Strategies for the assessment of person -organization fit: Consolidating the unifying person-environment theme in counseling psychology

Person-organization fit---as a distinct construct within the person-environment fit realm---blends a number of counseling psychology's distinguishing themes in a rich, multi-disciplinary research arena. Measuring person-organization fit, however, is a complex endeavor. To date, the measurement effort has brought several competing methods, methods for which the proponents of each have engaged in rigorous debate. This dissertation addressed the debate by gathering fit data under a multi-method design using an identical organizational population across methods. Such a design expands upon the literature by integrating assessment methods into a more comprehensive means of capturing the essence of person-organization fit. Taking advantage of counseling psychology's broad-based focus on psychological assessment, both the quantitative and holistic angles of person-organization fit have been taken into account. Findings revealed that quantitative person-organization fit may look different across methods. Antecedents to person-organization fit were seen to have no effect. A holistic analysis of psychological themes showed that even with similar looking cultural patterns, person-organization fit when quantified can be influenced by method. This points to the measurement error inherent in any assessment instrument, no matter how carefully crafted. The ultimate conclusion centers around the notion that measurement error will be reduced with not only multi-method assessment but also combined quantitative and holistic analysis. The implication for the broader research is to spend less energy debating among methods and more effort developing comprehensive strategies that better address "organizational effectiveness" versus "individual difference" focused research goals.