Rotter (1966), who delivered the concept of locus of control, believed
that behavior does not depend only on external stimuli and
reinforcements but rather on the meaning that the person assigns to a
given external stimulus or reinforcement. In simple way, Rotter
believed that behavior is the interaction between the person’s
cognition and the environment.
Chung and Ding (2002) believed that locus of control is a generalized
expectancy pertaining to the connection between personal
characteristics and/or actions and experienced outcomes.
Bradley and Sparks, (2002) stated that to the extent that people
consistently experience a contingent relationship between their actions
and the outcomes, they will develop a belief in internal locus of
control. To the extent that they perceive action outcome relationships
to be un-patterned and unreliable, they are likely to develop beliefs
in external locus of control.
The definition for locus of control seems to converge on that
individuals with an internal locus of control believe that their
efforts have a direct effect on their future outcomes, and individuals
with an external locus of control attribute their behavior outcomes to
external events that externals believe are out of their control
(Appelbaum & Hughes, 1998).
Locus of control plays an important role in human performance (Frucot
& Shearon, 1991). It is believed to influence job satisfaction
(Spector, Cooper, Sanchez, & O’Driscoll, 2001), job performance,
and the other organizational withdrawal (Hyatt & Prawitt, 2001).
Hyatt and Prawitt suggested that internals are more satisfied with
their job than externals. Spector et al. found that the positive
relationship between locus of control and job satisfaction is
consistent across nations. Internals believe their job efforts are more
highly related to performance (Wit, Kacmar, Carlson, & Zivnuska,
2002).
In Hyatt and Prawitt’s study, they even found that internal locus of
control achieve higher level of performance at unstructured working
environment, and external locus of control achieve higher level of
performance at structured working environment. Prior research even
identified that individuals with internal and external characteristics
differ in the kinds of rewards they prefer. Baron and Ganz (1972)
stated that people with a internal locus of control prefer intrinsic,
or self-supplied rewards, for example, sense of achievement and
accomplishment.
In contrast, externals believe that forces beyond their control are
responsible for success, therefore, externals prefer extrinsic rewards,
such as pay promotion and job security. The construct of locus of
control is used as the independent variable to predict the level of
perceptions of organizational politics and job satisfaction.
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