employed by 8 companies located in Serbia, Eastern Europe.

The sample encompassed staff from both public (53%) and private (47%) companies in manufacturing (31%) and service (69%) industries. The companies were of varied size and had between 150 and 6,500 employees, 3 of them (37.5%) medium-sized (<250 employees) and 5 (62.5%) large enterprises.

For the sake of representativeness, the sample consisted of respondents across different categories of: age, years of work service and education. The age of the individuals was between 20 and 62 years of age and we divided them into 5 categories as shown in Table ​ Table1. 1 . The table provides the number of persons per category and the relative size of the category wrt. to the whole sample. In the same table, a similar breakdown is shown in terms of years a person spent with the company, their education and the type of the position they occupy within the company (managerial or not).

Data sample characteristics.

2.3. Ethics statement

The study was carried out in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Codex of Professional Ethics of the University of Novi Sad. The relevant ethics committee is the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad.

All participants took part voluntarily and were free to fill in the questionnaire or not.

The questionnaire included a cover sheet explaining the aim of the research, ways in which the data will be used and the anonymous nature of the survey.

2.4. Measures

This study is based on a self reported questionnaire as a research instrument.

The questionnaire was developed in line with previous empirical findings, theoretical foundations and relevant literature recommendations (Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ; Weiss et al., 1967 ; Mowday et al., 1979 ; Kanungo, 1982 ; Fields, 2002 ). We then conducted a face validity check. Based on the results, some minor corrections were made, in accordance with the recommendations provided by university professors. After that, the pilot test was conducted with 2 companies. Managers from each of these companies were asked to assess the questionnaire. Generally, there were not any major complaints. Most of the questions were meaningful, clearly written and understandable. The final research instrument contained 86 items. For acquiring respondents' subjective estimates, a five-point Likert scale was used.

The questionnaire took about 30 min to fill in. It consisted of: 10 general demographic questions, 20 questions from the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 15 questions from the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), 10 questions from the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ), 18 questions of the Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS), 6 questions of the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and 7 additional original questions related to the rules and procedures within the organization.

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 20 items short form (Weiss et al., 1967 ), was used to gather data about job satisfaction of participants. The MSQ – short version items, are rated on 5-points Likert scale (1 very dissatisfied with this aspect of my job, and 5 – very satisfied with this aspect of my job) with two subscales measuring intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction.

Organizational commitment was measured using The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). It is a 15-item scale developed by Mowday, Steers and Porter (Mowday et al., 1979 ) and uses a 5-point Likert type response format, with 3 factors that can describe this commitment: willingness to exert effort, desire to maintain membership in the organization, and acceptance of organizational values.

The most commonly used measure of job involvement has been the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ, Kanungo, 1982 ), 10-items scale designed to assess how participants feel toward their present job. The response scale on a 5-point scale varied between “strongly disagree/not applicable to me” to “strongly agree/fully applicable”.

The Brayfield and Rothe's 18-item Job Satisfaction Index (JSI, Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ) was used to measure overall job satisfaction, operationalized on five-point Likert scale.

Psychometric analysis conducted showed that all the questionnaires were adequately reliable (Cronbach alpha > 0.7). The suitability of the data for factor analysis has been confirmed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Test (see Table ​ Table2 2 ).

Basic psychometric characteristics of the instruments.

For further analysis we used summary scores for the different scales. Job satisfaction was represented with the overall score of MSQ, as the data analysis revealed a strong connection between the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. The overall score on the OCQ was used as a measure of organizational commitment, while the score on JDS was used to reflect job characteristics. The JSS and JIQ scales have been modified, by eliminating a few questions, in order to improve reliability and suitability for factor analysis.

Statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS software. The SPSS Amos structural equation modeling software was used to create the Structural Equation Models (SEMs).

The data was first checked for outliers using box-plot analysis. The only outliers identified were related to the years of employment, but these seem to be consistent to what is expected in practice in Serbia, so no observations needed to be removed from the dataset.

3.1. Exploratory factor analysis

Although research dimensions were empirically validated and confirmed in several prior studies, to the best of our knowledge, the empirical confirmation of the research instrument (i.e., questionnaire) and its constituents in the case of Serbia and South-Eastern Europe is quite scarce. Furthermore, the conditions in which previous studies were conducted could vary between research populations. Also, such differences could affect the structure of the research concepts. Thus, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in order to empirically validate the structure of research dimensions and to test the research instrument, within the context of the research population of South-Eastern Europe and Serbia.

Using the maximum likelihood method we identified four factors, which account for 67% of the variance present in the data. The scree plot of the results of the analysis is shown in Figure ​ Figure3. 3 . As the figure shows, we retained the factors above the inflection point.

Scree plot of the EFA results.

The communalities for the variables loading into the factors are shown in Table ​ Table3 3 and the questions corresponding to our variables are listed in Table ​ Table4. 4 . Initial communalities are estimates of the proportion of variance in each variable accounted for by all components (factors) identified, while the extraction communalities refer to the part of the variance explained by the four factors extracted. The model explains more of the variance then the initial factors, for all but the last variable.

Communalities.

Questions that build our constructs.

More detailed results of the EFA for the four factors, are shown in Table ​ Table5. 5 . The unique loadings of specific items measured with the different questions in the questionnaire on the factors identified are shown in the pattern matrix (Table ​ (Table6). 6 ). As the table shows, each factor is loaded into by items that were designed to measure a specific construct and there are no cross-loadings. The first factor corresponds to job characteristics, second to job satisfaction, third to job involvement and the final to organizational commitment. The correlation between the factors is relatively low and shown in Table ​ Table7 7 .

Total variance explained by the dominant factors.

Pattern matrix for the factors identified.

Factor correlation matrix.

3.2. Confirmatory factor analysis

In the next part of our analysis we used Structural Equation Modeling to validate and improve a part of the model proposed by Locke and Latham ( 2004 ) that focuses on work characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement.

Although the EFA suggest the existence of four, not five, dominant factors in the model, diverging from the model proposed by Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), in our initial experiments we used their original model, shown in Figure ​ Figure4A, 4A , taking into account also organizational policies and procedures.

The evolution of our model (the path coefficients are standardized): (A) the initial model based on Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), (B) no partial mediation, and (C) partial mediation introduced.

In this (default) model, the only independent variable are the job characteristics. The standardized regression coefficients shown in Figure ​ Figure4A 4A (we show standardized coefficients throughout Figure ​ Figure4) 4 ) indicate that the relationship between the satisfaction and organizational commitment seems to be stronger (standard coefficient value of 0.54) than the one between satisfaction and involvement (standard coefficient value of 0.37). The effect of job characteristics and policies and procedures on the employee satisfaction seems to be balanced (standard coefficient values of 0.31 and 0.30, respectively).

The default model does not fit our data well. The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) for this model is 0.759, the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) is 0.598, while the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) is 0.192.

A more detailed analysis of the model revealed that it could indeed (as the EFA suggests) be improved by eliminating the organizational policies and procedures variable, as it has a high residual covariance with job involvement (−3.071) and organizational commitment (−4.934).

We therefore propose to eliminate the “Organizational policies and procedures” variable from the model. Dropping the variable resulted in an improved model shown in Figure ​ Figure4B. 4B . The improved model fits the data better, but the fit is still not good ( RMSEA = 0.125, CFI = 0.915 and TLI = 0.830).

We then hypothesized that job involvement influences organizational commitment, yielding the final model tested in this study (Figure ​ (Figure4C). 4C ). This model turned out to be the one that fits our data very well ( RMSEA = 0.000, CFI = 1 and TLI = 1.015).

4. Mediation analysis

In the final part of the study we conducted the mediation analysis, to understand the relationship between job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. We used bootstrapping, based on 5000 samples and the confidence interval of 95%.

We started with a model that contains just one relation between satisfaction and commitment (Figure ​ (Figure5A), 5A ), then tested for full mediation (Figure ​ (Figure5B) 5B ) and finally partial mediation as indicated in out proposed model (Figure ​ (Figure5C). 5C ). The unstandardized, direct effect regression weights and the p -values obtained in these experiments are shown in Table ​ Table8. 8 . As the p -values show, all the connections in our three models are significant and that they remain so throughout the evolution of the model. Therefore, job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

Mediation analysis models. (A) , Model 1; (B) , Model 2; (C) , Model 3.

Mediation analysis regression weights.

5. Discussion

We conducted an empirical study aimed at exploring the relationship between employee satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, work characteristics and organizational policies and procedures.

Based on the relevant scientific literature, recent studies in the area and the integrative model of work motivation of Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), we have formulated an initial conceptual model for our research and hypothesized the connections between the relevant variables. The initial model has been improved iteratively, with the goal of increasing its fit to the empirical data collected in the study.

Starting from the model proposed by Locke and Latham ( 2004 ) we determined that their model does not fit our experimental data well and that we observe a connection between job involvement that is not present in their model. In addition, our data does not support the hypothesis that organizational procedures and policies affect employee satisfaction in the organizations considered. As a result we propose a 4 factor model shown in Figure ​ Figure4C 4C for the relationship between the concepts of work characteristics, employee satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.

We analyzed the results of the study based on 1 general and 5 specific hypotheses. The research confirms that there is a link between work characteristics and job satisfaction (H1), but that it is weak, suggesting that a dominant effect of the material factors of motivation exists.

We have also determined that there is a connection between the rules and procedures variable (H2) and the rest of the variables, indicating that it should be considered in future studies, but that the constructs need to be operationalized better.

The third specific hypothesis (H3) that job satisfaction has a positive relationship with job involvement has been confirmed and we have observed that extrinsic work motivation has a stronger effect than intrinsic, which can be explained by low wages and insufficient funds for everyday life. Other research has confirmed this link (Govender and Parumasur, 2010 ) and showed that most of the employee motivation dimensions have significant links with the dimensions of job involvement (9 out of 10 pairs).

The fourth specific hypothesis (H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment) has also been confirmed and we can conclude that a positive relationship exists, which is in line with recent research in this area. The subscale focused on identification with the organization is strongly connected with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors of job satisfaction, but this cannot be said for the subscale focused on organizational attachment. Our research supports the existence of a weak connection between job satisfaction and organizational attachment, both when intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction is considered as a motivator. A study of work motivation and organizational commitment conducted in Bulgaria (Serbia's neighbor) showed that extrinsic factors are key sources of organizational commitment (Roe et al., 2000 ), as well as that job involvement and the chances for the fulfillment o higher-order needs pay a very important part in the motivation of the employees.

One of the reasons for such a result can be the economic situation in Serbia, which has a severely detrimental effect on work motivation. The transition and economic crisis is accompanied by the shrinking purchasing power of the population, higher unemployment rates and a rising disparity in the salary levels, all of which causes the adjustment of the behavior of the employees to these conditions. Under the economic conditions that exist in Serbia it is to be expected that the individuals will put more value on the salary and advancement prospects than on the opportunities for growth and development, which do not present a direct financial benefit.

The research did not reveal any differences with respect to the sex of the participants, regardless of the variable considered. Other research has not reached a consensus on the matter, as a part of the studies suggests that there are differences in job involvement between men and women (Lodahl and Kejnar, 1965 ; Hall and Mansfield, 1975 ; Rabinowitz and Hall, 1977 ; Saal, 1978 ).

Regarding the ownership of the organizations examined, the research revealed statistically significant differences between the employees working in public and private companies, i.e., that the participants working in the private sector scores significantly higher on every variable except work characteristics, meaning that they are more committed to work, more involved and more satisfied.

In addition, we have determined that there are statistically significant differences when it comes to the position of the employees in the organization's hierarchy, i.e., whether they occupy a managerial or a non-managerial position. The study shows that managers have higher scores for organizational attachment, organizational commitment, intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators, job satisfaction and job involvement. We can, therefore, conclude that the managers are more satisfied with their work in general and that they are more committed to the organization than other employees. This can be explained by the fact that, due to the nature of the work they do, they are able to make decisions, they have a more varied job and have better material and non-material rewards. A more detailed analysis of the commitment of the managers, focused on identifying if we are dealing with normative, continuous or affective commitment would provide more insight into the structure and nature of the relationship between the organization and the individual.

Considering the type of the company (manufacturing or service) our study showed that the participants working in manufacturing companies are the ones who identify more with the company, are more committed to the company, more satisfied with their work and more involved.

Our study also identified a significant difference with respect to the vocation of the participants, showing that those with training in humanistic sciences awarded most positive scores to the characteristics of their work, while the opposite was true for those of technical vocations.

The part of our analysis focused on the age of the participants revealed that there is a statistically significant connection between the age and job satisfaction, where the older the employee, the less satisfied he/she is with their job and cares less about the characteristics of work. A reason for such a result could again be found in the economic situation of Serbia and the high unemployment rate (over 20%), causing the younger people to be satisfied with the simple fact that they managed to get a job, rather than being satisfied with the job itself. Another reason could be the difference in the perception of desires and possibilities that exists between the younger and older employees.

The years with the company are negatively linked with employee satisfaction, as well as job characteristics, which is in line with the effect discussed in the previous paragraph, as those with more time spent in the company are less satisfied with their job and care less about the characteristics of their work.

Considering the level of education of the participants, our study showed that the more educated the employees are, the less involved they are in their work and that they seem to care more about the characteristics of their work.

Our research showed that links exist between all the variables studied and that the weakest of these links is between work characteristics and other constructs. Of those, the weakest link in turn is the link between the work characteristics and the subscale of organizational commitment related to the identification with the organization. Thus, we can conclude that work characteristics do not exhibit a significant influence on whether and to what extent the employee will identify with the organization in which he/she works, i.e., whether he/she will be committed to the organization.

A moderate to strong connection exists between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, which is in line with the results of numerous previous studies (Currivan, 1999 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Malhotra and Mukherjee, 2004 ; Saari and Judge, 2004 ; Chen, 2007 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Getahun et al., 2008 ; Colakoglu et al., 2010 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Fu and Deshpande, 2014 ).

Our study confirms the existence of a strong connection between job satisfaction and job involvement (Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Wegge et al., 2007 ; Griffin et al., 2010 ; Raymond and Mjoli, 2013 ; Zopiatis et al., 2014 ). Many studies have been carried out in an attempt to examine and define the relationship between job involvement and organizational commitment. Our results are in line with previous studies, which diverge only on the strength of the connection, ranging from moderate to strong (Blau and Boal, 1989 ; Brewer and Lok, 1995 ; Sjöberg and Sverke, 2000 ; Brooks and Swailes, 2002 ; Toga, 2011 ). Our study provides more evidence for the existence of such a relationship, which is moderately strong. Such a relationship does not exist in the integrative model of Locke and Latham ( 2004 ), which served as a starting point for this study.

In addition, we have determined that job involvement has a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

The construct related to organizational policies and procedures seems not to have significant bearing on employee satisfaction, based on the data collected. Two plausible explanations exist for this. The first is the fact that this was the only construct in our study for which a suitable standard questionnaire could not be found, so one had to be constructed specifically, meaning that the construct should be operationalized better in future studies and that this represents the limitation of our study. The other is the fact that in Serbia, as in most transition economies, the lack of suitable institutional and legislative framework at the national level is often accompanied with lax, not clearly defined and even less adhered-to business policies and procedures. In such a state of affairs, the employees seldom have a relatively clear idea of what the policies and procedures of their organization are and are unable to evaluate them with respect to those of other organizations, making this construct very hard to measure. At the same time it can be argued that, in such a situation, the policies and procedures are not perceived by the employees as a significant factor of their organizational behavior and indeed do not affect their work motivation. Whatever the reason, the relationship of policies and procedures to the other variables of work motivation within the transition economies merits further investigation.

Author contributions

JĆ and SM designed the study. JĆ collected the data and conducted the bulk of the research. MD and DĆ conducted the statistical analysis and modeling. All authors took part in the manuscript writing, led by JĆ and DĆ.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Funding. The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2012-2016/ under REA grant agreement n° 295220.

• Adams J. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity . J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 67 :422. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Alderfer C. P. (1969). An empirical test of a new theory of human needs . Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform. 4 , 142–175. 10.1016/0030-5073(69)90004-X [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Angle H. L., Perry J. L. (1983). Organizational commitment: individual and organizational influences . Work Occupat. 10 , 123–146. 10.1177/0730888483010002001 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Bateman T. S., Strasser S. (1984). A longitudinal analysis of the antecedents of organizational commitment . Acad. Manag. J. 27 , 95–112. 10.2307/255959 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Blau G., Boal K. (1989). Using job involvement and organizational commitment interactively to predict turnover . J. Manag. 15 , 115–127. 10.1177/014920638901500110 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brayfield A. H., Rothe H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction . J. Appl. Psychol. 35 :307. [ Google Scholar ]
• Brewer A. M., Lok P. (1995). Managerial strategy and nursing commitment in australian hospitals . J. Adv. Nurs. 21 , 789–799. 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1995.21040789.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brooks I., Swailes S. (2002). Analysis of the relationship between nurse influences over flexible working and commitment to nursing . J. Adv. Nurs. 38 , 117–126. 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2002.02155.x [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Brown S. P. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement . Psychol. Bull. 120 , 235–255. 10.1037/0033-2909.120.2.235 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Chen Y.-J. (2007). Relationships among service orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in the international tourist hotel industry . J. Amer. Acad. Business 11 , 71–82. [ Google Scholar ]
• Colakoglu U., Culha O., Atay H. (2010). The effects of perceived organisational support on employees'affective outcomes: evidence from the hotel industry . Tourism Hospital. Manag. 16 , 125–150. [ Google Scholar ]
• Currivan D. B. (1999). The causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in models of employee turnover . Hum. Resour. Manag. Rev. 9 , 495–524. 10.1016/S1053-4822(99)00031-5 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Curry J. P., Wakefield D. S., Price J. L., Mueller C. W. (1986). On the causal ordering of job satisfaction and organizational commitment . Acad. Manag. J. 29 , 847–858. 10.2307/255951 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Denhardt R. B., Denhardt J. V., Aristigueta M. P. (2012). Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [ Google Scholar ]
• Dillman D. A. (2011). Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method–2007 Update with New Internet, Visual, and Mixed-Mode Guide . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons. [ Google Scholar ]
• Donovan J. J. (2001). Work motivation . Handb. Indust. Work Organ. Psychol. 2 , 53–76. 10.4135/9781848608368.n4 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Falkenburg K., Schyns B. (2007). Work satisfaction, organizational commitment and withdrawal behaviours . Manag. Res. News 30 , 708–723. 10.1108/01409170710823430 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fields D. L. (2002). Taking the Measure of Work: A Guide to Validated Scales for Organizational Research and Diagnosis . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. [ Google Scholar ]
• Fu W., Deshpande S. P. (2014). The impact of caring climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job performance of employees in a china's insurance company . J. Business Ethics 124 , 339–349. 10.1007/s10551-013-1876-y [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Fulmer I. S., Ployhart R. E. (2014). “Our most important asset” a multidisciplinary/multilevel review of human capital valuation for research and practice . J. Manag. 40 , 161–192. [ Google Scholar ]
• GDP (2017). GDP Growth . Available online at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2016&locations=RS&start=1996&view=chart (Accessed December 14, 2017).
• Getahun S., Sims B., Hummer D. (2008). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment among probation and parole officers: a case study . Professional Issues Crim. Just. 3 , 1–16. [ Google Scholar ]
• Glen C. (2006). Key skills retention and motivation: the war for talent still rages and retention is the high ground . Indust. Commer. Train. 38 , 37–45. 10.1108/00197850610646034 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Govaerts N., Kyndt E., Dochy F., Baert H. (2011). Influence of learning and working climate on the retention of talented employees . J. Workplace Learn. 23 , 35–55. 10.1108/13665621111097245 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Govender S., Parumasur S. B. (2010). The relationship between employee motivation and job involvement . South Afr. J. Econ. Manag. Sci. 13 , 237–253. 10.4102/sajems.v13i3.102 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Greenberg J., Baron R. A. (2008). Behavior in Organizations: Understanding and Managing the Human Side of Work. Upper saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall. [ Google Scholar ]
• Griffin M. L., Hogan N. L., Lambert E. G., Tucker-Gail K. A., Baker D. N. (2010). Job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout of correctional staff . Crim. Just. Behav. 37 , 239–255. 10.1177/0093854809351682 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hall D. T., Mansfield R. (1975). Relationships of age and seniority with career variables of engineers and scientists . J. Appl. Psychol. 60 :201. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kanungo R. N. (1982). Measurement of job and work involvement . J. Appl. Psychol. 67 :341. [ Google Scholar ]
• Locke E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction , in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology , ed Dunnette M. D. (Chicago, IL: Rand McNally; ), 1297–1349. [ Google Scholar ]
• Locke E. A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives . Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform. 3 , 157–189. 10.1016/0030-5073(68)90004-4 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Locke E. A., Latham G. P. (2004). What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century . Acad. Manag. Rev. 29 , 388–403. 10.5465/AMR.2004.13670974 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lodahl T. M., Kejnar M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement . J. Appl. Psychol. 49 :24. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Malhotra N., Mukherjee A. (2004). The relative influence of organisational commitment and job satisfaction on service quality of customer-contact employees in banking call centres . J. Serv. Market. 18 , 162–174. 10.1108/08876040410536477 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Martin C. L., Bennett N. (1996). The role of justice judgments in explaining the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment . Group Organ. Manag. 21 , 84–104. 10.1177/1059601196211005 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Maslow A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation . Psychol. Rev. 50 :370. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mathieu J. E., Zajac D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment . Psychol. Bull. 108 :171. [ Google Scholar ]
• Mayo E. (1933). The Human Problems of an Industrial Organization . New York, NY: McMillan. [ Google Scholar ]
• Meyer J. P., Stanley D. J., Herscovitch L., Topolnytsky L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: a meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences . J. Vocat. Behav. 61 , 20–52. 10.1006/jvbe.2001.1842 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Milisavljevic S., Mitrovic S., Konja V. (2013). Serbian reindustrialization as a chance for better tomorrow opportunities and threats from customers perspective , in Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference “Deindustrialization: Phenomena, Consequences” (Novi Sad: Faculty of Technical Sciences; ), 173–182. [ Google Scholar ]
• Millar C. C. J. M., Chen S., Waller L. (2017). Leadership, knowledge and people in knowledge-intensive organisations: implications for HRM theory and practice . Int. J. Hum. Res. Manag. 28 , 261–275. 10.1080/09585192.2016.1244919 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mitchell T. R., Daniels D. (2002). Motivation , in Handbook of Psychology , Vol. 12 , eds Borman W., Ilgen D., Klimoski R. (New York, NY: Wiley; ), 225–254. 10.1002/0471264385.wei1210 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Morrow P. C. (2011). Managing organizational commitment: insights from longitudinal research . J. Vocat. Behav. 79 , 18–35. 10.1016/j.jvb.2010.12.008 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Mowday R. T., Steers R. M., Porter L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment . J. Vocat. Behav. 14 , 224–247. 10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Moynihan D. P., Pandey S. K. (2007). Finding workable levers over work motivation: comparing job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment . Admin. Soc. 39 , 803–832. 10.1177/0095399707305546 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Porter L. W., Lawler E. E. (1968). Management Attitudes and Performance . Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin Company. [ Google Scholar ]
• Porter L. W., Steers R. M., Mowday R. T., Boulian P. V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians . J. Appl. Psychol. 59 :603. [ Google Scholar ]
• Price J. L., Mueller C. W. (1981). A causal model of turnover for nurses . Acad. Manag. J. 24 , 543–565. 10.2307/255574 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rabinowitz S., Hall D. T. (1977). Organizational research on job involvement . Psychol. Bull. 84 :265. [ Google Scholar ]
• Radun V., Dragic R., Curcic R. (2015). Transition, institutions and neoinstitutionalism , in Institutional Assumptions about Socio-Economic Dynamics in East and Central Europe-Proceedings , Vol. 1 (Novi Sad: ), 91–106. [ Google Scholar ]
• Ratkovic-Njegovan B., Grubic-Nesic L. (2015). Transition, institutions and neoinstitutionalism , in Institutional Assumptions about Socio-Economic Dynamics in East and Central Europe-Proceedings , Vol. 1 (Novi Sad: ), 107–122. [ Google Scholar ]
• Raymond T., Mjoli T. (2013). The relationship between job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among lower-level employees at a motor-car manufacturing company in East London, South Africa . J. Business Econ. Manag. 6 , 25–35. [ Google Scholar ]
• Roe R., Zinovieva I., Dienes E., Ten Horn L. (2000). A comparison of work motivation in bulgaria, hungary, and the netherlands: test of a model . Appl. Psychol. 49 , 658–687. 10.1111/1464-0597.00039 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Saal F. E. (1978). Job involvement: a multivariate approach . J. Appl. Psychol. 63 :53. [ Google Scholar ]
• Saari L. M., Judge T. A. (2004). Employee attitudes and job satisfaction . Hum. Resour. Manag. 43 , 395–407. 10.1002/hrm.20032 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Schneider B., Snyder R. A. (1975). Some relationships between job satisfaction and organization climate . J. Appl. Psychol. 60 :318. [ Google Scholar ]
• Sjöberg A., Sverke M. (2000). The interactive effect of job involvement and organizational commitment on job turnover revisited: a note on the mediating role of turnover intention . Scand. J. Psychol. 41 , 247–252. 10.1111/1467-9450.00194 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2017). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia . Belgrade. [ Google Scholar ]
• Stevens J. M., Beyer J. M., Trice H. M. (1978). Assessing personal, role, and organizational predictors of managerial commitment . Acad. Manag. J. 21 , 380–396. 10.2307/255721 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Toga R. (2011). The Relationship between Job Involvement, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment Among Lower-Level Employees at Mercedes Benz South Africa . Doctoral dissertation, University of Fort Hare. [ Google Scholar ]
• Tsai M.-T., Huang C.-C. (2008). The relationship among ethical climate types, facets of job satisfaction, and the three components of organizational commitment: a study of nurses in Taiwan . J. Business Ethics 80 , 565–581. 10.1007/s10551-007-9455-8 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Uvalic M. (2013). Why has serbia not been a frontrunner? , in Handbook of the Economics and Political Economy of Transition , eds Hare P., Turley G. (London; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis; ), 365–375. [ Google Scholar ]
• Valaei N., Valaei N., Rezaei S., Rezaei S. (2016). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment: an empirical investigation among ICT-SMEs . Manag. Res. Rev. 39 , 1663–1694. 10.1108/MRR-09-2015-0216 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Vandenberg R. J., Lance C. E. (1992). Examining the causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment . J. Manag. 18 , 153–167. 10.1177/014920639201800110 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Vomberg A., Homburg C., Bornemann T. (2015). Talented people and strong brands: the contribution of human capital and brand equity to firm value . Strat. Manag. J. 36 , 2122–2131. 10.1002/smj.2328 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Vroom V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation . Oxford, UK: Wiley. [ Google Scholar ]
• Wegge J., Schmidt K.-H., Parkes C., Dick R. (2007). Taking a sickie: job satisfaction and job involvement as interactive predictors of absenteeism in a public organization . J. Occupat. Organ. Psychol. 80 , 77–89. 10.1348/096317906X99371 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Weiss D. J., Dawis R. V., England G. W. (1967). Manual for the minnesota satisfaction questionnaire . Minnesota Stud. Vocat. Rehabil . 22. [ Google Scholar ]
• Williams L. J., Hazer J. T. (1986). Antecedents and consequences of satisfaction and commitment in turnover models: a reanalysis using latent variable structural equation methods . J. Appl. Psychol. 71 :219. [ Google Scholar ]
• Yang F.-H., Chang C.-C. (2008). Emotional labour, job satisfaction and organizational commitment amongst clinical nurses: a questionnaire survey . Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 45 , 879–887. 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2007.02.001 [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Yücel İ. (2012). Examining the relationships among job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: an empirical study . Int. J. Business Manag. 7 :44 10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p44 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Zopiatis A., Constanti P., Theocharous A. L. (2014). Job involvement, commitment, satisfaction and turnover: evidence from hotel employees in cyprus . Tourism Manag. 41 , 129–140. 10.1016/j.tourman.2013.09.013 [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

Job Attitudes and Employee Motivation: Theory, Research and Practice

Cite this chapter.

• Edward E. Lawler III  

99 Accesses

1 Citations

Industrial psychologists have been seriously concerned with the measurement, interpretation and implications of job attitudes ever since the Western Electric Studies (Roethlisberger and Dickson, 1939). When Herzberg et al . (1957) reviewed the literature as of 1955, they pointed out that there were severed thousand studies in the psychological literature that were concerned with job attitudes. At the present time there must be at least five thousand studies in the literature. Most of these job attitude studies have had as their major focus job satisfaction.

Revised version of a paper originally presented at the Midwestern Psychological Association Meeting, 8 May 1969. Originally published in Personnel Psychology , 20 (1970) 223–3 7. Reprinted by permission.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Unable to display preview.  Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

Relationship between Positive Attitude and Job Satisfaction: Evidence from the US Data

Basic Human Needs and Organizational Justice Explain Job Satisfaction, But Do They Predict Individual Performance?

Employee Motivation and Satisfaction Practices: A Case from Iceland

Alderfer C. P., ‘An Empirical Test of a New Theory of Human Needs’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , IV (1969) 142–75.

Article   Google Scholar  

Atkinson J. W., An Introduction to Motivation , (Princeton: Van Nostrand, 1964).

Google Scholar  

Blauner R., Alienation and Freedom , (Chicago: University of Chicago, 1964).

Brayfield A. H. and Crockett W. H., ‘Employee Attitudes and Employee Performance’, Psychology Bulletin , LII (1955) 396–424.

Cofer C. N. and Apply M. H., Motivation: Theory and Research , (New York: Wiley, 1964).

Galbraith J. and Cummings L. L., ‘An Empirical Investigation of the Motivational Determinants of Task Performance: Interactive Effects between Instrumentality-Valence and Motivation-Ability’, Organizational Behaviour and Human Performance , II (1967) 237–57.

Georgopoulos B. S., Mahoney G. M. and Jones N. W., ‘A Path-Goal Approach to Productivity’, Journal of Applied Psychology , XLI (1957) 345–53.

Graen G., ‘Instrumentality Theory of Work Motivation: Some Experimental Results and Suggested Modifications’, Journal of Applied Psychology Monograph , LIII (2) (1969) 1–25.

Hackman J. R. and Porter L. W., ‘Expectancy Theory Predictions of Work Effectiveness’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , III (1968) 417–426.

Herzberg I. F., Mausner G., Peterson R. O. and Capwell D. R., Job Attitudes: Review of Research and Opinion , (Pittsburgh: Psychological Service of Pittsburgh, 1957).

Lawler E. E. III, ‘Ability as a Moderator of the Relationship between Job Attitudes and Job Performance’, Personnel Psychology , XIX (1966) 153–64.

Lawler E. E. III., ‘Attitude Surveys and Job Performance’, Personnel Administration , XXX [5] (1967) 3–5, 22–4.

Lawler E. E. III., ‘A Correlational-Causal Analysis of the Relationship between Expectancy Attitudes and Job Performance’, Journal of Applied Psychology , LII (1968) 462–8.

Lawler E. E. III and Porter L. W., ‘Perceptions Regarding Management Compensation’, Industrial Relations , III (1963) 41–9.

Lawler E. E. III and Porter L. W., ‘Antecedent Attitudes of Effective Managerial Performance’, Organizational Behavior and Human Performance , II (1967a) 122–42.

Lawler E. E. III and Porter L. W., ‘The Effect of Performance on Job Satisfaction’, Industrial Relations , VII (1967b) 20–8.

Locke E. A. and Bryan J. F., Goals and Intentions as Determinants of Performance Level, Task Choice and Attitudes , (Washington: American Institute for Research, 1967).

Book   Google Scholar  

Maier N. R. F., Psychology in Industry , 2nd ed. (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1955).

McClelland D. C., The Achieving Society , (Princeton: Von Nostrand, 1961).

Porter L. W. and Lawler E. E. III., Managerial Attitudes and Performance , (Homewood, Illinois: Irwin-Dorsey, 1968a).

Porter L. W. and Lawler E. E. III, ‘What Job Attitudes Tell about Motivation’, Harvard Business Review , XLVI [1] (1968b) 118–26.

Roethlisberger E. J. and Dickson W. J., Management and the Worker , (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1939).

Rotter J.B., ‘Generalized Expectancies for Internal versus External Control of Reinforcement’, Psychological Monographs , LXXX [1] (1966) 1–28.

Schneider B. and Olson L., ‘Effort as a Correlate of Organization Reward System and Individual Values’, Personnel Psychology , 23 (1970) 313–26.

Schuh A. J., ‘The Predictability of Employee Tenure: A Review of the Literature’, Personnel Psychology , XX (1967) 133–52.

Spitzer M. E., ‘Goal-Attainment, Job Satisfaction and Behaviour’ (Doctoral Dissertion, New York University) (Ann Arbor, Mich.: University Microfilms, 1964. No. 64–10, 048).

Viteles M. S., ‘The Two Faces of Applied Psychology’, International Review of Applied Psychology , XVIII (1969) 5–10.

Vroom V. H., Work and Motivation , (New York: Wiley, 1964).

Whitsett D. and Winslow E. K., ‘Analysis of Studies of the Motivation-Hygiene Theory’, Personnel Psychology , XX (1967) 391–415.

Winslow E. K. and Whitsett D., ‘Dual-Factor Theory: A Reply to House and Wigdor’, Personnel Psychology , XXI (1968) 55–8.

Download references

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Editor information

Copyright information.

© 1981 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

About this chapter

Lawler, E.E. (1981). Job Attitudes and Employee Motivation: Theory, Research and Practice. In: Gruneberg, M.M., Oborne, D.J. (eds) Psychology and Industrial Productivity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04809-0_1

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-04809-0_1

Publisher Name : Palgrave Macmillan, London

Print ISBN : 978-0-333-27074-5

Online ISBN : 978-1-349-04809-0

eBook Packages : Palgrave Business & Management Collection Business and Management (R0)

Share this chapter

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• A-Z Publications

Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior

Volume 11, 2024, review article, open access, the role of attitudes in work behavior.

• John D. Kammeyer-Mueller 1 , Alex L. Rubenstein 2 , and Tianna S. Barnes 3
• View Affiliations Hide Affiliations Affiliations: 1 Department of Work and Organizations, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; email: [email protected] 2 Department of Management, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA 3 Organizational Behavior Area, Tuck School of Business, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA
• Vol. 11:221-250 (Volume publication date January 2024) https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-101022-101333
• First published as a Review in Advance on November 14, 2023
• Copyright © 2024 by the author(s). This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. See credit lines of images or other third-party material in this article for license information

The relationship between work attitudes such as satisfaction and commitment and behaviors such as task effort, citizenship behavior, absenteeism, job search, and turnover is a perennial focus of organizational research. Over time we have learned a great deal about why, how, and when attitudes predict work behavior, but new questions and theories continue to proliferate. With this review, we aim to synthesize existing organizational literature on attitudes and behavior, focusing on how the field can be organized using principles from Ajzen & Kruglanski's (2019) theory of reasoned goal pursuit. The accumulated evidence answers longstanding questions while simultaneously raising new ones related to the link between general attitudes and specific behavior; the proximal effect of intentions; the role of goals, social contexts, and behavioral control; and the dynamic processes among attitudes, environments, and behavior. We also suggest applications of our organizing framework to enhance future work attitudes and behavior research.

Article metrics loading...

Full text loading...

Literature Cited

• Adler AB , Bliese PD , Barsade SG , Sowden WJ. 2022 . Hitting the mark: the influence of emotional culture on resilient performance. J. Appl. Psychol. 107 : 319– 27 [Google Scholar]
• Ajzen I. 1991 . The theory of planned behavior. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 50 : 179– 211 [Google Scholar]
• Ajzen I. 2002 . Perceived behavioral control, self-efficacy, locus of control, and the theory of planned behavior. J. Appl. Soc. Psychol. 32 : 665– 83 [Google Scholar]
• Ajzen I , Fishbein M. 1977 . Attitude-behavior relations: a theoretical analysis and review of empirical research. Psychol. Bull. 84 : 888– 918 [Google Scholar]
• Ajzen I , Kruglanski AW. 2019 . Reasoned action in the service of goal pursuit. Psychol. Rev. 126 : 774– 86 [Google Scholar]
• Alessandri G , Borgogni L , Latham GP. 2017 . A dynamic model of the longitudinal relationship between job satisfaction and supervisor-rated job performance. Appl. Psychol. 66 : 207– 32 [Google Scholar]
• Allas T , Schaninger B. 2020 . The boss factor: making the world a better place through workplace relationships. McKinsey Quarterly Sept. 20. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-boss-factor-making-the-world-a-better-place-through-workplace-relationships [Google Scholar]
• Allen DG , Peltokorpi V , Rubenstein AL. 2016 . When “embedded” means “stuck”: moderating effects of job embeddedness in adverse work environments. J. Appl. Psychol. 101 : 1670– 86 [Google Scholar]
• Allen DG , Weeks KP , Moffitt KR. 2005 . Turnover intentions and voluntary turnover: the moderating roles of self-monitoring, locus of control, proactive personality, and risk aversion. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 980– 90 [Google Scholar]
• Allen TD , Eby LT , Chao GT , Bauer TN. 2017 . Taking stock of two relational aspects of organizational life: tracing the history and shaping the future of socialization and mentoring research. J. Appl. Psychol. 102 : 324– 37 [Google Scholar]
• Armitage CJ , Conner M. 2001 . Efficacy of the theory of planned behaviour: a meta-analytic review. Br. J. Soc. Psychol. 40 : 471– 99 [Google Scholar]
• Bagozzi RP , Warshaw PR. 1990 . Trying to consume. J. Consum. Res. 17 : 127– 40 [Google Scholar]
• Becker TE. 1992 . Foci and bases of commitment: Are they distinctions worth making?. Acad. Manag. J. 35 : 232– 44 [Google Scholar]
• Boswell WR , Boudreau JW , Tichy J. 2005 . The relationship between employee job change and job satisfaction: the honeymoon-hangover effect. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 882– 92 [Google Scholar]
• Boswell WR , Shipp AJ , Payne SC , Culbertson SS. 2009 . Changes in newcomer job satisfaction over time: examining the pattern of honeymoons and hangovers. J. Appl. Psychol. 94 : 844– 58 [Google Scholar]
• Bowling NA , Khazon S , Meyer RD , Burrus CJ. 2015 . Situational strength as a moderator of the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance: a meta-analytic examination. J. Bus. Psychol. 30 : 89– 104 [Google Scholar]
• Carr JZ , Schmidt AM , Ford JK , DeShon RP. 2003 . Climate perceptions matter: a meta-analytic path analysis relating molar climate, cognitive and affective states, and individual level work outcomes. J. Appl. Psychol. 88 : 605– 19 [Google Scholar]
• Chang CH , Ferris DL , Johnson RE , Rosen CC , Tan JA. 2012 . Core self-evaluations: a review and evaluation of the literature. J. Manag. 38 : 81– 128 [Google Scholar]
• Chen G , Bliese PD , Mathieu JE. 2005 . Conceptual framework and statistical procedures for delineating and testing multilevel theories of homology. Organ. Res. Methods 8 : 375– 409 [Google Scholar]
• Chen G , Ployhart RE , Thomas HC , Anderson N , Bliese PD. 2011 . The power of momentum: a new model of dynamic relationships between job satisfaction change and turnover intentions. Acad. Manag. J. 54 : 159– 81 [Google Scholar]
• Cheng BS , Jiang DY , Riley JH. 2003 . Organizational commitment, supervisory commitment, and employee outcomes in the Chinese context: proximal hypothesis or global hypothesis?. J. Organ. Behav. 24 : 313– 34 [Google Scholar]
• Cialdini RB , Reno RR , Kallgren CA. 1990 . A focus theory of normative conduct: recycling the concept of norms to reduce littering in public places. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 58 : 1015– 26 [Google Scholar]
• Colquitt JA , Scott BA , Rodel JB , Long DM , Zapata CP et al. 2013 . Justice at the millennium, a decade later: a meta-analytic test of social exchange and affect-based perspectives. J. Appl. Psychol. 98 : 199– 236 [Google Scholar]
• Cropanzano R , Rupp DE , Mohler CJ , Schminke M. 2001 . Three roads to organizational justice. Research in Personnel and Human Resources Management 20 GR Ferris 1– 123 Bingley, UK: Elsevier Science/JAI [Google Scholar]
• Dalal RS. 2005 . A meta-analysis of the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 1241– 55 [Google Scholar]
• Dalal RS , Lam H , Weiss HM , Welch ER , Hulin CL. 2009 . A within-person approach to work behavior and performance: concurrent and lagged citizenship-counterproductivity associations, and dynamic relationships with affect and overall job performance. Acad. Manag. J. 52 : 1051– 66 [Google Scholar]
• Deci EL , Olafsen AH , Ryan RM. 2017 . Self-determination theory in work organizations: the state of a science. Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav. 4 : 19– 43 [Google Scholar]
• Deci EL , Ryan RM. 2000 . The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychol. Inq. 11 : 227– 68 [Google Scholar]
• Eagly AH , Chaiken S. 1993 . The Psychology of Attitudes Orlando, FL: Harcourt [Google Scholar]
• Ehrhart MG , Naumann SE. 2004 . Organizational citizenship behavior in work groups: a group norms approach. J. Appl. Psychol. 89 : 960– 74 [Google Scholar]
• Fassina NE , Jones DA , Uggerslev KL. 2008 . Relationship clean-up time: using meta-analysis and path analysis to clarify relationships among job satisfaction, perceived fairness, and citizenship behaviors. J. Manag. 34 : 161– 88 [Google Scholar]
• Felps W , Mitchell TR , Hekman DR , Lee TW , Holtom BC , Harman WS. 2009 . Turnover contagion: how coworkers’ job embeddedness and job search behaviors influence quitting. Acad. Manag. J. 52 : 545– 61 [Google Scholar]
• Geeraert N , Li R , Ward C , Gelfand M , Demes KA. 2019 . A tight spot: how personality moderates the impact of social norms on sojourner adaptation. Psychol. Sci. 30 : 333– 42 [Google Scholar]
• Goeddeke FX , Kammeyer-Mueller JD. 2010 . Perceived support in a dual organizational environment: union participation in a university setting. J. Organ. Behav. 31 : 65– 83 [Google Scholar]
• Gollwitzer PM. 1999 . Implementation intentions. Am. Psychol. 54 : 493– 503 [Google Scholar]
• Griepentrog BK , Harold CM , Holtz BC , Klimoski RJ , Marsh SM. 2012 . Integrating social identity and the theory of planned behavior: predicting withdrawal from an organizational recruitment process. Pers. Psychol. 65 : 723– 53 [Google Scholar]
• Hagger MS , Chatzisarantis NLD. 2009 . Integrating the theory of planned behaviour and self-determination theory in health behaviour: a meta-analysis. Br. J. Health Psychol. 14 : 275– 302 [Google Scholar]
• Harrison DA , Newman DA , Roth PL. 2006 . How important are job attitudes? Meta-analytic comparisons of integrative behavioral outcomes and time sequences. Acad. Manag. J. 49 : 305– 25 [Google Scholar]
• Hofstede G. 1984 . Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values 5 Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage [Google Scholar]
• Hogg MA 2016 . Social identity theory. Understanding Peace and Conflict Through Social Identity Theory S McKeown, R Haji, N Ferguson 3– 17 Cham, Switz: Springer Int. [Google Scholar]
• Hom PW , Mitchell TR , Lee TW , Griffeth RW. 2012 . Reviewing employee turnover: focusing on proximal withdrawal states and an expanded criterion. Psychol. Bull. 138 : 831– 58 [Google Scholar]
• Hulin C 1991 . Adaptation, persistence, and commitment in organizations. Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology MD Dunnette, LM Hough 445– 505 Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists [Google Scholar]
• Humphrey SE , Nahrgang JD , Morgeson FP. 2007 . Integrating motivational, social, and contextual work design features: a meta-analytic summary and theoretical extension of the work design literature. J. Appl. Psychol. 92 : 1332– 56 [Google Scholar]
• Iaffaldano MT , Muchinsky PM. 1985 . Job satisfaction and job performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 97 : 251– 73 [Google Scholar]
• Ingram P , Oh JJ. 2022 . Mapping the class ceiling: the social class disadvantage for attaining management positions. Acad. Manag. Disc. 8 : 56– 76 [Google Scholar]
• Jiang K , Liu D , McKay PF , Lee TW , Mitchell TR. 2012 . When and how is job embeddedness predictive of turnover? A meta-analytic investigation. J. Appl. Psychol. 97 : 1077– 96 [Google Scholar]
• Johns G. 2006 . The essential impact of context on organizational behavior. Acad. Manag. Rev. 31 : 386– 408 [Google Scholar]
• Johnson RE , Chang CH , Yang LQ. 2010 . Commitment and motivation at work: the relevance of employee identity and regulatory focus. Acad. Manag. Rev. 35 : 226– 45 [Google Scholar]
• Jones GR. 1983 . Transaction costs, property rights, and organizational culture: an exchange perspective. Admin. Sci. Quart. 28 : 454– 67 [Google Scholar]
• Judge TA , Bono JE. 2001 . Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self-esteem, generalized self-efficacy, locus of control, and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: a meta-analysis. J. Appl. Psychol. 86 : 80– 92 [Google Scholar]
• Judge TA , Bono JE , Erez A , Locke EA. 2005 . Core self-evaluations and job and life satisfaction: the role of self-concordance and goal attainment. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 257– 68 [Google Scholar]
• Judge TA , Piccolo RF , Ilies R. 2004 . The forgotten ones? The validity of consideration and initiating structure in leadership research. J. Appl. Psychol. 89 : 36– 51 [Google Scholar]
• Judge TA , Thoresen CJ , Bono JE , Patton GK. 2001 . The job satisfaction–job performance relationship: a qualitative and quantitative review. Psychol. Bull. 127 : 376– 407 [Google Scholar]
• Judge TA , Weiss HM , Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Hulin CL. 2017 . Job attitudes, job satisfaction, and job affect: a century of continuity and of change. J. Appl. Psychol. 102 : 356– 74 [Google Scholar]
• Kalkstein DA , Hook CJ , Hard BM , Walton GM. 2022 . Social norms govern what behaviors come to mind—and what do not. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 124 : 6 1203– 29 [Google Scholar]
• Kammeyer-Mueller JD 2007 . The dynamics of newcomer adjustment: dispositions, context, interaction, and fit. Perspectives on Organizational Fit C Ostroff, TA Judge 99– 122 Greenwich, CT: Information Age [Google Scholar]
• Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Wanberg CR. 2003 . Unwrapping the organizational entry process: disentangling multiple antecedents and their pathways to adjustment. J. Appl. Psychol. 88 : 779– 94 [Google Scholar]
• Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Wanberg CR , Glomb TM , Ahlburg D. 2005 . The role of temporal shifts in turnover processes: It's about time. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 644– 58 [Google Scholar]
• Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Wanberg CR , Rubenstein AL , Song Z. 2013 . Support, undermining, and newcomer socialization: fitting in during the first 90 days. Acad. Manag. J. 56 : 1104– 24 [Google Scholar]
• Kang SK , DeCelles KA , Tilcsik A , Jun S 2016 . Whitened résumés: race and self-presentation in the labor market. Admin. Sci. Quart. 61 : 469– 502 [Google Scholar]
• Kim T , Sezer O , Schroeder J , Risen J , Gino F , Norton MI 2021 . Work group rituals enhance the meaning of work. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 165 : 197– 212 [Google Scholar]
• Kish-Gephart JJ , Harrison DA , Treviño LK. 2010 . Bad apples, bad cases, and bad barrels: meta-analytic evidence about sources of unethical decisions at work. J. Appl. Psychol. 95 : 1– 31 [Google Scholar]
• Klein HJ , Molloy JC , Brinsfield CT. 2012 . Reconceptualizing workplace commitment to redress a stretched construct: revisiting assumptions and removing confounds. Acad. Manag. Rev. 37 : 130– 51 [Google Scholar]
• Kossek EE , Dumas TL , Piszczek MM , Allen TD. 2021 . Pushing the boundaries: a qualitative study of how STEM women adapted to disrupted work–nonwork boundaries during the COVID-19 pandemic. J. Appl. Psychol. 106 : 1615– 29 [Google Scholar]
• Koval CZ , Rosette AS. 2021 . The natural hair bias in job recruitment. Soc. Psychol. Pers. Sci. 12 : 741– 50 [Google Scholar]
• Landy FJ. 1989 . Psychology of Work Behavior Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks/Cole, 4th ed.. [Google Scholar]
• Latham GP , Locke EA. 1991 . Self-regulation through goal setting. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 50 : 212– 47 [Google Scholar]
• Lawler EJ , Thye SR , Yoon J. 2008 . Social exchange and micro social order. Am. Sociol. Rev. 73 : 519– 42 [Google Scholar]
• Lee ES , Park TY , Koo B. 2015 . Identifying organizational identification as a basis for attitudes and behaviors: a meta-analytic review. Psychol. Bull. 141 : 1049– 80 [Google Scholar]
• Leigh A , Melwani S. 2022 . “Am I next?” The spillover effects of mega-threats on avoidant behaviors at work. Acad. Manag. J. 65 : 720– 48 [Google Scholar]
• LePine JA , Erez A , Johnson DE. 2002 . The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: a critical review and meta-analysis. J. Appl. Psychol. 87 : 52– 65 [Google Scholar]
• Li CS , Goering DD , Montanye MR , Su R. 2022 . Understanding the career and job outcomes of contemporary career attitudes within the context of career environments: an integrative meta-analysis. J. Organ. Behav. 43 : 286– 309 [Google Scholar]
• Li J , Lee TW , Mitchell TR , Hom PW , Griffeth RW. 2016 . The effects of proximal withdrawal states on job attitudes, job searching, intent to leave, and employee turnover. J. Appl. Psychol. 101 : 1436– 56 [Google Scholar]
• Liu D , Mitchell TR , Lee TW , Holtom BC , Hinkin TR. 2012 . When employees are out of step with coworkers: how job satisfaction trajectory and dispersion influence individual- and unit-level voluntary turnover. Acad. Manag. J. 55 : 1360– 80 [Google Scholar]
• Marcus B , Taylor OA , Hastings SE , Sturm A , Weigelt O. 2016 . The structure of counterproductive work behavior: a review, a structural meta-analysis, and a primary study. J. Manag. 42 : 203– 33 [Google Scholar]
• Markus HR , Kitayama S. 1991 . Culture and the self: implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychol. Rev. 98 : 224– 53 [Google Scholar]
• Martin SR , Côté S. 2019 . Social class transitioners: their cultural abilities and organizational importance. Acad. Manag. Rev. 44 : 618– 42 [Google Scholar]
• McCluney CL , King DD , Bryant CM , Ali AA. 2021 . From “calling in black” to “calling for antiracism resources”: the need for systemic resources to address systemic racism. Equal. Divers. Incl. 40 : 49– 59 [Google Scholar]
• Meyer RD , Dalal RS , Bonaccio S. 2009 . A meta-analytic investigation into the moderating effects of situational strength on the conscientiousness-performance relationship. J. Organ. Behav. 30 : 1077– 102 [Google Scholar]
• Miller DT , Prentice DA. 2016 . Changing norms to change behavior. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 67 : 339– 61 [Google Scholar]
• Mitchell TR , Holtom BC , Lee TW , Sablynski CJ , Erez M. 2001 . Why people stay: using job embeddedness to predict voluntary turnover. Acad. Manag. J. 44 : 1102– 21 [Google Scholar]
• Morgan J. 2017 . Why the millions we spend on employee engagement buy us so little. Harvard Business Review Mar. 10. https://hbr.org/2017/03/why-the-millions-we-spend-on-employee-engagement-buy-us-so-little [Google Scholar]
• Morris MW , Hong YY , Chiu CY , Liu Z. 2015 . Normology: integrating insights about social norms to understand cultural dynamics. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 129 : 1– 13 [Google Scholar]
• Morrison EW. 1993 . Longitudinal study of the effects of information seeking on newcomer socialization. J. Appl. Psychol. 78 : 173– 83 [Google Scholar]
• Mount M , Ilies R , Johnson E 2006 . Relationship of personality traits and counterproductive work behaviors: the mediating effects of job satisfaction. Pers. Psychol. 59 : 591– 622 [Google Scholar]
• Newman DA , Yearick KA. 2018 . Job attitudes. Handbook of Attitudes 2 Application D Albarracín, BT Johnson 199– 231 London: Taylor & Francis [Google Scholar]
• Newton DW , LePine JA 2018 . Organizational citizenship behavior and engagement: “You gotta keep ’em separated!”. Oxford Handbook of Organizational Citizenship Behavior PM Podsakoff, SB MacKenzie, NP Podsakoff 43– 54 New York: Oxford Univ. Press [Google Scholar]
• Ng TWH , Sorensen KL , Eby LT. 2006 . Locus of control at work: a meta-analysis. J. Organ. Behav. 27 : 1057– 87 [Google Scholar]
• Okhuysen GA , Bechky BA. 2009 . Coordination in organizations: an integrative perspective. Acad. Manag. Ann. 3 : 463– 502 [Google Scholar]
• Organ DW. 1988 . Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Good Soldier Syndrome Lexington, MA: Lexington Books [Google Scholar]
• Porck JP , Matta FK , Hollenbeck JR , Oh JK , Lanaj K , Lee SM. 2019 . Social identification in multiteam systems: the role of depletion and task complexity. Acad. Manag. J. 62 : 1137– 62 [Google Scholar]
• Ramesh A , Gelfand MJ. 2010 . Will they stay or will they go? The role of job embeddedness in predicting turnover in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. J. Appl. Psychol. 95 : 807– 23 [Google Scholar]
• Riketta M. 2008 . The causal relation between job attitudes and performance: a meta-analysis of panel studies. J. Appl. Psychol. 93 : 472– 81 [Google Scholar]
• Roos P , Gelfand M , Nau D , Lun J. 2015 . Societal threat and cultural variation in the strength of social norms: an evolutionary basis. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 129 : 14– 23 [Google Scholar]
• Rubenstein AL , Eberly MB , Lee TW , Mitchell TR. 2018 . Surveying the forest: a meta-analysis, moderator investigation, and future-oriented discussion of the antecedents of voluntary employee turnover. Pers. Psychol. 71 : 23– 65 [Google Scholar]
• Rubenstein AL , Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Thundiyil TG. 2020 . The comparative effects of supervisor helping motives on newcomer adjustment and socialization outcomes. J. Appl. Psychol. 105 : 1466– 89 [Google Scholar]
• Rudolph CW , Katz IM , Lavigne KN , Zacher H. 2017 . Job crafting: a meta-analysis of relationships with individual differences, job characteristics, and work outcomes. J. Vocat. Behav. 102 : 112– 38 [Google Scholar]
• Ryan AM , West BJ , Carr JZ. 2003 . Effects of the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01 on employee attitudes. J. Appl. Psychol. 88 : 647– 59 [Google Scholar]
• Sackmann SA. 1992 . Culture and subcultures: an analysis of organizational knowledge. Admin. Sci. Quart. 37 : 140– 61 [Google Scholar]
• Schlachter SD , Pieper JR. 2019 . Employee referral hiring in organizations: an integrative conceptual review, model, and agenda for future research. J. Appl. Psychol. 104 : 1325– 46 [Google Scholar]
• Schleicher DJ , Smith TA , Casper WJ , Watt JD , Greguras GJ. 2015 . It's all in the attitude: the role of job attitude strength in job attitude–outcome relationships. J. Appl. Psychol. 100 : 1259– 74 [Google Scholar]
• Schleicher DJ , Watt JD , Greguras GJ. 2004 . Reexamining the job satisfaction-performance relationship: the complexity of attitudes. J. Appl. Psychol. 89 : 165– 77 [Google Scholar]
• Schneider B , Smith DB , Goldstein HW. 2000 . Attraction–selection–attrition: toward a person–environment psychology of organizations. Person–Environment Psychology: New Directions and Perspectives WB Walsh, KH Craik, RH Price 61– 85 Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. [Google Scholar]
• Siders MA , George G , Dharwadkar R. 2001 . The relationship of internal and external commitment foci to objective performance measures. Acad. Manag. J. 44 : 570– 79 [Google Scholar]
• Smith PC , Kendall LM , Hulin CL. 1969 . The Measurement of Satisfaction in Work and Retirement: A Strategy for the Study of Attitudes Chicago: Rand McNally [Google Scholar]
• Snyder M , Swann WB. 1976 . When actions reflect attitudes: the politics of impression management. J. Pers. Soc. Psychol. 34 : 1034– 42 [Google Scholar]
• Soc. Hum. Resource Manag. 2016 . SHRM Research Overview: Employee Engagement Alexandria, VA: Soc. Hum. Resource Manag. https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/trends-and-forecasting/special-reports-and-expert-views/Documents/Research%20Overview%20Employee%20Engagement.pdf [Google Scholar]
• Solinger ON , van Olffen W , Roe RA. 2008 . Beyond the three-component model of organizational commitment. J. Appl. Psychol. 93 : 70– 83 [Google Scholar]
• Spector PE. 1985 . Measurement of human service staff satisfaction: development of the Job Satisfaction Survey. Am. J. Commun. Psychol. 13 : 693– 713 [Google Scholar]
• Stajkovic AD , Luthans F. 1998 . Self-efficacy and work-related performance: a meta-analysis. Psychol. Bull. 124 : 240– 61 [Google Scholar]
• Tajfel H , Turner JC. 1986 . The social identity theory of intergroup behavior. Psychology of Intergroup Relations S Worchel, W Austin 7– 24 Chicago: Nelson-Hall [Google Scholar]
• Trevor CO. 2001 . Interactions among actual ease-of-movement determinants and job satisfaction in the prediction of voluntary turnover. Acad. Manag. J. 44 : 621– 38 [Google Scholar]
• Turner JC , Reynolds KJ. 1987 . Rediscovering the Social Group: A Self-Categorization Theory New York: Basil Blackwell [Google Scholar]
• van Hooft EAJ , Born MP , Taris TW , van der Flier H. 2004 . Job search and the theory of planned behavior: minority–majority group differences in the Netherlands. J. Vocat. Behav. 65 : 366– 90 [Google Scholar]
• van Hooft EAJ , Kammeyer-Mueller JD , Wanberg CR , Kanfer R , Basbug G. 2021 . Job search and employment success: a quantitative review and future research agenda. J. Appl. Psychol. 106 : 674– 713 [Google Scholar]
• Van Hoye G , Lievens F. 2009 . Tapping the grapevine: a closer look at word-of-mouth as a recruitment source. J. Appl. Psychol. 94 : 341– 52 [Google Scholar]
• Van Maanen J , Schein EH. 1979 . Toward a theory of organizational socialization. Res. Organ. Behav. 1 : 209– 64 [Google Scholar]
• Vandenberghe C , Landry G , Bentein K , Anseel F , Mignonac K , Roussel P. 2021 . A dynamic model of the effects of feedback-seeking behavior and organizational commitment on newcomer turnover. J. Manag. 47 : 519– 44 [Google Scholar]
• Wanberg CR , Glomb TM , Song Z , Sorenson S. 2005 . Job-search persistence during unemployment: a 10-wave longitudinal study. J. Appl. Psychol. 90 : 411– 30 [Google Scholar]
• Wang M , Shultz KS. 2010 . Employee retirement: a review and recommendations for future investigation. J. Manag. 36 : 172– 206 [Google Scholar]
• Wang Q , Bowling NA , Eschleman KJ. 2010 . A meta-analytic examination of work and general locus of control. J. Appl. Psychol. 95 : 761– 68 [Google Scholar]
• Webb TL , Sheeran P. 2006 . Does changing behavioral intentions engender behavior change? A meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. Psychol. Bull. 132 : 249– 68 [Google Scholar]
• Weiss DJ , Dawis RV , England GW. 1967 . Manual for the Minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. Minn. Stud. Vocat. Rehab. 22 : 1– 120 [Google Scholar]
• Weiss HM , Nicholas JP , Daus CS. 1999 . An examination of the joint effects of affective experiences and job beliefs on job satisfaction and variations in affective experiences over time. Organ. Behav. Hum. Dec. 78 : 1– 24 [Google Scholar]
• Whiting SW , Maynes TD , Podsakoff NP , Podsakoff PM. 2012 . Effects of message, source, and context on evaluations of employee voice behavior. J. Appl. Psychol. 97 : 159– 82 [Google Scholar]
• Whitman DS , Van Rooy DL , Viswesvaran C. 2010 . Satisfaction, citizenship behaviors, and performance in work units: a meta-analysis of collective construct relations. Pers. Psychol. 63 : 41– 81 [Google Scholar]
• Wyer RSJ , Albarracín D 2005 . Belief formation, organization, and change: cognitive and motivational influences. The Handbook of Attitudes D Albarracín, BT Johnson, MP Zanna 273– 322 Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc. [Google Scholar]
• Ybema JF , Smulders PG , Bongers PM. 2010 . Antecedents and consequences of employee absenteeism: a longitudinal perspective on the role of job satisfaction and burnout. Eur. J. Work Organ. Psychol. 9 : 102– 24 [Google Scholar]

Data & Media loading...

• Article Type: Review Article

Most Read This Month

Most cited most cited rss feed, conservation of resources in the organizational context: the reality of resources and their consequences, self-determination theory in work organizations: the state of a science, burnout and work engagement: the jd–r approach, psychological safety: the history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct, employee voice and silence, psychological capital: an evidence-based positive approach, how technology is changing work and organizations, research on workplace creativity: a review and redirection, abusive supervision, alternative work arrangements: two images of the new world of work.

Want to create or adapt books like this? Learn more about how Pressbooks supports open publishing practices.

4.2 Work Attitudes

Learning objectives.

• Define “work attitudes”.
• Describe the relationship between attitudes and behaviors.
• Define and differentiate between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
• List the factors related to job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
• Describe the consequences of job satisfaction and organizational commitment.
• Identify the ways in which companies can track work attitudes in the workplace.

Our behavior at work often depends on how we feel about being there. Therefore, making sense of how people behave depends on understanding their work attitudes. An attitude refers to our opinions, beliefs, and feelings about aspects of our environment. We have attitudes toward the food we eat, people we interact with, courses we take, and various other things. At work, two particular job attitudes have the greatest potential to influence how we behave. These are job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job satisfaction refers to the feelings people have toward their job. If the number of studies conducted on job satisfaction is an indicator, job satisfaction is probably the most important job attitude. Institutions such as Gallup Inc. or the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) periodically conduct studies of job satisfaction to track how satisfied employees are at work. According to a recent Gallup survey, 90% of the employees surveyed said that they were at least somewhat satisfied with their jobs. The recent SHRM study revealed 40% who were very satisfied (What keeps employees satisfied, 2007). Organizational commitment is the emotional attachment people have toward the company they work for. There is a high degree of overlap between job satisfaction and organizational commitment, because things that make us happy with our job often make us more committed to the company as well. Companies believe that these attitudes are worth tracking because they are often associated with important outcomes such as performance, helping others, absenteeism, and turnover.

How strong is the attitude-behavior link? First of all, it depends on the attitude in question. Your attitudes toward your colleagues may influence whether you actually help them on a project, but they may not be a good predictor of whether you will quit your job. Second, it is worth noting that attitudes are more strongly related to intentions to behave in a certain way, rather than actual behaviors. When you are dissatisfied with your job, you may have the intention to leave. Whether you will actually leave is a different story! Your leaving will depend on many factors, such as availability of alternative jobs in the market, your employability in a different company, and sacrifices you have to make while changing jobs. In other words, while attitudes give us hints about how a person might behave, it is important to remember that behavior is also strongly influenced by situational constraints.

OB Toolbox: How Can You Be Happier at Work?

• Have a positive attitude about it . Your personality is a big part of your happiness. If you are always looking for the negative side of everything, you will find it.
• A good fit with the job and company is important to your happiness . This starts with knowing yourself: What do you want from the job? What do you enjoy doing? Be honest with yourself and do a self-assessment.
• Get accurate information about the job and the company . Ask detailed questions about what life is like in this company. Do your research: Read about the company, and use your social network to understand the company’s culture.
• Develop good relationships at work . Make friends. Try to get a mentor. Approach a person you admire and attempt to build a relationship with this person. An experienced mentor can be a great help in navigating life at a company. Your social network can help you weather the bad days and provide you emotional and instrumental support during your time at the company as well as afterward.
• Pay is important, but job characteristics matter more to your job satisfaction . Don’t sacrifice the job itself for a little bit more money. When choosing a job, look at the level of challenge, and the potential of the job to make you engaged.
• Be proactive in managing organizational life . If the job is stressful, cope with it by effective time management and having a good social network, as well as being proactive in getting to the source of stress. If you don’t have enough direction, ask for it!
• Know when to leave . If the job makes you unhappy over an extended period of time and there is little hope of solving the problems, it may be time to look elsewhere.

What Causes Positive Work Attitudes?

What makes you satisfied with your job and develop commitment to your company? Research shows that people pay attention to several aspects of their work environment, including how they are treated, the relationships they form with colleagues and managers, and the actual work they perform. We will now summarize the factors that show consistent relations with job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Figure 4.2 Factors Contributing to Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment

Personality

Can assessing the work environment fully explain how satisfied we are on the job? Interestingly, some experts have shown that job satisfaction is not purely environmental and is partially due to our personality. Some people have a disposition to be happy in life and at work regardless of environmental factors.

It seems that people who have a positive affective disposition (those who have a tendency to experience positive moods more often than negative moods) tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and more committed to their companies, while those who have a negative disposition tend to be less satisfied and less committed (Connolly & Viswesvaran, 2000; Thoresen et al., 2003). This is not surprising, as people who are determined to see the glass as half full will notice the good things in their work environment, while those with the opposite character will find more things to complain about. In addition to our affective disposition, people who have a neurotic personality (those who are moody, temperamental, critical of themselves and others) are less satisfied with their job, while those who are emotionally more stable tend to be more satisfied. Other traits such as conscientiousness, self-esteem, locus of control, and extraversion are also related to positive work attitudes (Judge et al., 2002; Judge & Bono, 2001; Zimmerman, 2008). Either these people are more successful in finding jobs and companies that will make them happy and build better relationships at work, which would increase their satisfaction and commitment, or they simply see their environment as more positive—whichever the case, it seems that personality is related to work attitudes.

Person–Environment Fit

The fit between what we bring to our work environment and the environmental demands influences our work attitudes. Therefore, person–job fit and person–organization fit are positively related to job satisfaction and commitment. When our abilities match job demands and our values match company values, we tend to be more satisfied with our job and more committed to the company we work for (Kristof-Brown, Zimmerman, & Johnson, 2005; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003).

Job Characteristics

The presence of certain characteristics on the job seems to make employees more satisfied and more committed. Using a variety of skills, having autonomy at work, receiving feedback on the job, and performing a significant task are some job characteristics that are related to satisfaction and commitment. However, the presence of these factors is not important for everyone. Some people have a high growth need. They expect their jobs to help them build new skills and improve as an employee. These people tend to be more satisfied when their jobs have these characteristics (Loher et al., 1985; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990).

Psychological Contract

After accepting a job, people come to work with a set of expectations. They have an understanding of their responsibilities and rights. In other words, they have a psychological contract with the company. A psychological contract is an unwritten understanding about what the employee will bring to the work environment and what the company will provide in exchange. When people do not get what they expect, they experience a psychological contract breach , which leads to low job satisfaction and commitment. Imagine that you were told before being hired that the company was family friendly and collegial. However, after a while, you realize that they expect employees to work 70 hours a week, and employees are aggressive toward each other. You are likely to experience a breach in your psychological contract and be dissatisfied. One way of preventing such problems is for companies to provide realistic job previews to their employees (Premack & Wanous, 1985; Wanous et al., 1992; Zhao et al., 2007).

Organizational Justice

A strong influence over our satisfaction level is how fairly we are treated. People pay attention to the fairness of company policies and procedures, treatment from supervisors, and pay and other rewards they receive from the company (Cohen-Charash & Spector, 2001; Colquitt et al., 2001; Meyer et al., 2002).

Relationships at Work

Two strong predictors of our happiness at work and commitment to the company are our relationships with coworkers and managers. The people we interact with, their degree of compassion, our level of social acceptance in our work group, and whether we are treated with respect are all important factors surrounding our happiness at work. Research also shows that our relationship with our manager, how considerate the manager is, and whether we build a trust-based relationship with our manager are critically important to our job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Bauer et al., 2007; Gerstner & Day, 1997; Judge, Piccolo, & Ilies, 2004; Kinicki et al., 2002; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Rhoades & Eisenberger, 2002). When our manager and upper management listen to us, care about us, and value our opinions, we tend to feel good at work. Even small actions may show employees that the management cares about them. For example, Hotel Carlton in San Francisco was recently taken over by a new management group. One of the small things the new management did created dramatic results. In response to an employee attitude survey, they replaced the old vacuum cleaners housekeepers were using and established a policy of replacing them every year. This simple act of listening to employee problems and taking action went a long way to making employees feel that the management cares about them (Dvorak, 2007).

Not surprisingly, the amount of stress present in our job is related to our satisfaction and commitment. For example, experiencing role ambiguity (vagueness in relation to what our responsibilities are), role conflict (facing contradictory demands at work), and organizational politics, and worrying about the security of our job are all stressors that make people dissatisfied. On the other hand, not all stress is bad. Some stressors actually make us happier! For example, working under time pressure and having a high degree of responsibility are stressful, but they can also be perceived as challenges and tend to be related to high levels of satisfaction (Kinicki et al., 2002; Meyer et al., 2002; Miller, Rutherford, & Kolodinsky, 2008; Podsakoff, LePine, & LePine, 2007).

Work–Life Balance

In the 1950s, people’s work was all-consuming. Employees went to work, worked long hours, and the rest of the family accepted that work came first. As society changed, the concept of always putting work first became outdated. In modern times, more employees expect to lead balanced lives, pursue hobbies, and spend more time with their children while at the same time continuing to succeed at work. The notion of work–family conflict is one cause of job dissatisfaction. This conflict can be particularly strong for women because of the time necessary for pregnancy and giving birth, but men struggle with it as well. When work life interferes with family life, we are more stressed and unhappy with our jobs. Research shows that policies that help employees achieve a balance between their work and personal lives, such as allowing telecommuting, are related to higher job satisfaction. For example, the medical resources group of the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca International does not have fixed working hours, and employees can work any hours they choose. Motorola’s technological acceleration group also has flexible hours and can work from anywhere (home, office, or a coffee shop) at anytime (Kossek & Ozeki, 1998; Gajendran & Harrison, 2007; Shellenbarger, 2007).

Consequences of Positive Work Attitudes

Why do we care about the job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees? What behaviors would you expect to see from someone who has more positive work attitudes?

Work attitudes are often good predictors of work behavior, such as performance, citizenship behaviors, absenteeism, and turnover.

Pixabay.com – CC0 public domain.

If you say “higher performance,” you have stumbled upon one of the most controversial subjects in organizational behavior. Many studies have been devoted to understanding whether happy employees are more productive. Some studies show weak correlations between satisfaction and performance while others show higher correlations (what researchers would call “medium-sized” correlations of 0.30) (Iaffaldano & Muchinsky, 1985; Judge et al., 2001; Petty, McGee, & Cavender, 1984; Riketta, 2008). The correlation between commitment and performance tends to be even weaker (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Riketta, 2002; Wright & Bonnett, 2002). Even with a correlation of 0.30 though, the relationship may be lower than you may have expected. Why is this so?

It seems that happy workers have an inclination to be more engaged at work. They may want to perform better. They may be more motivated. But there are also exceptions. Think about this: Just because you want to perform, will you actually be a higher performer? Chances are that your skill level in performing the job will matter. There are also some jobs where performance depends on factors beyond an employee’s control, such as the pace of the machine they are working on. Because of this reason, in professional jobs such as engineering and research, we see a higher link between work attitudes and performance, as opposed to manual jobs such as assembly line work (Riketta, 2002). Also, think about the alternative possibility: If you don’t like your job, does this mean that you will reduce your performance? Maybe up to a certain point, but there will be factors that prevent you from reducing your performance: the fear of getting fired, the desire to get a promotion so that you can get out of the job that you dislike so much, or your professional work ethic. As a result, we should not expect a one-to-one relationship between satisfaction and performance. Still, the observed correlation between work attitudes and performance is important and has practical value.

Work attitudes are even more strongly related to organizational citizenship behaviors (behaviors that are not part of our job but are valuable to the organization, such as helping new employees or working voluntary overtime). Satisfied and committed people are absent less frequently and for shorter duration, are likely to stay with a company longer, and demonstrate less aggression at work. Just as important, people who are happy at work are happier with their lives overall. Given that we spend so much of our waking hours at work, it is no surprise that our satisfaction with our job is a big part of how satisfied we feel about life in general (Brush, Moch, & Pooyan, 1987; Carsten & Spector, 1987; Cohen, 1991; Cohen, 1993; Cohen & Hudecek, 1993; Fassina, Jones, & Uggersley, 2008; Hackett, 1989; Herschcovis et al., 2007; Kinicki et al., 2002; LePine, Erez, & Johnson, 2002; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Meyer et al., 2002; Organ & Ryan, 1995; Randall, 1990; Scott & Taylor, 1985; Tait, Padgett, & Baldwin, 1989; Tett & Meyer, 1993; Zimmerman, 2008). Finally, a satisfied workforce seems to be related to positive firm-level outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and loyalty, profitability, and safety in the workplace (Harter, Schmidt, & Hayes, 2002).

Assessing Work Attitudes in the Workplace

Given that work attitudes may give us clues as to who will leave or stay, who will perform better, and who will be more engaged, tracking satisfaction and commitment levels is a helpful step for companies. If there are companywide issues that make employees unhappy and disengaged, then these issues need to be resolved. There are at least two systematic ways in which companies can track work attitudes: through attitude surveys and exit interviews. Companies such as KFC Corporation and Long John Silver’s Inc. restaurants, the SAS Institute, Google, and others give periodic surveys to employees to track their work attitudes. Companies can get more out of these surveys if responses are held confidential. If employees become concerned that their individual responses will be shared with their immediate manager, they are less likely to respond honestly. Moreover, the success of these surveys depends on the credibility of management in the eyes of employees. If management periodically collects these surveys but no action comes out of them, employees may adopt a more cynical attitude and start ignoring these surveys, hampering the success of future efforts.

An exit interview involves a meeting with the departing employee. This meeting is often conducted by a member of the human resource management department. The departing employee’s manager is the worst person to conduct the interview, because managers are often one of the primary reasons an employee is leaving in the first place. If conducted well, this meeting may reveal what makes employees dissatisfied at work and give management clues about areas for improvement.

Key Takeaway

Work attitudes are the feelings we have toward different aspects of the work environment. Job satisfaction and organizational commitment are two key attitudes that are the most relevant to important outcomes. Attitudes create an intention to behave in a certain way and may predict actual behavior under certain conditions. People develop positive work attitudes as a result of their personality, fit with their environment, stress levels they experience, relationships they develop, perceived fairness of their pay, company policies, interpersonal treatment, whether their psychological contract is violated, and the presence of policies addressing work–life conflict. When people have more positive work attitudes, they may have the inclination to perform better, display citizenship behaviors, and be absent less often and for shorter periods of time, and they are less likely to quit their jobs within a short period of time. When workplace attitudes are more positive, companies benefit in the form of higher safety and better customer service, as well as higher company performance.

• What is the difference between job satisfaction and organizational commitment? Which do you think would be more strongly related to performance? Which would be more strongly related to turnover?
• Do you think making employees happier at work is a good way of motivating people? When would high satisfaction not be related to high performance?
• In your opinion, what are the three most important factors that make people dissatisfied with their job? What are the three most important factors relating to organizational commitment?
• How important is pay in making people attached to a company and making employees satisfied?
• Do you think younger and older people are similar in what makes them happier at work and committed to their companies? Do you think there are male–female differences? Explain your answers.

Bauer, T. N., Bodner, T., Erdogan, B., Truxillo, D. M., & Tucker, J. S. (2007). Newcomer adjustment during organizational socialization: A meta-analytic review of antecedents, outcomes, and methods. Journal of Applied Psychology , 92, 707–721.

Brush, D. H., Moch, M. K., & Pooyan, A. (1987). Individual demographic differences and job satisfaction. Journal of Occupational Behaviour , 8 , 139–156.

Carsten, J. M., & Spector, P. E. (1987). Unemployment, job satisfaction, and employee turnover: A meta-analytic test of the Muchinsky model. Journal of Applied Psychology , 72 , 374–381.

Cohen, A. (1991). Career stage as a moderator of the relationships between organizational commitment and its outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Occupational Psychology , 64 , 253–268.

Cohen, A. (1993). Organizational commitment and turnover: A meta-analysis. Academy of Management Journal , 36 , 1140–1157.

Cohen, A., & Hudecek, N. (1993). Organizational commitment—turnover relationship across occupational groups: A meta-analysis. Group & Organization Management , 18 , 188–213.

Cohen-Charash, Y., & Spector, P. E. (2001). The role of justice in organizations: A meta-analysis. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes , 86 , 278–321.

Colquitt, J. A., Conlon, D. E., Wesson, M. J., Porter, C. O. L. H., & Ng, K. Y. (2001). Justice at the millennium: A meta-analytic review of 25 years of organizational justice research. Journal of Applied Psychology , 86 , 425–445.

Connolly, J. J., & Viswesvaran, C. (2000). The role of affectivity in job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Personality and Individual Differences , 29 , 265–281.

Dvorak, P. (2007, December 17). Theory and practice: Hotelier finds happiness keeps staff checked in: Focus on morale boosts Joie de Vivre’s grades from workers, guests. Wall Street Journal , p. B3.

Fassina, N. E., Jones, D. A., & Uggerslev, K. L. (2008). Relationship clean-up time: Using meta-analysis and path analysis to clarify relationships among job satisfaction, perceived fairness, and citizenship behaviors. Journal of Management , 34 , 161–188.

Gerstner, C. R., & Day, D. V. (1997). Meta-analytic review of leader-member exchange theory: Correlates and construct issues. Journal of Applied Psychology , 82 (6), 827–844.

Gajendran, R. S., & Harrison, D. A. (2007). The good, the bad, and the unknown about telecommuting: Meta-analysis of psychological mediators and individual consequences. Journal of Applied Psychology , 92 , 1524–1541.

Hackett, R. D. (1989). Work attitudes and employee absenteeism: A synthesis of the literature. Journal of Occupational Psychology , 62 , 235–248.

Harter, J. K., Schmidt, F. L., & Hayes, T. L. (2002). Business-unit-level relationship between employee satisfaction, employee engagement, and business outcomes: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 268–279.

Herschcovis, M. S., Turner, N., Barling, J., Arnold, K. A., Dupre, K., E., Innes, M., et al. (2007). Predicting workplace aggression: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 92 , 228–238.

Iaffaldano, M. T., & Muchinsky, P. M. (1985). Job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin , 97 , 251–273.

Judge, T. A., & Bono, J. E. (2001). Relationship of core self-evaluations traits—self esteem, generalized self efficacy, internal locus of control, and emotional stability—with job satisfaction and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 86 , 80–92.

Judge, T. A., Heller, D., & Mount, M. K. (2002). Five-factor model of personality and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 530–541.

Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R. F., & Ilies, R. (2004). The forgotten ones? The validity of consideration and initiating structure in leadership research. Journal of Applied Psychology , 89 , 36–51.

Judge, T. A., Thoresen, C. J., Bono, J. E., & Patton, G. T. (2001). The job satisfaction—job performance relationship: A qualitative and quantitative review. Journal of Applied Psychology , 127 , 376–407.

Kinicki, A. J., McKee-Ryan, F. M., Schriesheim, C. A., & Carson, K. P. (2002). Assessing the construct validity of the job descriptive index: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 14–32.

Kossek, E., & Ozeki, C. (1998). Work-family conflict, policies, and the job-life satisfaction relationship: A review and directions for organizational behavior-human resources research. Journal of Applied Psychology , 83 , 139–149.

Kristof-Brown, A. L., Zimmerman, R. D., & Johnson, E. C. (2005). Consequences of individuals’ fit at work: A meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit. Personnel Psychology , 58 , 281–342.

LePine, J. A., Erez, A., & Johnson, D. E. (2002). The nature and dimensionality of organizational citizenship behavior: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 52–65.

Loher, B. T., Noe, R. A., Moeller, N. L., & Fitzgerald, M. P. (1985). A meta-analysis of the relation of job characteristics to job satisfaction. Journal of Applied Psychology , 70 , 280–289.

Mathieu, J. E., & Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychological Bulletin , 108 , 171–194.

Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscivitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal of Vocational Behavior , 61 , 20–52.

Miller, B. K., Rutherford, M. A., & Kolodinsky, R. W. (2008). Perceptions of organizational politics: A meta-analysis of outcomes. Journal of Business and Psychology , 22 , 209–222.

Organ, D. W., & Ryan, K. (1995). A meta-analytic review of attitudinal and dispositional predictors of organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology , 48 , 775–802.

Petty, M. M., McGee, G. W., & Cavender, J. W. (1984). A meta-analysis of the relationships between individual job satisfaction and individual performance. Academy of Management Review , 9 , 712–721.

Podsakoff, N. P., LePine, J. A., & LePine, M. A. (2007). Differential challenge stressor-hindrance stressor relationships with job attitudes, turnover intentions, turnover, and withdrawal behavior: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 92 , 438–454.

Premack, S. L., & Wanous, J. P. (1985). A meta-analysis of realistic job preview experiments. Journal of Applied Psychology , 70 , 706–719.

Randall, D. M. (1990). The consequences of organizational commitment: Methodological investigation. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 11 , 361–378.

Rhoades, L., & Eisenberger, R. (2002). Perceived organizational support: A review of the literature. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 698–714.

Riketta, M. (2002). Attitudinal organizational commitment and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Organizational Behavior , 23 , 257–266.

Riketta, M. (2008). The causal relation between job attitudes and performance: A meta-analysis of panel studies. Journal of Applied Psychology , 93 , 472–481.

Scott, K. D., & Taylor, G. S. (1985). An examination of conflicting findings on the relationship between job satisfaction and absenteeism: A meta-analysis. Academy of Management Journal , 28 , 599–612.

Shellenbarger, S. (2007, October 4). What makes a company a great place to work today. Wall Street Journal , p. D1.

Tait, M., Padgett, M. Y., & Baldwin, T. T. (1989). Job and life satisfaction: A reevaluation of the strength of the relationship and gender effects as a function of the date of the study. Journal of Applied Psychology , 74 , 502–507.

Tett, R. P., & Meyer, J. P. (1993). Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover intentions, and turnover: Path analyses based on meta-analytic findings. Personnel Psychology , 46 , 259–293.

Thoresen, C. J., Kaplan, S. A., Barsky, A. P., de Chermont, K., & Warren, C. R. (2003). The affective underpinnings of job perceptions and attitudes: A meta-analytic review and integration. Psychological Bulletin , 129 , 914–945.

Verquer, M. L., Beehr, T. A., & Wagner, S. H. (2003). A meta-analysis of relations between person-organization fit and work attitudes. Journal of Vocational Behavior , 63 , 473–489.

Wanous, J. P., Poland, T. D., Premack, S. L., & Davis, K. S. (1992). The effects of met expectations on newcomer attitudes and behaviors: A review and meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 77 , 288–297.

What keeps employees satisfied? (2007, August). HR Focus , pp. 10–13; Sandberg, J. (2008, April 15). For many employees, a dream job is one that isn’t a nightmare. Wall Street Journal , p. B1.

Wright, T. A., & Bonnett, D. G. (2002). The moderating effects of employee tenure on the relation between organizational commitment and job performance: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology , 87 , 1183–1190.

Zhao, H., Wayne, S. J., Glibkowski, B. C., & Bravo, J. (2007). The impact of psychological contract breach on work-related outcomes: A meta-analysis. Personnel Psychology , 60 , 647–680.

Zimmerman, R. D. (2008). Understanding the impact of personality traits on individuals’ turnover decisions: A meta-analytic path model. Personnel Psychology , 61 , 309–348.

Organizational Behavior Copyright © 2017 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Academia.edu no longer supports Internet Explorer.

To browse Academia.edu and the wider internet faster and more securely, please take a few seconds to  upgrade your browser .

Enter the email address you signed up with and we'll email you a reset link.

• We're Hiring!
• Help Center

Download Free PDF

Job Satisfaction and Employee Work Attitude (A Case Study of Employees Working In Commercial Banks In District Nausharo-Feroze-2015)

Looking at the need and importance of employee&#39;s job satisfaction for organizational success, this research was made by using workplace environment, salary, benefits and team effectiveness/work group as an independent variables for the job satisfaction, questionnaires were developed for collection of primary data from the employees of both working in public and private commercial banks at District Nausharo-feroze, SPSS 18 was used for measuring the role of discussed above variables and concluded that salary, benefits and team effectiveness/work group positively and significantly linked with job satisfaction, while the relationship between workplace environment is adversely seen to job satisfaction, however gap is seen so large to be fulfilled by other researchers to bring light on same issue

Related topics

•   We're Hiring!
•   Help Center
• Find new research papers in:
• Health Sciences
• Earth Sciences
• Cognitive Science
• Mathematics
• Computer Science
• Academia ©2024

Information

• Author Services

Initiatives

You are accessing a machine-readable page. In order to be human-readable, please install an RSS reader.

All articles published by MDPI are made immediately available worldwide under an open access license. No special permission is required to reuse all or part of the article published by MDPI, including figures and tables. For articles published under an open access Creative Common CC BY license, any part of the article may be reused without permission provided that the original article is clearly cited. For more information, please refer to https://www.mdpi.com/openaccess .

Feature papers represent the most advanced research with significant potential for high impact in the field. A Feature Paper should be a substantial original Article that involves several techniques or approaches, provides an outlook for future research directions and describes possible research applications.

Feature papers are submitted upon individual invitation or recommendation by the scientific editors and must receive positive feedback from the reviewers.

Editor’s Choice articles are based on recommendations by the scientific editors of MDPI journals from around the world. Editors select a small number of articles recently published in the journal that they believe will be particularly interesting to readers, or important in the respective research area. The aim is to provide a snapshot of some of the most exciting work published in the various research areas of the journal.

Original Submission Date Received: .

• Active Journals
• Find a Journal
• Journal Proposal
• Proceedings Series
• For Authors
• For Reviewers
• For Editors
• For Librarians
• For Publishers
• For Societies
• For Conference Organizers
• Open Access Policy
• Institutional Open Access Program
• Special Issues Guidelines
• Editorial Process
• Research and Publication Ethics
• Article Processing Charges
• Testimonials
• Preprints.org
• SciProfiles
• Encyclopedia

Article Menu

• Subscribe SciFeed
• Recommended Articles
• PubMed/Medline
• Google Scholar
• on Google Scholar
• Table of Contents

Find support for a specific problem in the support section of our website.

Please let us know what you think of our products and services.

Visit our dedicated information section to learn more about MDPI.

JSmol Viewer

Job satisfaction: knowledge, attitudes, and practices analysis in a well-educated population.

Graphical Abstract

1. Introduction

2. material and methods, 2.1. participants and procedure, 2.2. statistical analysis, 3. results and discussion, 4. conclusions, author contributions, institutional review board statement, informed consent statement, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

• Locke, E.A. The nature and causes of job satisfaction. Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology. Chic. RandMc Narlly 1976 , 2 , 360–580. [ Google Scholar ]
• Penn, M.; Romano, J.L.; Foat, D. The relationship between job satisfaction and burnout: A study of human service professionals. Adm. Ment. Health 1988 , 15 , 157–165. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Tsigilis, N.; Koustelios, A.; Togia, A. Multivariate relationship and discriminant validity between job satisfaction and burnout. J. Manag. Psychol. 2004 , 19 , 666–675. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Leiter, M.P.; Hakanen, J.J.; Ahola, K.; Toppinen-Tanner, S.; Koskinen, A.; Väänänen, A. Organizational predictors and health consequences of changes in burnout: A 12-year cohort study. J. Organ. Behav. 2013 , 34 , 959–973. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Erdogan, V.; Yildirim, A. Healthcare professionals’ exposure to mobbing behaviors and relation of mobbing with job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Procedia Comput. Sci. 2017 , 120 , 931–938. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Lee, H.J. How emotional intelligence relates to job satisfaction and burnout in public service jobs. Int. Rev. Adm. Sci. 2018 , 84 , 729–745. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Gallup, S. 2020. Available online: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/316064/employee-engagement-hits-new-high-historic-drop.aspx (accessed on 10 June 2022).
• Eurostat. Quality of Life in Europe–Facts and Views–Employment. 2018. Available online: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ILC_PW05__custom_1172964/bookmark/table?lang=en&bookmarkId=6df73e07-c51b-40a2-9543-454eddc53166 (accessed on 10 October 2022).
• Albertsen, K. Working Time Arrangements and Social Consequences: What Do We Know? Nordic Council of Ministers: Copenhagen, Denmark, 2008. [ Google Scholar ]
• Magee, W. Effects of gender and age on pride in work, and job satisfaction. J. Happiness Stud. 2015 , 16 , 1091–1115. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• EWCS. European Working Conditions Surveys (EWCS). 2021. Available online: https://www.eurofound.europa.eu/surveys/european-working-conditions-surveys-ewcs (accessed on 9 July 2022).
• Janssen, S.; Backes-Gellner, U. Occupational stereotypes and gender-specific job satisfaction. Ind. Relat. A J. Econ. Soc. 2016 , 55 , 71–91. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Hauret, L.; Williams, D.R. Cross-national analysis of gender differences in job satisfaction. Ind. Relat. A J. Econ. Soc. 2017 , 56 , 203–235. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Perugini, C.; Vladisavljević, M. Gender inequality and the gender-job satisfaction paradox in Europe. Labour Econ. 2019 , 60 , 129–147. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• EFILWC. Measuring Job Satisfaction in Surveys–Comparative Analytical Report. 2007. Available online: https://archives.eui.eu/en/isaar/645 (accessed on 14 May 2022).
• Fiorillo, D.; Nappo, N. Job satisfaction in Italy: Individual characteristics and social relations. Int. J. Soc. Econ. 2014 , 41 , 683–704. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Platis, C.; Reklitis, P.; Zimeras, S. Relation between job satisfaction and job performance in healthcare services. Procedia-Soc. Behav. Sci. 2015 , 175 , 480–487. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Zhang, M.; Yang, R.; Wang, W.; Gillespie, J.; Clarke, S.; Yan, F. Job satisfaction of urban community health workers after the 2009 healthcare reform in China: A systematic review. Int. J. Qual. Health Care 2016 , 28 , 14–21. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ] [ Green Version ]
• Lacy, B.E.; Chan, J.L. Physician burnout: The hidden health care crisis. Clin. Gastroenterol. Hepatol. 2018 , 16 , 311–317. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ] [ Green Version ]
• Wu, F.; Ren, Z.; Wang, Q.; He, M.; Xiong, W.; Ma, G.; Zhang, X. The relationship between job stress and job burnout: The mediating effects of perceived social support and job satisfaction. Psychol. Health Med. 2021 , 26 , 204–211. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Trivellas, P.; Reklitis, P.; Platis, C. The effect of jobrelated stress on employees’ satisfaction: A survey in health care. Procedia-Soc. Behav. Sci. 2013 , 73 , 718–726. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Yavuzer, Y.; Civilidag, A. Mediator role of depression on the relationship between mobbing and life satisfaction of health professionals. Dusunen Adam J. Psychiatry Neurol. Sci. 2014 , 27 , 115. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Yusop, Y.M.; Dempster, M.; Stevenson, C. Understanding inappropriate behaviour: Harassment, bullying and mobbing at work in Malaysia. Procedia-Soc. Behav. Sci. 2014 , 127 , 179–183. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Van Saane, N.; Sluiter, J.K.; Verbeek, J.H.A.M.; Frings-Dresen, M.H.W. Reliability and validity of instruments measuring job satisfaction—A systematic review. Occup. Med. 2003 , 53 , 191–200. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Jackson, S.E.; Maslach, C. After-effects of job-related stress: Families as victims. J. Organ. Behav. 1982 , 3 , 63–77. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Bin, A.S. The relationship between job satisfaction, job performance and employee engagement: An explorative study. Issues Bus. Manag. Econ. 2015 , 4 , 1–8. [ Google Scholar ]
• Batura, N.; Skordis-Worrall, J.; Thapa, R.; Basnyat, R.; Morrison, J. Is the Job Satisfaction Survey a good tool to measure job satisfaction amongst health workers in Nepal? Results of a validation analysis. BMC Health Serv. Res. 2016 , 16 , 1–13. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ]
• KAP Survey Model. Retrieved from The KAP Survey Model (Knowledge, Attitude & Practices) ; United States Agency for International Development (USAID): Washington, DC, USA, 2011.
• Spector, P.E. Job Satisfaction: Application, Assessment, Causes, and Consequences (Vol. 3) ; Sage: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 1997. [ Google Scholar ]
• Li, L.; Hu, H.; Zhou, H.; He, C.; Fan, L.; Liu, X.; Sun, T. Work stress, work motivation and their effects on job satisfaction in community health workers: A cross-sectional survey in China. BMJ Open. 2014 , 4 , e004897. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ] [ Green Version ]
• Alavi, S.S.; Dabbagh, S.T.; Abbasi, M.; Mehrdad, R. Job satisfaction and its relationship to radiation protection knowledge, attitude and practice [RP-KAP] of Iranian radiation workers. EMHJ-East. Mediterr. Health J. 2016 , 22 , 727–734. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Lee, C.; Schuler, R.S. A constructive replication and extension of a role and expectancy perception model of participation in decision making. J. Occup. Psychol. 1982 , 55 , 109–118. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Wood, J.; Wallace, J.P.; Zeffane, R.; Schermerhorn, J.; Hunt, J.B.; Osborne, R.H. Organisational Behaviour: An Asian-Pacific Perspective ; John Wiley & Sons: Hoboken, NJ, USA, 1998. [ Google Scholar ]
• English, F.W. (Ed.) Encyclopedia of Educational Leadership and Administration ; Sage Publications: Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 2006. [ Google Scholar ]
• Amarantidou, S. Job Burnout and Job Satisfaction among Teachers: A Longitudinal Study. Ph.D. Thesis, University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece, 2010. (In Greek). [ Google Scholar ]
• Belias, D.; Koustelios, A. Leadership and job satisfaction—A review. Eur. Sci. J. 2014 , 10 . [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Gulavani, A.; Shinde, M. Occupational stress and job satisfaction among nurses. Int. J. Sci. Res. 2014 , 3 , 733–740. [ Google Scholar ]
• Al-Haroon, H.I.; Al-Qahtani, M.F. The demographic predictors of job satisfaction among the nurses of a major public hospital in KSA. J. Taibah Univ. Med. Sci. 2020 , 15 , 32. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Judge, T.A.; Weiss, H.M.; Kammeyer-Mueller, J.D.; Hulin, C.L. Job attitudes, job satisfaction, and job affect: A century of continuity and of change. J. Appl. Psychol. 2017 , 102 , 356. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Shahab, M.A.; Nisa, I. The influence of leadership and work attitudes toward job satisfaction and performance of employee. Int. J. Manag. Stud. Res. 2014 , 2 , 69–77. [ Google Scholar ]
• Judge, T.A.; Zhang, S.C.; Glerum, D.R. Job satisfaction. In Essentials of Job Attitudes and Other Workplace Psychological Constructs ; Routledge: London, UK, 2020; pp. 207–241. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hermawan, S.; Wati, L.R.; Hanif, A.; Rahayu, R.A.; Rahayu, D. Healthy Lifestyle, Role Ambiguity, Spiritual Quotient, and Job Burnout on Job Satisfaction. Muhammadiyah Int. J. Econ. Bus. 2019 , 2 , 170–182. [ Google Scholar ]
• Andrews, M.C.; Kacmar, K.M.; Kacmar, C. The mediational effect of regulatory focus on the relationships between mindfulness and job satisfaction and turnover intentions. Career Dev. Int. 2014 , 19 , 494–507. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Im Choi, J.; Koh, M.S. Relations of job stress, burnout, mindfulness and job satisfaction of clinical nurses. Int. J. Biosci. Biotechnol. 2015 , 7 , 121–128. [ Google Scholar ]
• Van der Walt, F.; De Klerk, J.J. Workplace spirituality and job satisfaction. Int. Rev. Psychiatry 2014 , 26 , 379–389. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ PubMed ]
• Tharikh, S.M.; Ying, C.Y.; Saad, Z.M. Managing job attitudes: The roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on organizational citizenship behaviors. Procedia Econ. Financ. 2016 , 35 , 604–611. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Srimarut, T.; Mekhum, W. The Influence of Workload and Co-Worker Attitude on Job Satisfaction among Employees of Pharmaceutical Industry in Bangkok, Thailand: The Mediating Role of Training. Syst. Rev. Pharm. 2020 , 11 , 603–611. [ Google Scholar ]
• Trivellas, P.; Akrivouli, Z.; Tsifora, E.; Tsoutsa, P. The impact of knowledge sharing culture on job satisfaction in accounting firms. The mediating effect of general competencies. Procedia Econ. Financ. 2015 , 19 , 238–247. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Kianto, A.; Vanhala, M.; Heilmann, P. The impact of knowledge management on job satisfaction. J. Knowl. Manag. 2016 , 20 , 484–498. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Sousa-Poza, A.; Sousa-Poza, A.A. Well-being at work: A cross-national analysis of the levels and determinants of job satisfaction. J. Socio-Econ. 2000 , 29 , 517–538. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Armstrong, G.S.; Atkin-Plunk, C.A.; Wells, J. The relationship between work–family conflict, correctional officer job stress, and job satisfaction. Crim. Justice Behav. 2015 , 42 , 1066–1082. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ] [ Green Version ]
• Clark, A.E. Job satisfaction in Britain. Br. J. Ind. Relat. 1996 , 34 , 189–217. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]
• Booth, A.L.; Van Ours, J.C. Job satisfaction and family happiness: The part-time work puzzle. Econ. J. 2008 , 118 , F77–F99. [ Google Scholar ] [ CrossRef ]

Share and Cite

Montuori, P.; Sorrentino, M.; Sarnacchiaro, P.; Di Duca, F.; Nardo, A.; Ferrante, B.; D’Angelo, D.; Di Sarno, S.; Pennino, F.; Masucci, A.; et al. Job Satisfaction: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Analysis in a Well-Educated Population. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022 , 19 , 14214. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114214

Montuori P, Sorrentino M, Sarnacchiaro P, Di Duca F, Nardo A, Ferrante B, D’Angelo D, Di Sarno S, Pennino F, Masucci A, et al. Job Satisfaction: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Analysis in a Well-Educated Population. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health . 2022; 19(21):14214. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114214

Montuori, Paolo, Michele Sorrentino, Pasquale Sarnacchiaro, Fabiana Di Duca, Alfonso Nardo, Bartolomeo Ferrante, Daniela D’Angelo, Salvatore Di Sarno, Francesca Pennino, Armando Masucci, and et al. 2022. "Job Satisfaction: Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Analysis in a Well-Educated Population" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, no. 21: 14214. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192114214

Article Metrics

Article access statistics, further information, mdpi initiatives, follow mdpi.

Subscribe to receive issue release notifications and newsletters from MDPI journals

To read this content please select one of the options below:

Please note you do not have access to teaching notes, job attitudes and career behaviors relating to employees' perceived incorporation of artificial intelligence in the workplace: a career self-management perspective.

Personnel Review

ISSN : 0048-3486

Article publication date: 25 April 2022

Issue publication date: 15 May 2023

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to be deployed in workplaces. While there are many positive outcomes of AI integration, understanding the extent of its consequences on employees is limited. Hence, this study examines employee perceptions of AI and the consequent influences on employee job attitudes and career behaviors. Utilizing the career self-management perspective, the authors explore the mechanisms related to employee perceptions of AI and potential career exploration behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors tested several hypotheses using employee survey data ( N  = 345 call center agents) collected from a firm that recently integrated AI in their operations. The authors collected data on four occasions (one-week intervals between data collection) to determine employee perceptions of AI taking over jobs (Time 1); job insecurity (Time 2); psychological distress (Time 3); and career exploration behavior (Time 4).

The findings reveal that perceptions of AI taking over jobs are significantly associated with higher career exploration behaviors. In addition, the authors found job insecurity and psychological distress as pathways that explain why employees having perceptions of AI taking over their jobs influences their career exploration behaviors.

Originality/value

These findings fill a gap in the literature by revealing how AI integration in the workplace, despite its many positive outcomes for organizations, can have a negative influence on employees. The negative employee perceptions of AI can lead to career exploration behaviors. From the career self-management perspective, the authors offer novel insights that have practical implications for talent management, particularly the need to communicate effectively to employees about AI integration in the workplace to avoid them feeling threatened and leaving their jobs.

• Artificial intelligence
• Job insecurity
• Psychological distress
• Career exploration behavior

Presbitero, A. and Teng-Calleja, M. (2023), "Job attitudes and career behaviors relating to employees' perceived incorporation of artificial intelligence in the workplace: a career self-management perspective", Personnel Review , Vol. 52 No. 4, pp. 1169-1187. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-02-2021-0103

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited

Related articles

All feedback is valuable.

Please share your general feedback

Report an issue or find answers to frequently asked questions

Contact Customer Support

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement: the mediating role of job involvement.

• Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Novi Sad, Serbia

We conducted an empirical study aimed at identifying and quantifying the relationship between work characteristics, organizational commitment, job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational policies and procedures in the transition economy of Serbia, South Eastern Europe. The study, which included 566 persons, employed by 8 companies, revealed that existing models of work motivation need to be adapted to fit the empirical data, resulting in a revised research model elaborated in the paper. In the proposed model, job involvement partially mediates the effect of job satisfaction on organizational commitment. Job satisfaction in Serbia is affected by work characteristics but, contrary to many studies conducted in developed economies, organizational policies and procedures do not seem significantly affect employee satisfaction.

1. Introduction

In the current climate of turbulent changes, companies have begun to realize that the employees represent their most valuable asset ( Glen, 2006 ; Govaerts et al., 2011 ; Fulmer and Ployhart, 2014 ; Vomberg et al., 2015 ; Millar et al., 2017 ). Satisfied and motivated employees are imperative for contemporary business and a key factor that separates successful companies from the alternative. When considering job satisfaction and work motivation in general, of particular interest are the distinctive traits of these concepts in transition economies.

Serbia is a country that finds itself at the center of the South East region of Europe (SEE), which is still in the state of transition. Here transition refers to the generally accepted concept, which implies economic and political changes introduced by former socialist countries in Europe and beyond (e.g., China) after the years of economic stagnation and recession in the 1980's, in the attempt to move their economy from centralized to market-oriented principles ( Ratkovic-Njegovan and Grubic-Nesic, 2015 ). Serbia exemplifies many of the problems faced by the SEE region as a whole, but also faces a number of problems uniquely related to the legacy of its past. Due to international economic sanctions, the country was isolated for most of the 1990s, and NATO air strikes, related to the Kosovo conflict and carried out in 1999, caused significant damage to the industry and economy. Transitioning to democracy in October 2000, Serbia embarked on a period of economic recovery, helped by the introduction of long overdue reforms, major inflows of foreign investment and substantial assistance from international funding institutions and others in the international community. However, the growth model on which Serbia and other SEE countries relied between 2001 and 2008, being based mainly on rapid capital inflows, a credit-fueled domestic demand boom and high current account deficit (above 20% of GDP in 2008), was not accompanied by the necessary progress in structural and institutional reforms to make this model sustainable ( Uvalic, 2013 ). The central issue of the transition process in Serbia and other such countries is privatization of public enterprises, which in Serbia ran slowly and with a number of interruptions, failures and restarts ( Radun et al., 2015 ). The process led the Serbian industry into a state of industrial collapse, i.e., deindustrialization. Today there are less than 400,000 employees working in the industry in Serbia and the overall unemployment rate exceeds 26% ( Milisavljevic et al., 2013 ). The average growth of Serbia's GDP in the last 5 years was very low, at 0.6% per year, but has reached 2.7% in 2016 ( GDP, 2017 ). The structure of the GDP by sector in 2015 was: services 60.5%, industry 31.4%, and agriculture 8.2% ( Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia, 2017 ).

Taking into account the specific adversities faced by businesses in Serbia, we formulated two main research questions as a starting point for the analysis of the problem of work motivation in Serbia:

1. To what extent are the previously developed models of work motivation (such as the model of Locke and Latham, 2004 ) applicable to the transition economy and business practices in Serbia?

2. What is the nature of the relationships between different segments of work motivation (job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement and work characteristics)?

The Hawthorn experiment, conducted in early 1930s ( Mayo, 1933 ), spurred the interest of organizational behavior researchers into the problem of work motivation. Although Hawthorn focused mainly on the problems of increasing the productivity and the effects of supervision, incentives and the changing work conditions, his study had significant repercussions on the research of work motivation. All modern theories of work motivation stem from his study.

Building on his work, Maslow (1943) published his Hierarchy of Needs theory, which remains to this day the most cited and well known of all work motivation theories according to Denhardt et al. (2012) . Maslow's theory is a content-based theory , belonging to a group of approaches which also includes the ERG Theory by Alderfer (1969) , the Achievement Motivation Theory, Motivation-Hygiene Theory and the Role Motivation Theory.

These theories focus on attempting to uncover what the needs and motives that cause people to act in a certain way, within the organization, are. They do not concern themselves with the process humans use to fulfill their needs, but attempt to identify variables which influence this fulfillment. Thus, these theories are often referred to as individual theories , as they ignore the organizational aspects of work motivation, such as job characteristics or working environment, but concentrate on the individual and the influence of an individual's needs on work motivation.

The approach is contrasted by the process theories of work motivation, which take the view that the concept of needs is not enough to explain the studied phenomenon and include expectations, values, perception, as important aspects needed to explain why people behave in certain ways and why they are willing to invest effort to achieve their goals. The process theories include: Theory of Work and Motivation ( Vroom, 1964 ), Goal Setting Theory ( Locke, 1968 ), Equity Theory ( Adams, 1963 ), as well as the The Porter-Lawler Model ( Porter and Lawler, 1968 ).

Each of these theories has its limitations and, while they do not contradict each other, they focus on different aspects of the motivation process. This is the reason why lately they have been several attempts to create an integrated theory of work motivation, which would encompass all the relevant elements of different basic theories and explain most processes taking place within the domain of work motivation, the process of motivation, as well as employee expectations ( Donovan, 2001 ; Mitchell and Daniels, 2002 ; Locke and Latham, 2004 ). One of the most influential integrated theories is the theory proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , which represents the basis for the study presented in this paper.

The model of Locke and Latham is show in Figure 1 . As the figure shows, it includes individual needs, values and motive, as well as personality. Incorporating the theory of expectations, the goal-setting theory and the social-cognitive theory, it focuses on goal setting, goals themselves and self-efficiency. Performance, by way of achievements and rewards, affects job satisfaction. The model defines relations between different constructs and, in particular, that job satisfaction is affected by the job characteristics and organizational policy and procedures and that it, in turn, affects organizational commitment and job involvement. Locke and Latham suggested that the theory they proposed needs more stringent empirical validation. In the study presented here, we take a closer look at the part of their theory which addresses the relationship between job satisfaction, involvement and organizational commitment. The results of the empirical study conducted in industrial systems suggest that this part of the model needs to be improved to reflect the mediating role of job involvement in the process through which job satisfaction influences organizational commitment.

Figure 1 . Diagram of the Latham and Locke model. The frame on the right indicates the part of the model the current study focuses on.

Job satisfaction is one of the most researched phenomena in the domain of human resource management and organizational behavior. It is commonly defined as a “pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting from the appraisal of oneś job or job experiences” ( Schneider and Snyder, 1975 ; Locke, 1976 ). Job satisfaction is a key element of work motivation, which is a fundamental determinant of one's behavior in an organization.

Organizational commitment, on the other hand, represents the degree to which the employees identify with the organization in which they work, how engaged they are in the organization and whether they are ready leave it ( Greenberg and Baron, 2008 ). Several studies have demonstrated that there is a strong connection between organizational commitment, job satisfaction and fluctuation ( Porter et al., 1974 ), as well as that people who are more committed to an organization are less likely to leave their job. Organizational commitment can be thought of as an extension of job satisfaction, as it deals with the positive attitude that an employee has, not toward her own job, but toward the organization. The emotions, however, are much stronger in the case of organizational commitment and it is characterized by the attachment of the employee to the organization and readiness to make sacrifices for the organization.

The link between job satisfaction and organizational commitment has been researched relatively frequently ( Mathieu and Zajac, 1990 ; Martin and Bennett, 1996 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Morrow, 2011 ). The research consensus is that the link exists, but there is controversy about the direction of the relationship. Some research supports the hypothesis that job satisfaction predicts organizational commitment ( Stevens et al., 1978 ; Angle and Perry, 1983 ; Williams and Hazer, 1986 ; Tsai and Huang, 2008 ; Yang and Chang, 2008 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Valaei et al., 2016 ), as is the case in the study presented in this paper. Other studies suggest that the organizational commitment is an antecedent to job satisfaction ( Price and Mueller, 1981 ; Bateman and Strasser, 1984 ; Curry et al., 1986 ; Vandenberg and Lance, 1992 ).

In our study, job involvement represents a type of attitude toward work and is usually defined as the degree to which one identifies psychologically with one's work, i.e., how much importance one places on their work. A distinction should be made between work involvement and job involvement. Work involvement is conditioned by the process of early socialization and relates to the values one has wrt. work and its benefits, while job involvement relates to the current job and is conditioned with the one's current employment situation and to what extent it meets one's needs ( Brown, 1996 ).

2.1. Research Method

Based on the relevant literature, the results of recent studies and the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , we designed a conceptual model shown in Figure 2 . The model was then used to formulate the following hypotheses:

H0 - Work motivation factors, such as organizational commitment, job involvement, job satisfaction and work characteristics, represent interlinked significant indicators of work motivation in the organizations examined.

H1 - Work characteristics will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.

H2 - Organizational policies and procedures will have a positive relationship with job satisfaction.

H3 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with job involvement.

H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment.

H5 - Job involvement will have a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Figure 2 . The research model.

2.2. Participants

For the purpose of this study, 125 organizations from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce database ( www.stat.gov.rs ) were randomly selected to take part in this study. Each organization was contacted and an invitation letter was sent. Eight companies expressed a desire to take part and provided contact details for 700 of their employees. The questionnaire distribution process was conducted according to Dillman's approach ( Dillman, 2011 ). Thus, the initial questionnaire dissemination process was followed by a series of follow-up email reminders, if required. After a 2-month period, out of 625 received, 566 responses were valid. Therefore, the study included 566 persons, 235 males (42%) and 331 women (58%) employed by 8 companies located in Serbia, Eastern Europe.

The sample encompassed staff from both public (53%) and private (47%) companies in manufacturing (31%) and service (69%) industries. The companies were of varied size and had between 150 and 6,500 employees, 3 of them (37.5%) medium-sized (<250 employees) and 5 (62.5%) large enterprises.

For the sake of representativeness, the sample consisted of respondents across different categories of: age, years of work service and education. The age of the individuals was between 20 and 62 years of age and we divided them into 5 categories as shown in Table 1 . The table provides the number of persons per category and the relative size of the category wrt. to the whole sample. In the same table, a similar breakdown is shown in terms of years a person spent with the company, their education and the type of the position they occupy within the company (managerial or not).

Table 1 . Data sample characteristics.

2.3. Ethics Statement

The study was carried out in accordance with the Law on Personal Data Protection of the Republic of Serbia and the Codex of Professional Ethics of the University of Novi Sad. The relevant ethics committee is the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Technical Sciences of the University of Novi Sad.

All participants took part voluntarily and were free to fill in the questionnaire or not.

The questionnaire included a cover sheet explaining the aim of the research, ways in which the data will be used and the anonymous nature of the survey.

2.4. Measures

This study is based on a self reported questionnaire as a research instrument.

The questionnaire was developed in line with previous empirical findings, theoretical foundations and relevant literature recommendations ( Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ; Weiss et al., 1967 ; Mowday et al., 1979 ; Kanungo, 1982 ; Fields, 2002 ). We then conducted a face validity check. Based on the results, some minor corrections were made, in accordance with the recommendations provided by university professors. After that, the pilot test was conducted with 2 companies. Managers from each of these companies were asked to assess the questionnaire. Generally, there were not any major complaints. Most of the questions were meaningful, clearly written and understandable. The final research instrument contained 86 items. For acquiring respondents' subjective estimates, a five-point Likert scale was used.

The questionnaire took about 30 min to fill in. It consisted of: 10 general demographic questions, 20 questions from the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 15 questions from the Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ), 10 questions from the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ), 18 questions of the Brayfield-Rothe Job Satisfaction Scale (JSS), 6 questions of the Job Diagnostic Survey (JDS) and 7 additional original questions related to the rules and procedures within the organization.

The Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ), 20 items short form ( Weiss et al., 1967 ), was used to gather data about job satisfaction of participants. The MSQ – short version items, are rated on 5-points Likert scale (1 very dissatisfied with this aspect of my job, and 5 – very satisfied with this aspect of my job) with two subscales measuring intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction.

Organizational commitment was measured using The Organizational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ). It is a 15-item scale developed by Mowday, Steers and Porter ( Mowday et al., 1979 ) and uses a 5-point Likert type response format, with 3 factors that can describe this commitment: willingness to exert effort, desire to maintain membership in the organization, and acceptance of organizational values.

The most commonly used measure of job involvement has been the Job Involvement Questionnaire (JIQ, Kanungo, 1982 ), 10-items scale designed to assess how participants feel toward their present job. The response scale on a 5-point scale varied between “strongly disagree/not applicable to me” to “strongly agree/fully applicable”.

The Brayfield and Rothe's 18-item Job Satisfaction Index (JSI, Brayfield and Rothe, 1951 ) was used to measure overall job satisfaction, operationalized on five-point Likert scale.

Psychometric analysis conducted showed that all the questionnaires were adequately reliable (Cronbach alpha > 0.7). The suitability of the data for factor analysis has been confirmed using the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) Test (see Table 2 ).

Table 2 . Basic psychometric characteristics of the instruments.

For further analysis we used summary scores for the different scales. Job satisfaction was represented with the overall score of MSQ, as the data analysis revealed a strong connection between the extrinsic and intrinsic motivators. The overall score on the OCQ was used as a measure of organizational commitment, while the score on JDS was used to reflect job characteristics. The JSS and JIQ scales have been modified, by eliminating a few questions, in order to improve reliability and suitability for factor analysis.

Statistical analysis was carried out using the SPSS software. The SPSS Amos structural equation modeling software was used to create the Structural Equation Models (SEMs).

The data was first checked for outliers using box-plot analysis. The only outliers identified were related to the years of employment, but these seem to be consistent to what is expected in practice in Serbia, so no observations needed to be removed from the dataset.

3.1. Exploratory Factor Analysis

Although research dimensions were empirically validated and confirmed in several prior studies, to the best of our knowledge, the empirical confirmation of the research instrument (i.e., questionnaire) and its constituents in the case of Serbia and South-Eastern Europe is quite scarce. Furthermore, the conditions in which previous studies were conducted could vary between research populations. Also, such differences could affect the structure of the research concepts. Thus, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted in order to empirically validate the structure of research dimensions and to test the research instrument, within the context of the research population of South-Eastern Europe and Serbia.

Using the maximum likelihood method we identified four factors, which account for 67% of the variance present in the data. The scree plot of the results of the analysis is shown in Figure 3 . As the figure shows, we retained the factors above the inflection point.

Figure 3 . Scree plot of the EFA results.

The communalities for the variables loading into the factors are shown in Table 3 and the questions corresponding to our variables are listed in Table 4 . Initial communalities are estimates of the proportion of variance in each variable accounted for by all components (factors) identified, while the extraction communalities refer to the part of the variance explained by the four factors extracted. The model explains more of the variance then the initial factors, for all but the last variable.

Table 3 . Communalities.

Table 4 . Questions that build our constructs.

More detailed results of the EFA for the four factors, are shown in Table 5 . The unique loadings of specific items measured with the different questions in the questionnaire on the factors identified are shown in the pattern matrix (Table 6 ). As the table shows, each factor is loaded into by items that were designed to measure a specific construct and there are no cross-loadings. The first factor corresponds to job characteristics, second to job satisfaction, third to job involvement and the final to organizational commitment. The correlation between the factors is relatively low and shown in Table 7 .

Table 5 . Total variance explained by the dominant factors.

Table 6 . Pattern matrix for the factors identified.

Table 7 . Factor correlation matrix.

3.2. Confirmatory Factor Analysis

In the next part of our analysis we used Structural Equation Modeling to validate and improve a part of the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) that focuses on work characteristics, job satisfaction, organizational commitment and job involvement.

Although the EFA suggest the existence of four, not five, dominant factors in the model, diverging from the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) , in our initial experiments we used their original model, shown in Figure 4A , taking into account also organizational policies and procedures.

Figure 4 . The evolution of our model (the path coefficients are standardized): (A) the initial model based on Locke and Latham (2004) , (B) no partial mediation, and (C) partial mediation introduced.

In this (default) model, the only independent variable are the job characteristics. The standardized regression coefficients shown in Figure 4A (we show standardized coefficients throughout Figure 4 ) indicate that the relationship between the satisfaction and organizational commitment seems to be stronger (standard coefficient value of 0.54) than the one between satisfaction and involvement (standard coefficient value of 0.37). The effect of job characteristics and policies and procedures on the employee satisfaction seems to be balanced (standard coefficient values of 0.31 and 0.30, respectively).

The default model does not fit our data well. The Comparative Fit Index (CFI) for this model is 0.759, the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) is 0.598, while the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA) is 0.192.

A more detailed analysis of the model revealed that it could indeed (as the EFA suggests) be improved by eliminating the organizational policies and procedures variable, as it has a high residual covariance with job involvement (−3.071) and organizational commitment (−4.934).

We therefore propose to eliminate the “Organizational policies and procedures” variable from the model. Dropping the variable resulted in an improved model shown in Figure 4B . The improved model fits the data better, but the fit is still not good ( RMSEA = 0.125, CFI = 0.915 and TLI = 0.830).

We then hypothesized that job involvement influences organizational commitment, yielding the final model tested in this study (Figure 4C ). This model turned out to be the one that fits our data very well ( RMSEA = 0.000, CFI = 1 and TLI = 1.015).

4. Mediation Analysis

In the final part of the study we conducted the mediation analysis, to understand the relationship between job satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment. We used bootstrapping, based on 5000 samples and the confidence interval of 95%.

We started with a model that contains just one relation between satisfaction and commitment (Figure 5A ), then tested for full mediation (Figure 5B ) and finally partial mediation as indicated in out proposed model (Figure 5C ). The unstandardized, direct effect regression weights and the p -values obtained in these experiments are shown in Table 8 . As the p -values show, all the connections in our three models are significant and that they remain so throughout the evolution of the model. Therefore, job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

Figure 5 . Mediation analysis models. (A) , Model 1; (B) , Model 2; (C) , Model 3.

Table 8 . Mediation analysis regression weights.

5. Discussion

We conducted an empirical study aimed at exploring the relationship between employee satisfaction, job involvement, organizational commitment, work characteristics and organizational policies and procedures.

Based on the relevant scientific literature, recent studies in the area and the integrative model of work motivation of Locke and Latham (2004) , we have formulated an initial conceptual model for our research and hypothesized the connections between the relevant variables. The initial model has been improved iteratively, with the goal of increasing its fit to the empirical data collected in the study.

Starting from the model proposed by Locke and Latham (2004) we determined that their model does not fit our experimental data well and that we observe a connection between job involvement that is not present in their model. In addition, our data does not support the hypothesis that organizational procedures and policies affect employee satisfaction in the organizations considered. As a result we propose a 4 factor model shown in Figure 4C for the relationship between the concepts of work characteristics, employee satisfaction, job involvement and organizational commitment.

We analyzed the results of the study based on 1 general and 5 specific hypotheses. The research confirms that there is a link between work characteristics and job satisfaction (H1), but that it is weak, suggesting that a dominant effect of the material factors of motivation exists.

We have also determined that there is a connection between the rules and procedures variable (H2) and the rest of the variables, indicating that it should be considered in future studies, but that the constructs need to be operationalized better.

The third specific hypothesis (H3) that job satisfaction has a positive relationship with job involvement has been confirmed and we have observed that extrinsic work motivation has a stronger effect than intrinsic, which can be explained by low wages and insufficient funds for everyday life. Other research has confirmed this link ( Govender and Parumasur, 2010 ) and showed that most of the employee motivation dimensions have significant links with the dimensions of job involvement (9 out of 10 pairs).

The fourth specific hypothesis (H4 - Job satisfaction will have a positive relationship with organizational commitment) has also been confirmed and we can conclude that a positive relationship exists, which is in line with recent research in this area. The subscale focused on identification with the organization is strongly connected with both intrinsic and extrinsic factors of job satisfaction, but this cannot be said for the subscale focused on organizational attachment. Our research supports the existence of a weak connection between job satisfaction and organizational attachment, both when intrinsic and extrinsic satisfaction is considered as a motivator. A study of work motivation and organizational commitment conducted in Bulgaria (Serbia's neighbor) showed that extrinsic factors are key sources of organizational commitment ( Roe et al., 2000 ), as well as that job involvement and the chances for the fulfillment o higher-order needs pay a very important part in the motivation of the employees.

One of the reasons for such a result can be the economic situation in Serbia, which has a severely detrimental effect on work motivation. The transition and economic crisis is accompanied by the shrinking purchasing power of the population, higher unemployment rates and a rising disparity in the salary levels, all of which causes the adjustment of the behavior of the employees to these conditions. Under the economic conditions that exist in Serbia it is to be expected that the individuals will put more value on the salary and advancement prospects than on the opportunities for growth and development, which do not present a direct financial benefit.

The research did not reveal any differences with respect to the sex of the participants, regardless of the variable considered. Other research has not reached a consensus on the matter, as a part of the studies suggests that there are differences in job involvement between men and women ( Lodahl and Kejnar, 1965 ; Hall and Mansfield, 1975 ; Rabinowitz and Hall, 1977 ; Saal, 1978 ).

Regarding the ownership of the organizations examined, the research revealed statistically significant differences between the employees working in public and private companies, i.e., that the participants working in the private sector scores significantly higher on every variable except work characteristics, meaning that they are more committed to work, more involved and more satisfied.

In addition, we have determined that there are statistically significant differences when it comes to the position of the employees in the organization's hierarchy, i.e., whether they occupy a managerial or a non-managerial position. The study shows that managers have higher scores for organizational attachment, organizational commitment, intrinsic motivators, extrinsic motivators, job satisfaction and job involvement. We can, therefore, conclude that the managers are more satisfied with their work in general and that they are more committed to the organization than other employees. This can be explained by the fact that, due to the nature of the work they do, they are able to make decisions, they have a more varied job and have better material and non-material rewards. A more detailed analysis of the commitment of the managers, focused on identifying if we are dealing with normative, continuous or affective commitment would provide more insight into the structure and nature of the relationship between the organization and the individual.

Considering the type of the company (manufacturing or service) our study showed that the participants working in manufacturing companies are the ones who identify more with the company, are more committed to the company, more satisfied with their work and more involved.

Our study also identified a significant difference with respect to the vocation of the participants, showing that those with training in humanistic sciences awarded most positive scores to the characteristics of their work, while the opposite was true for those of technical vocations.

The part of our analysis focused on the age of the participants revealed that there is a statistically significant connection between the age and job satisfaction, where the older the employee, the less satisfied he/she is with their job and cares less about the characteristics of work. A reason for such a result could again be found in the economic situation of Serbia and the high unemployment rate (over 20%), causing the younger people to be satisfied with the simple fact that they managed to get a job, rather than being satisfied with the job itself. Another reason could be the difference in the perception of desires and possibilities that exists between the younger and older employees.

The years with the company are negatively linked with employee satisfaction, as well as job characteristics, which is in line with the effect discussed in the previous paragraph, as those with more time spent in the company are less satisfied with their job and care less about the characteristics of their work.

Considering the level of education of the participants, our study showed that the more educated the employees are, the less involved they are in their work and that they seem to care more about the characteristics of their work.

Our research showed that links exist between all the variables studied and that the weakest of these links is between work characteristics and other constructs. Of those, the weakest link in turn is the link between the work characteristics and the subscale of organizational commitment related to the identification with the organization. Thus, we can conclude that work characteristics do not exhibit a significant influence on whether and to what extent the employee will identify with the organization in which he/she works, i.e., whether he/she will be committed to the organization.

A moderate to strong connection exists between organizational commitment and job satisfaction, which is in line with the results of numerous previous studies ( Currivan, 1999 ; Meyer et al., 2002 ; Malhotra and Mukherjee, 2004 ; Saari and Judge, 2004 ; Chen, 2007 ; Falkenburg and Schyns, 2007 ; Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Getahun et al., 2008 ; Colakoglu et al., 2010 ; Yücel, 2012 ; Fu and Deshpande, 2014 ).

Our study confirms the existence of a strong connection between job satisfaction and job involvement ( Moynihan and Pandey, 2007 ; Wegge et al., 2007 ; Griffin et al., 2010 ; Raymond and Mjoli, 2013 ; Zopiatis et al., 2014 ). Many studies have been carried out in an attempt to examine and define the relationship between job involvement and organizational commitment. Our results are in line with previous studies, which diverge only on the strength of the connection, ranging from moderate to strong ( Blau and Boal, 1989 ; Brewer and Lok, 1995 ; Sjöberg and Sverke, 2000 ; Brooks and Swailes, 2002 ; Toga, 2011 ). Our study provides more evidence for the existence of such a relationship, which is moderately strong. Such a relationship does not exist in the integrative model of Locke and Latham (2004) , which served as a starting point for this study.

In addition, we have determined that job involvement has a mediating role between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Job involvement mediates the influence of satisfaction on organizational commitment, but this is a partial mediation and a major part of the effect of satisfaction on the organizational commitment is achieved directly.

The construct related to organizational policies and procedures seems not to have significant bearing on employee satisfaction, based on the data collected. Two plausible explanations exist for this. The first is the fact that this was the only construct in our study for which a suitable standard questionnaire could not be found, so one had to be constructed specifically, meaning that the construct should be operationalized better in future studies and that this represents the limitation of our study. The other is the fact that in Serbia, as in most transition economies, the lack of suitable institutional and legislative framework at the national level is often accompanied with lax, not clearly defined and even less adhered-to business policies and procedures. In such a state of affairs, the employees seldom have a relatively clear idea of what the policies and procedures of their organization are and are unable to evaluate them with respect to those of other organizations, making this construct very hard to measure. At the same time it can be argued that, in such a situation, the policies and procedures are not perceived by the employees as a significant factor of their organizational behavior and indeed do not affect their work motivation. Whatever the reason, the relationship of policies and procedures to the other variables of work motivation within the transition economies merits further investigation.

Author Contributions

JĆ and SM designed the study. JĆ collected the data and conducted the bulk of the research. MD and DĆ conducted the statistical analysis and modeling. All authors took part in the manuscript writing, led by JĆ and DĆ.

The research leading to these results has received funding from the People Programme (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme FP7/2012-2016/ under REA grant agreement n° 295220.

Conflict of Interest Statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Adams, J. S. (1963). Towards an understanding of inequity. J. Abnorm. Soc. Psychol. 67:422.

Google Scholar

Alderfer, C. P. (1969). An empirical test of a new theory of human needs. Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform. 4, 142–175. doi: 10.1016/0030-5073(69)90004-X

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Angle, H. L., and Perry, J. L. (1983). Organizational commitment: individual and organizational influences. Work Occupat. 10, 123–146. doi: 10.1177/0730888483010002001

Bateman, T. S., and Strasser, S. (1984). A longitudinal analysis of the antecedents of organizational commitment. Acad. Manag. J. 27, 95–112. doi: 10.2307/255959

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Blau, G., and Boal, K. (1989). Using job involvement and organizational commitment interactively to predict turnover. J. Manag. 15, 115–127. doi: 10.1177/014920638901500110

Brayfield, A. H., and Rothe, H. F. (1951). An index of job satisfaction. J. Appl. Psychol. 35:307.

Brewer, A. M., and Lok, P. (1995). Managerial strategy and nursing commitment in australian hospitals. J. Adv. Nurs. 21, 789–799. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.1995.21040789.x

Brooks, I., and Swailes, S. (2002). Analysis of the relationship between nurse influences over flexible working and commitment to nursing. J. Adv. Nurs. 38, 117–126. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2648.2002.02155.x

Brown, S. P. (1996). A meta-analysis and review of organizational research on job involvement. Psychol. Bull. 120, 235–255. doi: 10.1037/0033-2909.120.2.235

Chen, Y.-J. (2007). Relationships among service orientation, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment in the international tourist hotel industry. J. Amer. Acad. Business 11, 71–82.

Colakoglu, U., Culha, O., and Atay, H. (2010). The effects of perceived organisational support on employees'affective outcomes: evidence from the hotel industry. Tourism Hospital. Manag. 16, 125–150.

Currivan, D. B. (1999). The causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in models of employee turnover. Hum. Resour. Manag. Rev. 9, 495–524. doi: 10.1016/S1053-4822(99)00031-5

Curry, J. P., Wakefield, D. S., Price, J. L., and Mueller, C. W. (1986). On the causal ordering of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Acad. Manag. J. 29, 847–858. doi: 10.2307/255951

Denhardt, R. B., Denhardt, J. V., and Aristigueta, M. P. (2012). Managing Human Behavior in Public and Nonprofit Organizations . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Dillman, D. A. (2011). Mail and Internet Surveys: The Tailored Design Method–2007 Update with New Internet, Visual, and Mixed-Mode Guide . New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.

Donovan, J. J. (2001). Work motivation. Handb. Indust. Work Organ. Psychol. 2, 53–76. doi: 10.4135/9781848608368.n4

Falkenburg, K., and Schyns, B. (2007). Work satisfaction, organizational commitment and withdrawal behaviours. Manag. Res. News 30, 708–723. doi: 10.1108/01409170710823430

Fields, D. L. (2002). Taking the Measure of Work: A Guide to Validated Scales for Organizational Research and Diagnosis . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.

Fu, W., and Deshpande, S. P. (2014). The impact of caring climate, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment on job performance of employees in a china's insurance company. J. Business Ethics 124, 339–349. doi: 10.1007/s10551-013-1876-y

Fulmer, I. S., and Ployhart, R. E. (2014). “Our most important asset” a multidisciplinary/multilevel review of human capital valuation for research and practice. J. Manag. 40, 161–192.

GDP (2017). GDP Growth . Available online at: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?end=2016&locations=RS&start=1996&view=chart (Accessed December 14, 2017).

Getahun, S., Sims, B., and Hummer, D. (2008). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment among probation and parole officers: a case study. Professional Issues Crim. Just. 3, 1–16.

Glen, C. (2006). Key skills retention and motivation: the war for talent still rages and retention is the high ground. Indust. Commer. Train. 38, 37–45. doi: 10.1108/00197850610646034

Govaerts, N., Kyndt, E., Dochy, F., and Baert, H. (2011). Influence of learning and working climate on the retention of talented employees. J. Workplace Learn. 23, 35–55. doi: 10.1108/13665621111097245

Govender, S., and Parumasur, S. B. (2010). The relationship between employee motivation and job involvement. South Afr. J. Econ. Manag. Sci. 13, 237–253. doi: 10.4102/sajems.v13i3.102

Greenberg, J., and Baron, R. A. (2008). Behavior in Organizations: Understanding and Managing the Human Side of Work. Upper saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall.

Griffin, M. L., Hogan, N. L., Lambert, E. G., Tucker-Gail, K. A., and Baker, D. N. (2010). Job involvement, job stress, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment and the burnout of correctional staff. Crim. Just. Behav. 37, 239–255. doi: 10.1177/0093854809351682

Hall, D. T., and Mansfield, R. (1975). Relationships of age and seniority with career variables of engineers and scientists. J. Appl. Psychol. 60:201.

Kanungo, R. N. (1982). Measurement of job and work involvement. J. Appl. Psychol. 67:341.

Locke, E. A. (1976). “The nature and causes of job satisfaction,” in Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology , ed M. D. Dunnette (Chicago, IL: Rand McNally), 1297–1349.

Locke, E. A. (1968). Toward a theory of task motivation and incentives. Organ. Behav. Hum. Perform. 3, 157–189. doi: 10.1016/0030-5073(68)90004-4

Locke, E. A., and Latham, G. P. (2004). What should we do about motivation theory? Six recommendations for the twenty-first century. Acad. Manag. Rev. 29, 388–403. doi: 10.5465/AMR.2004.13670974

Lodahl, T. M., and Kejnar, M. (1965). The definition and measurement of job involvement. J. Appl. Psychol. 49:24.

PubMed Abstract | Google Scholar

Malhotra, N., and Mukherjee, A. (2004). The relative influence of organisational commitment and job satisfaction on service quality of customer-contact employees in banking call centres. J. Serv. Market. 18, 162–174. doi: 10.1108/08876040410536477

Martin, C. L., and Bennett, N. (1996). The role of justice judgments in explaining the relationship between job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Group Organ. Manag. 21, 84–104. doi: 10.1177/1059601196211005

Maslow, A. H. (1943). A theory of human motivation. Psychol. Rev. 50:370.

Mathieu, J. E., and Zajac, D. M. (1990). A review and meta-analysis of the antecedents, correlates, and consequences of organizational commitment. Psychol. Bull. 108:171.

Mayo, E. (1933). The Human Problems of an Industrial Organization . New York, NY: McMillan.

Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., and Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normative commitment to the organization: a meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. J. Vocat. Behav. 61, 20–52. doi: 10.1006/jvbe.2001.1842

Milisavljevic, S., Mitrovic, S., and Konja, V. (2013). “Serbian reindustrialization as a chance for better tomorrow opportunities and threats from customers perspective,” in Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference “Deindustrialization: Phenomena, Consequences” (Novi Sad: Faculty of Technical Sciences), 173–182.

Millar, C. C. J. M., Chen, S., and Waller, L. (2017). Leadership, knowledge and people in knowledge-intensive organisations: implications for HRM theory and practice. Int. J. Hum. Res. Manag. 28, 261–275. doi: 10.1080/09585192.2016.1244919

Mitchell, T. R., and Daniels, D. (2002). “Motivation,” in Handbook of Psychology , Vol. 12, eds W. Borman, D. Ilgen, and R. Klimoski (New York, NY: Wiley), 225–254. doi: 10.1002/0471264385.wei1210

Morrow, P. C. (2011). Managing organizational commitment: insights from longitudinal research. J. Vocat. Behav. 79, 18–35. doi: 10.1016/j.jvb.2010.12.008

Mowday, R. T., Steers, R. M., and Porter, L. W. (1979). The measurement of organizational commitment. J. Vocat. Behav. 14, 224–247. doi: 10.1016/0001-8791(79)90072-1

Moynihan, D. P., and Pandey, S. K. (2007). Finding workable levers over work motivation: comparing job satisfaction, job involvement, and organizational commitment. Admin. Soc. 39, 803–832. doi: 10.1177/0095399707305546

Porter, L. W., and Lawler, E. E. (1968). Management Attitudes and Performance . Homewood, IL: Richard D. Irwin Company.

Porter, L. W., Steers, R. M., Mowday, R. T., and Boulian, P. V. (1974). Organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover among psychiatric technicians. J. Appl. Psychol. 59:603.

Price, J. L., and Mueller, C. W. (1981). A causal model of turnover for nurses. Acad. Manag. J. 24, 543–565. doi: 10.2307/255574

Rabinowitz, S., and Hall, D. T. (1977). Organizational research on job involvement. Psychol. Bull. 84:265.

Radun, V., Dragic, R., and Curcic, R. (2015). “Transition, institutions and neoinstitutionalism,” in Institutional Assumptions about Socio-Economic Dynamics in East and Central Europe-Proceedings , Vol. 1 (Novi Sad), 91–106.

Ratkovic-Njegovan, B., and Grubic-Nesic, L. (2015). “Transition, institutions and neoinstitutionalism,” in Institutional Assumptions about Socio-Economic Dynamics in East and Central Europe-Proceedings , Vol. 1 (Novi Sad), 107–122.

Raymond, T., and Mjoli, T. (2013). The relationship between job involvement, job satisfaction and organizational commitment among lower-level employees at a motor-car manufacturing company in East London, South Africa. J. Business Econ. Manag. 6, 25–35.

Roe, R., Zinovieva, I., Dienes, E., and Ten Horn, L. (2000). A comparison of work motivation in bulgaria, hungary, and the netherlands: test of a model. Appl. Psychol. 49, 658–687. doi: 10.1111/1464-0597.00039

Saal, F. E. (1978). Job involvement: a multivariate approach. J. Appl. Psychol. 63:53.

Saari, L. M., and Judge, T. A. (2004). Employee attitudes and job satisfaction. Hum. Resour. Manag. 43, 395–407. doi: 10.1002/hrm.20032

Schneider, B., and Snyder, R. A. (1975). Some relationships between job satisfaction and organization climate. J. Appl. Psychol. 60:318.

Sjöberg, A., and Sverke, M. (2000). The interactive effect of job involvement and organizational commitment on job turnover revisited: a note on the mediating role of turnover intention. Scand. J. Psychol. 41, 247–252. doi: 10.1111/1467-9450.00194

Statistical Office of the Republic of Serbia (2017). Statistical Yearbook of the Republic of Serbia . Belgrade.

Stevens, J. M., Beyer, J. M., and Trice, H. M. (1978). Assessing personal, role, and organizational predictors of managerial commitment. Acad. Manag. J. 21, 380–396. doi: 10.2307/255721

Toga, R. (2011). The Relationship between Job Involvement, Job Satisfaction and Organizational Commitment Among Lower-Level Employees at Mercedes Benz South Africa . Doctoral dissertation, University of Fort Hare.

Tsai, M.-T., and Huang, C.-C. (2008). The relationship among ethical climate types, facets of job satisfaction, and the three components of organizational commitment: a study of nurses in Taiwan. J. Business Ethics 80, 565–581. doi: 10.1007/s10551-007-9455-8

Uvalic, M. (2013). “Why has serbia not been a frontrunner?,” in Handbook of the Economics and Political Economy of Transition , eds P. Hare and G. Turley (London; New York, NY: Routledge, Taylor & Francis), 365–375.

Valaei, N., Valaei, N., Rezaei, S., and Rezaei, S. (2016). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment: an empirical investigation among ICT-SMEs. Manag. Res. Rev. 39, 1663–1694. doi: 10.1108/MRR-09-2015-0216

Vandenberg, R. J., and Lance, C. E. (1992). Examining the causal order of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. J. Manag. 18, 153–167. doi: 10.1177/014920639201800110

Vomberg, A., Homburg, C., and Bornemann, T. (2015). Talented people and strong brands: the contribution of human capital and brand equity to firm value. Strat. Manag. J. 36, 2122–2131. doi: 10.1002/smj.2328

Vroom, V. H. (1964). Work and Motivation . Oxford, UK: Wiley.

Wegge, J., Schmidt, K.-H., Parkes, C., and Dick, R. (2007). Taking a sickie: job satisfaction and job involvement as interactive predictors of absenteeism in a public organization. J. Occupat. Organ. Psychol. 80, 77–89. doi: 10.1348/096317906X99371

Weiss, D. J., Dawis, R. V., and England, G. W. (1967). Manual for the minnesota satisfaction questionnaire. Minnesota Stud. Vocat. Rehabil . 22.

Williams, L. J., and Hazer, J. T. (1986). Antecedents and consequences of satisfaction and commitment in turnover models: a reanalysis using latent variable structural equation methods. J. Appl. Psychol. 71:219.

Yang, F.-H., and Chang, C.-C. (2008). Emotional labour, job satisfaction and organizational commitment amongst clinical nurses: a questionnaire survey. Int. J. Nurs. Stud. 45, 879–887. doi: 10.1016/j.ijnurstu.2007.02.001

Yücel, İ. (2012). Examining the relationships among job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intention: an empirical study. Int. J. Business Manag. 7:44. doi: 10.5539/ijbm.v7n20p44

CrossRef Full Text

Zopiatis, A., Constanti, P., and Theocharous, A. L. (2014). Job involvement, commitment, satisfaction and turnover: evidence from hotel employees in cyprus. Tourism Manag. 41, 129–140. doi: 10.1016/j.tourman.2013.09.013

Keywords: work, job, satisfaction, involvement, employee, commitment, organizational, behavior

Citation: Ćulibrk J, Delić M, Mitrović S and Ćulibrk D (2018) Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment and Job Involvement: The Mediating Role of Job Involvement. Front. Psychol . 9:132. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00132

Received: 07 November 2017; Accepted: 29 January 2018; Published: 16 February 2018.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2018 Ćulibrk, Delić, Mitrović and Ćulibrk. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) . The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Milan Delić, [email protected]

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.