Sheryl Ramsay
Postgraduate Program Director, Griffith University, Australia.
Michelle Barker
Professor, Griffith University, Australia.
Sara Branch
Griffith University, Australia.A Longitudinal Study Linking Person-Organisation
Fit to Job Satisfaction and Turnover Intentions
Person-Organization (P-O) fit is a multidimensional construct that
reflects the extent to which employees’ values, beliefs, attitudes and
personality traits match or “fit” an organisation’s values, culture, norms
and strategic needs (O'Reilly, Chatman & Caldwell 1991). Although P-O
fit has also been associated with a range of positive organisational
outcomes such as workplace structure, culture and productivity,
empirical support is mixed, some scholars have raised the possibility of
negative outcomes (Argyris, 1957; Powell, 1998; Schneider, 1987; Walsh,
1987). Also, P-O fit research has often been criticized for adopting a
static view that does not adequately assess the nature and/or strength of
P-O fit changes over time, particularly in contemporary organisational
environments. The current study aims to extend the P-O fit literature by
taking a longitudinal approach to investigating the construct and
whether the associations between P-O fit and the outcome variables of
employee turnover intentions and job satisfaction are dynamic over
time. This quantitative research was conducted within a large
Australian organisation over a two-year period, with self-report data
collected at four different time-points. Results indicate that perceived P-
O fit is a dynamic construct, which is predictive of variables such as
satisfaction and turnover intentions over time. By employing a
longitudinal, repeated-measures design in a field setting, this study
sheds light on how individuals’ perceptions of fit with an organisation
may strengthen over the employment life-cycle, as well as how the
effects of perceived fit on important ‘outcome’ variables (e.g., job
satisfaction, turnover intentions) may change over time. The P-O fit
construct and its overall role in organizations is discussed. Several
implications for organizations and individuals are presented, including
management practices and decisions and training and development
approaches within contemporary organizational contexts, which are
characterized by change.