Graduation Year

Spring 2011

Document Type

Open Access Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Psychology

Reader 1

Ketan Mhatre

Reader 2

Ronald Riggio

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© 2011 Laura M. Bottorff

Abstract

This study investigated the importance that junior and senior job-seeking undergraduates (Millennial generation members) place on transactional and relational work attributes; how ratings vary by gender, experiences with layoff, and intended loyalty; and how well ratings match with actual attributes offered by organizations. Results are discussed in context of psychological contract theory. Students (n = 199) and recent graduates working full-time (n = 180) took separate online survey. Students indicated the importance of various work attributes (Ng, Schweitzer, & Lyons, 2010), loyalty intentions, and other related questions. Graduates answered only work attribute questions related to their current employer. Work attributes were factored into new transactional (IMP-T; µ = .78) and relational scales (IMP-R; µ = .91). Key results indicated that students rated relational work attributes more highly than transactional attributes (p < .001); gender had no effect on importance ratings or intended loyalty; and students’ importance ratings were above the workplace reality.

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