| This study used a person-organization fit framework to examine both overall compensation preferences regardless of personality and Big Five personality moderators of compensation attraction. A policy capturing design was used with 139 undergraduate students completing the NEO-PI-R, compensation scenario cards, and a demographic questionnaire. The main effects hypotheses results showed that compensation characteristics were important in job attraction and that overall individuals were more attracted to jobs with one compensation characteristic over another. Three main effects hypotheses results replicated those found by Cable and Judge (1994), which found overall greater attraction, and therefore preference, for jobs that offered fixed pay (versus variable), individual based pay (versus group), and flexible benefits (versus fixed). In addition, skill based pay (versus job based) and supervisor appraisal (versus team) were preferred. Dominance analysis results revealed that the relative importance of the compensation variables from highest to lowest was individual pay, fixed pay, flexible benefits, supervisor appraisal, and lastly, skill based pay. The results also suggested that compensation attraction was moderated by the fit between Big Five personality traits and compensation system characteristics. Hierarchical regression results revealed that adding the compensation and personality interaction terms significantly increased the variance explained. Regression coefficients indicated that seven of 25 interaction terms were significant, supporting that the Big Five factors Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Agreeableness, and Conscientiousness were moderators of the relationship between compensation and job attraction. Overall, three of 11 personality moderator hypotheses were supported. Specifically, Openness to Experience moderated attraction to fixed pay (versus variable) and skill based pay (versus job based) and Conscientiousness moderated attraction to individual based pay (versus group). Neuroticism failed to be a significant moderator although it was proposed in three hypotheses. This study has implications for research in the areas of pay, the Big Five personality model, person-organization fit, and the dominance analysis methodological approach. It offers applied implications for organizations in recruiting and selection, organization culture, and the use of total rewards. |
