Self-esteem within the work and organizational context: a review of the organization-based self-esteem literature

On numerous occasions it has been suggested that an individual's self-esteem, formed around work and organizational experiences, plays a significant role in determining employee motivation, work-related attitudes and behaviors. We review more than a decade of research on an organization-based conceptualization of self-esteem. It is observed that sources of organization structure, signals about worth from the organization, as well as, success-building role conditions predict organization-based self-esteem. In addition, organization-based self-esteem is related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment, motivation, citizenship behavior; in-role performance, and turnover intentions, as well as, other important organization-related attitudes and behaviors. Explanations for these effects and directions for future research are discussed. (C) 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.