Topic: Job Satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Performance
Publication: Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology (SEP 2010)
Article:A meta-analysis of the predictors and consequences of organization-based self esteem.
Authors: Bowling, N. A., Eschleman, K. J., Wang, Q., Kirkendall, C.,& Alarcon, G.
Reviewed by: Charleen Maher
Organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) is a role-specific type of self-esteem that describes employees’ beliefs about their value and competence as a member of an organization – “I’m valued around here!” So, what predicts OBSE in employees and what are the outcomes of experiencing OBSE?
A meta-analysis by Bowling and colleagues found that OSBE is predicted by the dispositional, “hard wired” traits of general self-esteem and self-efficacy (the belief a person has that he/she can achieve goals). Additionally, job complexity, autonomy, perceived organizational support, and social support from managers and coworkers were work conditions that predicted OBSE in employees.
As for outcomes, the present study found that OBSE was positively related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job involvement, performance, and organizational citizenship behavior.
For employees, OBSE is also related to a lower likelihood of depression and physical health symptoms. Interestingly, OBSE was a stronger predictor of these work-related criteria than general self-esteem. This makes sense when you consider that OBSE is a work role-specific type of self-esteem, right?
Taking these results together, if an organization wants to influence work-related criteria (e.g. commitment, involvement, performance) for its employees, it can consider lending more job complexity, autonomy and support to its employees. Although it is difficult to tinker with more stable dispositional traits (e.g. self-efficacy), organizational interventions that increase perceptions of autonomy or support may lead to more OBSE among employees. Given the strong relationships found in this study, organization-based self-esteem might be a good indicator of the presence of work-related attitudes.