Howard Weiss

Deconstructing job satisfaction: Separating evaluations, beliefs and affective experiences

Abstract In this paper I argue that standard treatments of job satisfaction have inappropriately defined satisfaction as affect and in so doing have obscured the differences among three separate, if related, constructs. These key constructs are overall evaluative judgments about jobs, affective experiences at work, and beliefs about jobs. I show that clearly separating these constructs is consistent with current, basic research and theory on attitudes as well as with current research and theory on “subjective well-being” (SWB). I also argue that the separation of the constructs can produce better criterion predictions than job satisfaction has by itself, suggests new areas of research that cannot be envisioned when satisfaction and affect are treated as equivalent constructs, and requires the development of new measurement systems.

Effects of justice conditions on discrete emotions

Research on organizational justice typically focuses on attitudinal, cognitive, or behavioral outcomes. Emotional reactions to justice have been suggested but not studied. The emotional appraisal literature provides a framework within which to analyze emotional reactions to just and unjust events. Undergraduates (67 females and 55 males) were randomly assigned to conditions crossing either a positive or negative outcome and a procedure which was either fair, biased in the participants favor, or biased in favor of another, after which their emotional responses were assessed by self report. Results support predictions about discrete emotional reactions. As predicted by emotional-appraisal theories, reports of happiness were influenced only by outcome, whereas reports of guilt, anger, and to a lesser extent pride, were influenced by specific combinations of outcome and procedure. Results are discussed within an emotional appraisal framework.

An Episodic Process Model of Affective Influences on Performance

In this article, the authors present a model linking immediate affective experiences to within-person performance. First, the authors define a time structure for performance (the performance episode) that is commensurate with the dynamic nature of affect. Next, the authors examine the core cognitive and regulatory processes that determine performance for 1 person during any particular episode. Third, the authors describe how various emotions and moods influence the intermediary performance processes, thereby affecting performance. In the final section of the article, the authors discuss limitations, future research directions, and practical implications for their episodic process model of affect and performance.

Methods of Ecological Momentary Assessment in Organizational Research

Although ecological momentary assessment and experience sampling methods have been in use in other areas of the social and medical sciences for many years, organizational researchers have not taken advantage of these techniques. To rectify this situation, the authors examine the benefits and difficulties of ecological momentary assessment and offer suggestions for how it can be used effectively in organizations. In addition, the authors discuss the analysis of these data from a multilevel framework and place particular emphasis on procedures that examine the temporal nature of momentary data.

A Within-Person Approach to Work Behavior and Performance: Concurrent and Lagged Citizenship-Counterproductivity Associations, and Dynamic Relationships with Affect and Overall Job Performance

The present research examines the within-person structure of job performance, with an emphasis on the relationship between organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and counterproductive work behavior (CWB). We demonstrate, via two experiencesampling studies, that OCB and CWB are affect-driven phenomena that exhibit considerable within-person variation. Furthermore, as predicted, the within-person affective forces on OCB were independent of those on CWB—and the two phenomena were themselves independent. When directed at an organization (rather than a supervisor or coworkers), both were, however, related (within-person) to each other and to overall job performance. We discuss implications for the within-person performance structure. Researchers have traditionally thought of job performance in terms of what Borman and Motowidlo (1997) considered “task performance”—that is, employee effectiveness with regard to those activities that contribute to their organization’s “technical core.” Only more recently has the role of employee work behaviors that fall outside the rubric of task performance been acknowledged in the research literature. Borman and Motowidlo reasoned that such behaviors are important because they “shape the organizational, social, and psychological context that serves as the catalyst for task activities and

Making the Break Count: An Episodic Examination of Recovery Activities, Emotional Experiences, and Positive Affective Displays

Drawing on the emotional labor and work recovery literatures, we examined the relationship between workday break activities and emotional experiences and the role these variables play in the perfor...

Episodic Processes in Emotional Labor: Perceptions of Affective Delivery and Regulation Strategies

This study examined emotional labor processes from a within-person, episodic framework. The authors hypothesized that the influence of negative emotions on affective delivery would be lessened by regulation strategies for supervisor perceptions but not self-perceptions. In addition, difficulty maintaining display rules was hypothesized to mediate the relation between negative emotions and self-perceptions of affective delivery. Finally, the influence of surface acting strategies on these processes as well as correlations with individual differences was investigated. Hypotheses were tested using ecological momentary assessment of a sample of cheerleading instructors. Results suggest that surface actors can regulate emotions effectively on an episode-to-episode basis but find the episode more difficult. In addition, surface actors exhibit more general tendencies to devalue themselves and experience fewer positive emotions.

The Structure of Affect: Reconsidering the Relationship Between Negative and Positive Affectivity

During the past decade organizational scientists have devoted considerable research attention to the topic of workplace affect. Despite important advances, continued progress depends on a better understanding of the structure of affective experience. The goal of this paper is to review progress to date. In particular, we review evidence pertaining to four constructs that have been widely used to organize research on affect: positive affectivity, negative affectivity, hedonic tone, and affect intensity. We review various structural models pertaining to these four constructs, devoting special attention to integrative frameworks and future research needs.

The effect of leader outcomes on influence, attributions, and perceptions of charisma.

This study addressed how various outcomes to a leader might influence not only how that leader is perceived but also the degree of influence that leader might subsequently obtain. On the basis of recent charismatic leadership theories, it was expected that leaders who appeared willing to endure hardship for the expression of their beliefs would be perceived differently than leaders who appeared to benefit in some way. The relationship between outcomes and subsequent leader influence was confirmed. Sacrificing resulted in greater influence, whereas benefiting reduced it. This relationship was mediated by attributions made about leader motives. The relationship between outcomes and influence was also mediated by perceptions of charisma.

The multifractal analysis of Gibbs measures: Motivation, mathematical foundation, and examples

We first motivate the study of multifractals. We then present a rigorous mathematical foundation for the multifractal analysis of Gibbs measures invariant under dynamical systems. Finally we effect a complete multifractal analysis for several classes of hyperbolic dynamical systems. (c) 1997 American Institute of Physics.