Focus of attention at work and organization-based self-esteem

The purpose of this paper is to examine the questions “How does employees' focus of attention at work theoretically relate to organization-based self-esteem?”, and “Does job focus and off-job focus moderate relationships between organization-based self-esteem, and employee attitudes and perceptions of job complexity?”. Participants in two different samples completed questionnaires containing measures of organization-based self-esteem, focus of attention at work, job complexity, and a variety of attitudes and behavioral intentions. What and how much employees think about when they are at work changes relationships between organization-based self-esteem and employee perceptions of and attitudes towards their workplaces. Job focus and off-job focus of attention intensified or weakened relationships with organization-based self-esteem. Conclusions about causality are constrained by the cross-sectional data collected in this study. It appears that managers should attempt to draw employees' attention to self-esteem bolstering aspects of their jobs; and away from debilitating ones. Societies benefit by having members with positive well-being, to which organization-based self-esteem may contribute. This is the first theoretical analysis and empirical study of relationships between organization-based self-esteem and employee focus of attention at work.