gender differential paper IJCRB

ijcrb.webs.com
JUNE 2011
INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 3, NO 2
considering others in and around the organization and inhibit them to exhibit interpersonal-type
OCB.
4. Antecedents of Work Values of IT Personnel
On the basis of the average work values of IT personnel, they might be expected to exhibit more
impersonal-type OCB but less interpersonal-type OCB. However, as workers’ factors have been
found to influence their OCB, these individual factors are also considered to have some effect on
their work values. In other words, even though the averages of work values of IT personnel
generally differ from those of the whole sample, the actual work values of each IT worker differ
across people, and the work values of each person depend on his/her attitudinal factors.
In this study, we considered the effect of the following attitudinal and perceptual factors.
Satisfaction: Satisfaction is known as one of the most typical antecedents that positively affect OCB.
The original questionnaire of WIR had four questionnaire items regarding satisfaction with the
current job, employment status, workplace, and organization, such as “Are you satisfied with your
current job?” The average of the responses to these items was used as a measure of overall
satisfaction (α = 0.855). We assumed that when workers are satisfied with work, they will be more
aware of their work and have more unequivocal work values. Hence, the following hypothesis was
proposed.
Hypothesis I: Overall satisfaction will positively influence work values.
Skill evaluation: Workers are aware of their competency in the workplace. One of the factors
affecting this competency is skill evaluation; that is, how talented they consider themselves in terms
of the skills necessary for performing their jobs. When they highly evaluate their skills, they are
more aware of something they can obtain through work; this clarifies their work values.
The original questionnaire by WIR had 12 items on skill evaluations. We excluded one item because
it was inappropriate for this study, and we then divided the remaining 11 items into problem-solving
skills and human relations skills. Problem-solving skill evaluation referred to the degree to which a
worker considered s/he had the skill and knowledge necessary to appropriately handle a job and
make accurate decisions. We measured it with seven items and used their average as the measure of
this aspect of skill evaluation (α = 0.824). Exemplary items were “skill to formulate a good plan to
solve a problem” and “systematic knowledge regarding your current job.” Human relations skill
evaluation indicated the degree to which a worker considered s/he had the skill necessary to
appropriately resolve problems in human relations. We measured it with four items and used their
average as the measure (α = 0.720). Exemplary items were “skill to develop peaceful human
relationships” and “skill to control your own emotion.”
Of the six work values, extrinsic rewards and power and authority were considered as extrinsic work
values, and challenging job, self-actualization, identification with the organization, and contribution
to society were regarded as intrinsic work values. Generally, workers who highly evaluate their skill
tend to be more sensitive to rewards that they can acquire through their skill if they tried, and in turn,
this tendency encourages them to inculcate more work values related to these rewards. However,
while problem-solving skill is the basic one that is associated with work values, human relations
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