Fairness and Job Satisfaction Essay Example

may perceive that extra efforts in helping disabled and elderly customers will be rewarded with a merit raise or promotion by his employer in the future. Fairness also allows the employee-firm relationship to extend beyond mere economic obligations as social exchange develops (Blau, 1964; Kumar et al., 1995; Lind and Tyler, 1988; Morgan and Hunt, 1994; Organ, 1990).

Social exchange refers to voluntary actions of an unspecified nature between parties that suggest a personal investment in the other party (Blau, 1964; Organ, 1990). The notion of voluntary actions is why social exchange is the most common theoretical framework for explaining extra-role performance, for example voluntary performance beyond requirements; cf. Organ, 1990; Organ and Ryan, 1995). Workplace fairness perceptions are related to contact employee extra-role customer service and employee cooperation. From one perspective, fairness assures the employee that role obligations will be met with deserved rewards.

However, employees possess far less discretion to increase or decrease their performance of role-prescribed behaviors given that these behaviors are tied directly to performance monitoring and organizational rewards (Brief and Motowidlo, 1986; Organ, 1988). For example, firms such as Holiday Inn and AT&T monitor role-prescribed customer service behaviors such as greeting the customer by name, answering the phone within three rings, and making a personal pledge to a customer that a request will be handled.

A normative perspective of fairness, however, does posit a positive relationship to comply with or be obedient to organizational policies and directives is primarily a function of employee attitudes regarding the legitimacy of rules and authority in the firm (Katz, 1964; Katz and Kahn, 1978). Considerations of fairness are widespread in organizations since they are pertinent whenever an

allocation is made (Leventhal et al., 1980; Lind and Tyler, 1988). Thus, fairness perceptions are relevant to evaluations of the just nature of decisions regarding compensation; promotion, evaluation, distribution of tasks and responsibilities, and even the application of standards in the workplace (cf. Carrell and Dittrich, 1978; Greenberg, 1986; Livingstone et al., 1995).

Although both distributive (outcome) and procedural aspects of fairness may be expected to affect current satisfaction evaluations, procedural fairness issues may acquire increased importance in employee decisions concerning performance contributions. Fair procedures and their implementation, especially with regard to performance evaluations and pay administration, provide a guarantee of long-term rewards for exceptional customer service performance and cooperation (Lind and Tyler, 1988). Fairness perception follows that an employee will be more satisfied with a relationship characterized by fair outcomes and a more fair work environment (Carrell and Dittrich, 1978; Organ, 1990).

Extrinsic and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction What is Extrinsic and Intrinsic Satisfaction? Extrinsic and Intrinsic Job Satisfaction are motivators for the overall job satisfaction, in which it is an attitudinal construct traditionally conceptualized in terms of beliefs (cognitions) and feelings (affect) regarding one’s job in general (Locke, 1976) or specific facets of one’s job (Smith, Kendall, and Hulin, 1969). Since Organ’s (1977) discussion of the connection between job satisfaction and extra-role dimensions of performance, researchers have found an association between an employee’s overall job satisfaction and organization behavior which includes intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction (Organ and Ryan, 1995).

Human motivation at work is the heart of the field of organizational behavior. In work and other contexts, motivation is often described as being “intrinsic” or “extrinsic” in nature (Sansone and Harackiewicz, 2000). Intrinsic deriving from within

the person of from the activity itself, positively affects behavior, performance, and well being (Ryan and Deci, 2000).

Extrinsic, literature that was evolved first are actions that result in the attainment of externally administered rewards, including pay, material possessions, prestige, and positive evaluations from others. Intrinsic rewards and values appear to operate in ways different from extrinsic rewards and values, and also to differentially affect attributions of intrinsic motivation, perceived control, and satisfaction. Overall Job Satisfaction What is Job Satisfaction? Job satisfaction refers to an employee’s overall affective evaluation of the job situation. There is increasing interest in the job satisfaction of frontline employees, given their prominent role in developing customer relationships (Heskett et al., 1994; Hoffman and Ingram, 1992; Schneider and Bowen , 1993).

In fact, recent marketing studies identify relationships between contact employee job satisfaction and (a) customer satisfaction (Bernhardt et al., 1994), (b) customer service quality and value perceptions (Hartline and Ferrell, 1993) and (c) customer orientation (Hoffman and Ingram, 1992) for restaurants, hotels and health care providers, respectively. The preceding discussion establishes the importance of contact employee pro-social service behaviors and job satisfaction to service excellence.