Employee attitudes and job satisfaction

This article identifies three major gaps between HR practice and the scientific research in the area of employee attitudes in general and the most focal employee attitude in particular-job satisfaction: (I) the causes of employee attitudes, (2) the results of positive or negative job satisfaction, and (3) how to measure and influence employee attitudes. Suggestions for practitioners are provided on how to close the gaps in knowledge and for evaluating implemented practices. Future research will likely focus on greaterunderstanding of personal characteristics, such as emotion, in defining job satisfaction and how employee attitudes influence organizational performance. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.