The Construct Dimensions And The Effects Of Person-Organization Fit Perception On Employee’s Performance

With the rapid development of science and technology, the organizations have been facing fierce competition in a broad area. The employers began to value those individuals who are mobile within the organization due to the compatibility between the core individual characteristics and the organizational characteristics, since a workforce with a high level of person-organization fit may help the organization respond to the environmental changes quickly and maintain competitive advantage. Meanwhile, human resource has been an essential kind of resource for the organization, and the organization’s operation efficiency is determined by the employees’performance to a large extent. As a result, the organizations have been making great efforts to improve the employees’ performance by various ways and means. And it has been verified that the employee’s person-organization fit perception has positive effects on work attitudes, behaviors and outcomes, which means that the employees’performance can be improved with the improvement of person-organization fit perception. Therefore, it is important for the organization to understand the construct dimensions of person-organization fit perception and the effects of fit perception on the employee’s performance.Person-organization fit can be defined as the compatibility between the employee and the organization that occurs when:(a) at least one entity provides what the other needs, or (b) they have similar or complementary fundamental characteristics, or (c) both (a) and (b). However, research about the construct dimensions of person-organization fit is rare in the existing literatures, and the dimensions and operationalizations of person-organization fit are usually authors-oriented but not verified empirically. In addition, there are fewer studies focusing on the relationship between person-organization fit and employee performance than those focusing on the relationship between person-organization fit and work attitudes, although in practice it is common that the organizations pay more attention to performance than to attitudes. And the conclusions about the relationship between person-organization fit and employee performance have not reached a consensus yet. This paper focuses on the construct dimensions of person-organization fit perception and the effect of person-organization fit perception on employee’s performance. It is also discussed about how and in which conditions the person-organization fit perception affects employee’s performance. In this study, firstly, we conceptualize person-organization fit both in narrow sense and in broad sense. Person-organization fit in narrow sense is defined as the compatibility between the individual and the organization as a whole, but not the compatibility between the individual and any other single element of the organization. Under such a definition, person-job fit, person-supervisor fit and person-group fit are not included in the category of person-organization fit. This paper employs the conceptualization of person-organization fit in narrow sense. And person-organization fit in broad sense is defined as the compatibility both between the individual and all the other elements of the organization, and between the individual and the organization as a whole. Under such a definition, person-job fit, person-supervisor fit and person-group fit all fall into the category of person-organization fit.Secondly, we put forward the hypothesis about the construct dimensions of person-organization fit perception based on the interviews with35employees and the theoretical and empirical views in existing literatures about the construct dimensions of person-organization fit. It is hypothesized that individual may perceive person-organization fit through value congruence, goal congruence, personality congruence, personality complementarity and needs-supplies fit. The initial items about person-organization fit perception are generated, and then are examined by several experts familiar with this topic to help improve the content validity of the scale. According to the feedback of the experts, some of the initial items are deleted or revised, and some new items are added to the scale. The scale is tested to ensure that it is readable and understandable. Then questionnaire survey is implemented in a sample of242employees and another sample of235employees. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis are conducted based on the empirical data collected through questionnaire survey. The scale that we develop to measure the person-organization fit perception is verified to meet the psychometric standards on reliability and validity.Finally, based on Social Cognitive Theory, the model of three factors influencing work performance including ability, willingness and opportunity, the other related theories and the experience of common sense in management, we set up a theoretical model and accordingly put forward several hypotheses about how the person-organization fit perception affects the employee’s performance. We propose that person-organization fit perception has positive effect on performance; the relationship between person-organization fit perception and performance is mediated by job engagement, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, ability-job fit perception and person-supervisor fit perception; and the relationship between person-organization fit perception and performance is moderated by perceived organization support. The hypotheses are tested and the results indicate that most hypotheses are supported. We discuss about the results with related theories and the common phenomena in management practice. The differences and similarities between the results in this paper and those in existing literatures are analyzed. The causes and rationales for such differences and similarities are also discussed. Based on the results and conclusions, recommendations for human resource management practices such as recruitment and selection, new employee guidance and socialization and performance management are put forward.The main conclusions of this paper include:(a) The individual perceives person-organization fit through value congruence, goal congruence, personality congruence, personality complementarity and needs-supplies fit.(b) Person-organization fit perception has strong positive effects on employee’s performance, and the effect on contextual performance is stronger than that on task performance.(c) Job engagement and job satisfaction mediate the relationship between person-organization fit perception and performance.(d) Perceived organization support moderates the relationship between person-organization fit perception and task performance.(e) Person-organization fit perception has spillover effect on ability-job fit perception and person-supervisor fit perception, and three of them affect performance jointly.This paper makes contributions to the person-organization fit research as follow:(a) It is verified that there are multiple dimensions for person-organization fit perception, and each dimension represents a unique aspect of person-organization fit perception, which provides implications for the organization and the individual about how to assess and improve the fit level.(b) It is verified that the individual can perceive fit with the organization through both congruence and complementarity. Furthermore, the effect of personality compelmentarity on employee’s performance is stronger than that of personality congruence, which provides empirical support for the Uniqueness Theory.(c) It is verified that person-organization fit perception has significant effect on employee’s performance, the relationship between person-organization fit perception and performance is mediated by job engagement and job satisfaction, and the relationship between person-organization fit perception and task performance is moderated by perceived organization support. This provides initial evidence for how and in which conditions person-organization fit perception affects the employee’s performance.The main innovations in this paper include:(a) The construct dimensions of person-organization fit perception including value congruence, goal congruence, personality congruence, personality complementarity and needs-supplies fit are clarified by exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.(b) It is verified that person-organization fit perception has strong positive effect on employee’s performance in the context of Chinese culture, and the fit perception may affect performance through multiple mediating variables such as job engagement and job satisfaction.(c) It is revealed that person-organization fit perception will have significant strong effect on the employee’s performance when the employee perceives strong support from the organization.