Foundations for Organizational Science

1 primary work

Attitudes In and Around Organizations

by Arthur P. Brief

Published 1 June 1998

How do the attitudes people bring with them to the workplace affect thoughts, feelings and actions in organizations? How are the attitudes of those outside an organization affected by the organization? This book provides a concise summary of what we know about attitudes and suggests what we might discover by adopting novel means, both conceptual and methodological, for studying attitudes in and around organizations.

The author overviews the job satisfaction literature, including a redefinition of job satisfaction. In addition, he examines: the various means by which attitudes have been measured; attitude formation and change; and the resistance of attitudes to change efforts. Groups whose attitudes are organizationally relevant, for example, customers, are examined in order to illustrate how organizations affect the attitudes of people beyond their boundaries and to determine how organizations can influence salient attitudes in their environments. The concluding chapter offers a view of the future and ideas for future research.