The dynamics of person-environment fit: Active and reactive responses within the theory of work adjustment

The Theory of Work Adjustment proposes two adjustment processes--the active and reactive response modes--that describe how individuals respond to a mismatch with their work environments. Active responses represent attempts by the individual to change the environment to improve person-environment fit. Reactive responses represent changes that individuals make to themselves to accomplish this goal. An important question concerns where change will occur--within the person or within the environment--when individuals seek to improve person-environment fit. One hypothesis is that individuals high in negative affectivity prefer the use of a reactive response mode. An alternative hypothesis is that perceived environmental control influences choice of response mode. Individuals who view themselves as having more control than the environment will prefer an active response mode. Individuals who view the environment as more powerful will prefer the use of a reactive response mode.;A new measure of the active and reactive response modes was created and administered to a group of 46 mid-career adults for whom extensive assessment data were available. The hypothesis that negative affectivity would be associated with a preference for reactive responses was not supported. Neither was there support for the hypotheses that individuals prefer changing the environment when they perceive themselves to have more control and that they prefer changing themselves when they feel the environment has greater control. Instead, the opposite was observed. Participants expressed significantly more confidence in changing themselves when they were the ones to initiate change and in changing the environment when the environment requested change. As such, concerns about where change occurs may be less important than where the request for change originates when predicting how individuals will respond to poor person-environment fit. Locus of initiative for change should be included in future research on individuals' responses to poor person-environment fit.