Attitudes

Definition

Attitude is a learned disposition to respond in a consistently favourable or unfavourable manner with

respect to given object.

Every attitude as 3 components that is represented is what is called ABC model of attitude. A for
affective, B for behavioural, C for cognitive.

9.6.1 Features of Attitudes

Attitudes have following features or characteristics:

 An attitude is the predisposition of the individual to evaluate some objects in a favourable or

an unfavourable manner. Predisposition is an inclination towards something.
 Attitudes are learned from personal experience, information provided by others and market-
controlled sources.
 Attitude have motivational qualities.
 Attitudes are consistent, does not mean they are permanent, they can change
 Attitudes have relationship with behaviour
 Attitudes are directed towards an object and are very specific to object or situation
 Attitudes are different from values. Values are the ideals, whereas attitudes are narrow, they
are our feelings, thoughts and behavioural tendencies toward a specific object or situation.

Functions of Attitude

Attitudes are known to serve at least four important functions in an organisation setting:

1. Attitudes determine meaning: Much of what is seen in the environment and in other people's
behaviour is determined by attitudes. If one has an overall favourable attitude towards a person, one
tends to judge his activities as "good" or "superior". On the other hand, negative attitudes or
prejudices generally prompt disagreement with the individual concerned or failure to appreciate the
good work done by him.

2. Attitudes reconcile contradictions: It is not uncommon to come across people who hold
contradictory opinions. With the proper attitude as a background, intelligent people can reconcile or
rationalise the same actions, which to others are obvious contradictions. For example, when a
worker takes a little rest, a superior considers it "idling".

3. Attitudes organise facts: As already seen, objective events can be differently perceived by
different people because of different attitudes. Meanings can be concocted and falsely
communicated to others by changing the attitudes of the recipients towards wider social issues.

4. Attitudes select facts: From the plethora of environmental facts and stimuli, one tends to select
those which are in consonance with one's cherished beliefs and attitudes. Attitudes, thus, act as a
screen or filter.

9.6.3 Components of Attitudes

The three components of attitudes are: (ABC model)

Emotional or Affective Component:

  'Affect' is the emotional component of an attitude. It refers to an individual's feeling about
something or someone. Statements such as "I like this" or "I prefer that" reflect the affective
component of an attitude.
 The affective component becomes stronger as an individual has more frequent and direct
experience with a focal object, person or situation.
 A person who believes hard work earns promotions may feel anger or frustration when he or
she works hard but is not promoted.
 Affect is measured by physiological indicators such as galvanic skin response (changes in
electrical resistance of skin which indicate emotional arousal) and blood pressure.
 These indicators show changes in emotions by measuring physiological arousal. If an
individual is trying to hide his or her feelings, this might be shown by a change in arousal.

Behavioural or Intentional Component:

 Refers to the individual's behaviour that occurs as a result of his or her feeling about the
focal person, object or situation.
 This is the only component of attitude that can be seen while others are inferred
 The behavioural component is the intention to behave in a certain way towards an object or
person.
 The behavioural component of an attitude is measured by observing behaviour or by asking a
person about behaviour or intentions.
 For example, our attitudes towards women in management may be inferred from an
observation of the way we behave toward a female supervisor. We may be supportive,
passive or hostile depending on our attitude.

Informational or Cognitive Component:

 The cognition component of an attitude reflects a person’s perceptions or beliefs has about a
certain person, object, or situation.
 The cognitive component sets the stage for the more critical part of attitude—its affective
component.
 The belief that "discrimination is wrong" is a value statement. Such an opinion is the
cognitive component of an attitude.
 Learned beliefs, such as "you need to work long hours to get ahead in this job", lead to
attitudes that have an impact on behaviour in the workplace.
 Cognitive elements are evaluative beliefs and are measured by attitude scales or by asking
about thoughts. The statement "I believe Japanese workers are industrious," reflects the
cognitive component of an attitude.

Component Measured by

A. Affect Physiological indicators Verbal Statements about Feelings

B. Behavioural intentions Observed Behaviour Verbal Statements about Intentions

C. Cognition Attitude scales Verbal Statements about Beliefs

Examples

o I do not like that company – Affective;

o They are the worst supply firm I have ever worked with – Cognitive;
o I will never do business with thin again – Behavioural / Intentional;
Attitude formation
The important sources of attitudes are:

 Personal experience
 Social factors
 Learning
 Family and Peer groups
 Economic status and occupation

Types of Attitudes
A person can have thousands of attitudes, but most of the research in OB has been concerned with
three attitudes: Job satisfaction, Job involvement, and Organisational commitment.

Job Satisfaction:

 The term "job satisfaction" refers to an individual's general attitude toward his or her job.
 A person with a high level of job satisfaction holds positive attitudes toward the job; a
person who is dissatisfied with his or her job holds negative attitudes about the job
 Satisfaction results when a job fulfils the attainment of individual values and standards, and
dissatisfaction occurs when the job is seen as blocking such attainment.
 This attitude has received extensive attention by researchers and practitioners because it
was at one time believed to be the cause of improved job performance.
 Managers' concern for creating both a humane and high-performance workplace,
researchers continue to search for definite answers about the causes and consequences of
job satisfaction.

Job Involvement:

 Job involvement is the degree to which a person identifies with his or her job, actively
participates in it and considers his or her performance important to self-worth.
 Employees with a high level of job involvement strongly identify with and really care about
the kind of work they do.
 High levels of job involvement have been found to be related to fewer absences and lower
resignation rates.

Organisational Commitment:

 Organisational commitment is the degree to which an employee identifies with a particular

organisation and its goals, and wishes to maintain membership in the organisation.
 High organisational commitment means identifying with one's employing organisation.
 Negative relationship between negative commitment and absenteeism and turnover.
 Organizational commitment is a better indicator of turnover than job satisfaction as it is
global and enduring response to organization.
 Commitment can be
 Affective commitment – emotional attachment to organization and its values
 Continuate commitment – value of remaining with organization compared to
alternatives
 Normative commitment – obligation to remain with organization for moral or ethical
reasons
Theories of Attitude Change
Cognitive Dissonance Theory

Leon Festinger, in 1957, proposed the theory of cognitive dissonance.

people want their attitudes to be consistent with one another and want their behaviours to be
consistent with their attitude.

When people become aware of the inconsistency they experience "cognitive dissonance", an
unpleasant state of arousal.

It motivates them to re-establish consistency by changing one of their attitudes or by changing their
behaviours.

Coping with Dissonance

No individual can completely avoid dissonance. According to Festinger, the desire to reduce
dissonance would be determined

 Importance of the Elements: If the elements creating the dissonance are relatively
unimportant, the pressure to correct this imbalance will be low.
 Degree of Influence: If they perceive the dissonance to be an uncontrollable, they are less
likely to be receptive to attitude change.
 Rewards: if rewards are significant enough to offset the dissonance, they tend to reduce the
tension inherent in the dissonance.

Attitudes and Behaviour: Attitude-behaviour correspondence depends on five things:

 Attitude Specificity: Individuals possess both general and specific attitudes. Specific attitude
provides a stronger link to behaviour.
 Attitude Relevance: Attitudes that address an issue in which we have some self-interests are
more relevant for us, and our subsequent behaviour is consistent with our expressed
attitude.
 Timing of Measurement: The shorter the time between the attitude measurement and the
observed behaviour, the stronger the relationship.
 Personality Factors: Low self-monitors display greater correspondence between their
attitudes and behaviours. High self-monitors display little correspondence between their
attitudes and behaviours because they behave according to signals from others and from the
environment.
 Social Constraints: The social context provides information about acceptable attitudes and
behaviours.

Persuasion and Attitude Change People who depend for their living on changing attitudes, such as
politicians and advertisers usually rely on more direct techniques than cognitive dissonance for
inducing attitude change.

Through some message, they hope to convince their audience to adopt a favourable view of their
product, candidate, or idea.

Persuasion occurs over one of two routes: the central route and the peripheral route
Central Route to Persuasion:

When the recipient of a persuasive message thinks about and evaluates the quality of the
arguments presented in the communication, and either agrees or disagrees with the message on
the basis of this evaluation.

 When an issue is personally relevant, the individual is motivated to think carefully about it.
 In the central route, the content of the message is very important.
 If the arguments presented are logical and convincing, attitude change will follow.

Peripheral Route to Persuasion:

In the peripheral route to persuasion, the message recipient is persuaded on the basis of heuristic
thinking, previous learning experiences, or other methods that do not require evaluation of quality
of the arguments in the message.

The individual is persuaded by characteristics of the persuader – for example, expertise,

trustworthiness and attractiveness.

The individual may be persuaded by statistics, arguments or the method of presentation – all of
which are not substantial aspects of the message, but it may persuade the individual.

By pairing your product or issue with a stimulus that is known to produce a positive emotional
response, you may induce in your target a conditioned positive response to the product.

Other theories of Attitude:

o Learning Theory
o Balance theory
o Self-perception theory
o Expectancy value theory
o Cognitive response theoy