Organizational Behavior (Stephen Robbins)

who is late for a meeting, you could imagine either an internal or an external reason for
the lateness. An internal reason might be that the team member must have partied into
the wee hours of the morning and then overslept. An external attribution might be that
there was a major automobile accident that tied up traffic.

Rules for Determining Attribution
In trying to determine whether behaviour is internally or externally caused, we rely on
three rules about the behaviour: (1) distinctiveness, (2) consensus, and (3) consistency.
Exhibit 2-2 summarizes the main elements in attribution theory.

Distinctiveness Distinctivenessrefers to whether an individual acts similarly across
a variety of situations. Is the student always underperforming (being late for class, goof-
ing off in team meetings, not answering urgent emails) or is the student’s behaviour
in one situation unusual from what he shows in other situations? If the behaviour is
unusual, the observer is likely to make an external attribution. If this action is not
unusual, the observer will probably judge it as internally caused.

Consensus Consensusconsiders how an individual’s behaviour compares with
others in the same situation. If everyone who is faced with a similar situation responds
in the same way, we can say the behaviour shows consensus. When consensus is high,
an external attribution is given to an individual’s behaviour. But if an individual’s behav-
iour is different from everyone else’s, you would conclude the cause for that individual’s
behaviour was internal.

Consistency Finally, an observer looks for consistencyin an action that is repeated
over time. If a student is usually on time for class (she has not been late all term), being
10 minutes late will be perceived differently from the way it is when the student is rou-
tinely late (almost every class). If a student is almost always late, the observer is likely to
attribute lateness to internal causes. If the student is almost never late, then lateness
will be attributed to external causes.

Chapter 2Perception, Personality, and Emotions 35

Observation Interpretation

Attribution

of cause

External

High

(Seldom)

Low

(Frequently)

High

(Frequently)

Low

(Seldom)

High

(Frequently)

Low

(Seldom)

Internal

External

Internal

Internal

External

Individual

behaviour

Distinctiveness

(How often does the

person do this in

other situations?)

Consensus

(How often do other

people do this in

similar situations?)

Consistency

(How often did the

person do this in

the past?)

EXHIBIT 2-2 Attribution Theory

distinctiveness A behavioural

rule that asks whether an individual

acts similarly across a variety of situ-

ations.

consensus A behavioural rule that

asks if everyone faced with a similar

situation responds in the same way.

consistency A behavioural rule

that asks whether the individual has

been acting in the same way over

time.