Attitudes & Job Satisfaction: The Context of Generational Differences

Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Attitudes and Job Satisfaction
Introduction
Positive attitudes towards work have always been found to have a direct impact on job satisfaction and work values. Organizations around the world have sought to improve the work environment as one of the components that serve as predictors of job satisfaction and organizational commitments. Jaskyte et al (2020) defines work values as what employees expect from their jobs and the specific elements of their jobs that are most satisfying to them. While there have been extensive studies examining the association between job satisfaction in organizational performance, there has been limited literature that has directly assessed the impact of job satisfaction on employees’ attitudes towards work and the overall organizational commitment and performance. Farzeen et al (2017) have found that the performance of workers is directly associated with job satisfaction as well as their attitudes toward work. A new trend observed in the present generation of workers known as Generation Z or Zoomers shows that they display different workplace attitudes in terms of job satisfaction and engagement. This has further presented new challenges to understanding the factors that impact their satisfaction, which is different from their former generation Y or the Millennials (Cucina et al., 2018). Therefore, in a rapidly changing world and increasing contributions of Zoomers, also known as GenZers, understanding the impact of attitudes and job satisfaction on organizational performance is critical for business sustainability (Abdalkrim & Elhalim, 2016). Nabahani and Riyanto (2020) recognize that Gen Z presents unique qualities that make them different from their predecessors, and with Generation Z entering the workplace, there have been strategies to ensure they collaborate with Gen X and Gen Y to improve productivity. Gen Z has presented new challenges to organizations with members of this generation being known as “job hoppers” who value work-life balance and innovations (Sanchez-Hernandez et al., 2019; Nabahani & Riyanto, 2020). The concept of job-hopping or switching among the new generation has also been linked to organizational commitment and both job satisfaction and motivation are closely related to organizational commitment and performance (Nabahani & Riyanto, 2020). To put the concept of generational differences in their attitudes towards work and work satisfaction into perspective, Aziz et al (2018) have made an extensive review of the generational differences and their attitudes toward work observed in the modern workplace. This paper reviews the impact of attitudes and job satisfaction and how they may impact organizational commitment and performance and how generational differences define job attitudes and satisfaction.
Literature Review
A literature search was conducted using keyword phrases that generated a list of relevant articles based on the subject. Databases and journals in the field of business were employed to find the most relevant searches using the keywords. Specific key phrases included “attitudes”, “job satisfaction”, “organizational performance”, “work-related attitudes”, “work motivation”, “work-life balance”, and “employee satisfaction”. To ensure refined searches, these keywords were combined with Booleans such as “AND” and “OR” to ensure that the search engine captures both aspects of the used keywords in the search results. Using Google Scholar, it was possible to arrive at the most relevant articles published by scholars within the field of business. An important exclusion criterion was the year of publication. any article published more than 5 years ago was excluded. Inclusion criteria also include the date of publication, review articles or original research articles, case studies, short reports and letters, and methodologies or methods. Databases such as EBSCO have high-quality journal articles in the field of business and this database was utilized in searching for relevant journal articles used in this review. It was also important to select those articles that were peer-reviewed and had full-text content to ensure that information validation was presented in the abstracts. Using this search criterion, four articles published within the last 4 years (2016-2021) were selected and reviewed.
Research over the past decades has always associated job satisfaction, employees’ attitudes towards work with organizational commitment and performance. Farzeen et al (2017) have examined the link between job satisfaction and the attitudes of workers towards work with organizational commitment. From the business and organizational management context, the researchers define job satisfaction as the positive emotional state or pleasure resulting from job experiences or job appraisal (Farzeen et al., 2017). Besides, a positive attitude towards a job significantly increases one’s satisfaction at workplaces, and positive attitudes play a critical role in enhancing employee performance. In another observation, as employees perform well in their duties, the business benefits from gaining high profits that will sustain the business in the long run. Studying these variables among workers at the Islamic bank of Pakistan, the researchers hypothesized that job satisfaction and attitudes towards was were equally and strongly interrelated to organizational commitment. Results from this study indicate that there is a strong correlation between employees’ attitudes towards work and job satisfaction with organizational commitment. Similarly, an employee displaying organizational commitment accepts the rules within an organization and strives to achieve the goals of that business organization (Farzeen et al., 2017). However, this study found out that while employees at the Islamic bank of Pakistan are generally satisfied with their job as well as attitudes towards work was beyond the moderate level, there was a lack of organizational development in large Islamic bank of Pakistan. Nevertheless, this research concludes that organizational commitment is defined by employee job satisfaction and attitudes towards work.
Positive attitudes toward work have consistently been cited as one of the determinants of employees’ job satisfaction and a crucial element in organizational success. Besides, job satisfaction enhances the performance of individuals and facilitates innovation and development. Based on these concepts, Abdalkrim and Elhali (2016) have examined the impact of attitude on work performance and job satisfaction among non-Saudi academic members of higher learning. Using multiple regression analysis, the researchers have shown that attitudes toward work have a significant impact on work performance and job satisfaction among non-Saudi academic members of staff. The authors define attitudes toward work as the feelings that employees have regarding different aspects of their work n an organization. This term, according to Abdalkrim and Elhali (2016) is used as an umbrella expression to mean various concepts such as feelings, preferences, beliefs, emotions, and expectations. With the increasing competition in today's business world, work performance has become critical for success. Therefore, many organizations around the world have recognized the importance of keeping their employees motivated to enhance job satisfaction, increase performance, and remain competitive in the market (Abdalkrim & Elhali, 2016). Therefore, as aspects of job satisfaction and employees’ attitudes towards jobs continue to affect the performance of organizations, this area has gained increased attention from the corporate world and academia.
Among the changing trends in studying job satisfaction and organizational commitment towards work is the entry of a new generation of workers into the workforce. Generation Z includes members Gen Z who were born between 1995 and early 2000 (Nabahani & Riyanto, 2020). It is around this time when technology had advanced globally ranging from the Internet technologies and mobile devices had become common among common users. Researchers are increasingly finding this generation to be different compared to their predecessors Generations X and Y. Nabahani and Riyanto (2020) have referred to this generation as “job hoppers” since they are never settled with one specific job and would always want to switch between jobs for some reasons. Studying the reasons why this generation portrays such behavior is critical to understanding how to recruit and retain talent in an organization. As this generation has grown to experience technology in their daily lives, it is the most innovative generation and organizations must learn how to enhance the organizational commitment of Gen Z through work motivation and job satisfaction. According to Nabahan and Riyanto (2020), employers must understand the expectations of Gen Z and what they value most in the workplace to engage and maintain this workforce. Besides, this generation often interacts with its predecessors that might not share similar values with them, and it is important to appreciate their differences to sustain a healthy relationship and enhance job satisfaction.
While Gen Z has mostly been identified as members who value work-life balance (WLB) the most compared to their predecessors, this is an area that has remained an important aspect that many organizations in the world have grappled with for decades. Sanchez-Hernandez et al (2019) have shown that there is a positive correlation between WLB and job satisfaction and that the new generations value WLB due to the attribution of seamlessly fitting work and personal life while maintaining a healthy balance. The authors argue that the changing nature of work and employment has resulted in new societal demands such as WLB, which recently emerged in labor relations as a critical component of a healthy work environment. Following these developments, there have been platforms that the new generations ...