Summary - Value, Attitude and Job Satisfaction

Values represent basic convictions that a specific mode of conduct or end-state of existence is personally or socially preferable to an opposite or converse mode of conduct or end-state of existence. Types of values include, ethical/moral values, doctrinal/ideological (political, religious) values, social values, and aesthetic values. Values build the foundation for the understanding of attitudes and motivation of an individual, since; value has a great impact on perceptions. Values shape relationships, behaviors, and choices. The more positive our values, more positive are people's actions. A significant portion of the values an individual holds is established in the early years from parents, teachers, friends, and others.

Rokeach, in his Value Survey (Rokeach Value Survey- RVS), proposed two sets of values. They are: Terminal values and Instrumental values. Each set contains 18 individual value items. Terminal values refer to desirable end-states of existence, the goals that a person would like to achieve during his/her lifetime. Instrumental values refer to preferable modes of behavior, or means of achieving the terminal values.

Hofstede proposed four dimensions of national culture: Power distance (this dimension measures the 'social equality'), Uncertainty avoidance (this is a representation of a society's tolerance for uncertain situations), Individualism vs. collectivism (individualism gauges to what extent individuals in a country consider themselves as distinct entities rather than as members of cohesive groups and collectivism emphasizes on 'social ties or bonds' between individuals) and Masculinity vs. femininity (this dimension refers to what extent dominant values in a society emphasizes masculine social values like a work ethic expressed in terms of money, achievement and recognition as opposed to feminine social role which show more concern for people and quality of life).

Attitudes are evaluative statements that are either favorable or unfavorable concerning objects, people, or events. Attitudes are not the same as values, but the two are interrelated. There are three components of an attitude: Cognition (the mental process involved in gaining knowledge and comprehension), Affect (the emotional or feeling segment of an attitude) and Behavior (an intention to behave in a certain way toward someone or something). Festinger (1957), while linking attitudes with behavior, argued that, any form of inconsistency is uncomfortable and individuals will attempt to reduce the dissonance. The desire to reduce dissonance would be determined by the importance of the elements creating the dissonance, the degree of influence the individual believes he/she has over the elements and the rewards that may be involved in dissonance.

Self-perception theory (Bem, 1967) proposes that attitudes are used to make sense out of an action that has already occurred rather than devices that precede and guide action. In contrast to the cognitive dissonance theory, attitudes are just casual verbal statements and they tend to create plausible answers for what has already occurred.