Bart L. Weathington

An Analysis of the Relation Between Employee—Organization Value Congruence and Employee Attitudes

Researchers have examined the fit or match between a person and an organization extensively in the empirical literature. Overall findings have supported the existence of a positive relation between the congruence of employee and organizational values with employee attitudes toward the organization. However, this relation is not fully understood, and more research is needed to understand the relation between the congruence of different value dimensions and multiple employee attitudes. Therefore, the authors aimed to analyze value congruence across 7 dimensions and its relation to (a) job satisfaction, (b) organizational commitment, (c) satisfaction with the organization as a whole, and (d) turnover intentions. The results suggest that the perceived congruence of employee-organizational values by employees is positively associated with satisfaction with the job and organization as a whole and employee commitment to the organization. The results also support a negative relation between value congruence and employee turnover intentions.

The Relationships Between Justice Perceptions, Trust, and Employee Attitudes in a Downsized Organization

The authors examined perceptions of distributive justice, procedural justice, trust, organizational commitment, organizational satisfaction, and turnover intentions among survivors in an organization that had recently completed an organizational downsizing. Results suggested that trust partially mediated the relationship between distributive justice and both organizational satisfaction and affective commitment. Additionally, the relationship between procedural justice and turnover intentions was mediated by trust perceptions.

Optimism, Stress, Life Satisfaction, and Job Burnout in Restaurant Managers

Researchers have suggested that dispositional optimism is related to both stress and stress outcomes (E. C. Chang, K. L. Rand, & D. R. Strunk, 2000). However, the nature of this relationship has not fully been explained. The authors contributed to a better understanding of this relationship by evaluating dispositional optimism, stress, overall life satisfaction, and job burnout in a sample of restaurant managers. Results indicated that stress and job burnout were significantly related; however, their relationship was not moderated by dispositional optimism, as would be suggested by the results of past research. The diminished personal accomplishment dimension of job burnout mediated the relationship between optimism and life satisfaction. Also, stress significantly impacted perceptions of diminished personal accomplishment and life satisfaction.

Self-functioning and perceived parenting: relations of parental empathy and love inconsistency with narcissism, depression, and self-esteem.

In Heinz Kohuts (1977, 1984) theory of the psychology of the self, good parenting provides a child with optimal frustration and just the right amount of loving empathic concern. In the present study, the authors examined the relations of perceived parental empathy and love inconsistency with measures of narcissism, self-esteem, and depression. In a sample of university undergraduates (N = 232; 78 men, 153 women, and 1 nonresponder), perceived parental empathy predicted more adaptive self-functioning, whereas parental love inconsistency was related to psychological maladjustment. These results support the theoretical assumption that perceived parental empathy is associated with healthy self-development.

The congruence of personal life values and work attitudes.

The authors examined the congruence between an individuals personal-life value placement and attitudes at work. Specifically, they examined how people place value on work, family, religion, and themselves (the personal life values), respectively, and how that choice influences affect, commitment, conscientiousness, and honesty in the workplace (attitudes at work). The authors also examined and tested exploratory hypotheses by using both simple correlations and multiple linear regression analyses. Results suggested varying relationships between value placement and work attitudes. The authors discussed implications and directions for future research.

Measuring the value of nonwage employee benefits: building a model of the relation between benefit satisfaction and value.

Researchers have commonly assumed benefits that employees view as more valuable have a greater influence on their attitudes and behaviors. Researchers have used 2 common methods to measure benefit value: attaching a monetary value to benefits and using self-reports of benefit importance. The present authors propose that the 2 approaches are conceptually distinct and have different implications. They use a social exchange perspective to justify this distinction and integrate both approaches and benefit satisfaction into a more comprehensive model of benefit perception. Results suggest that both measures have practical applications depending on the nature of the exchange relationship between the organization and employees. However, this relationship depends on the specific benefit and on employee satisfaction with that benefit. Some benefits lend themselves to a monetary estimate, whereas others lend themselves more to a nonmonetary valuation.