Importance of person-organization fit to job seekers
Kristin Backhaus
Keywords
Recruitment, Organizations,
Values, Employees, Selection,
Job evaluation
Abstract
This study investigates the
importance of person-organization
fit to job seekers. The study
hypothesizes that as job
experience increases, importance
of fit will also increase. Further, it
hypothesizes that desire for
personal control will be positively
associated with importance of fit.
Results suggest that while number
of years of work experience is not
related to the importance placed
on person-organization fit, having
an experience of perceiving poor
fit with an organization does relate
to the importance placed on fit in
future job searches. Findings also
suggest that desire for personal
control is positively associated
with importance placed on fit. The
study suggests that disposition as
well as situational factors
influence the assessment of
organizational attractiveness.
Received June 2002
Revised October 2002
Accepted October 2002
Career Development
International
8/1 [2003] 21-26
# MCB UP Limited
[ISSN 1362-0436]
[DOI 10.1108/13620430310459487]
School of Business, State University of New York at New Paltz, New Paltz,
New York, USA
Are we driven to ``fit'' into our work
environment? Do job seekers actually
consider the degree to which their values are
mirrored by those of the firm when they
assess potential employers? This match
between workers and their work
environments was first called person-
environment fit (Kristof, 1996), and then was
explored further under the concept of
``person-organization fit''. Person-
organization fit is defined by Chatman (1991)
as a match between patterns of individual
and organizational values. It can also be seen
as compatibility between individuals and
firms (Kristof, 1996). Research on person-
organization fit suggests that a good fit
between individual and organizational
values results in positive outcomes for all.
Studies have found that people prefer to work
in organizations that reflect their personal
values (Cable and Judge, 1996; Judge and
Cable, 1997). Person-organization (P-O fit) fit
has been associated with decreased levels of
employee turnover, and higher levels of job
satisfaction, organization commitment, and
interpersonal attraction (Boxx et al., 1991;
Chatman, 1991; O'Reilly et al., 1991; Posner,
1992; Schneider, 1987). Hence, researchers
recognize the positive outcomes related to
fitting into the work environment, but do job
seekers actually use value congruence and fit
with organizational culture as job search
criteria?
Most of the research on P-O fit has tended
to focus on work-related outcomes (e.g.
Kristof, 1996) and/or the process by which fit
does or does not occur (e.g. Schneider, 1987).
Few studies have examined antecedents of
fit, or ways in which job seekers approach
the goal of ``fitting in'' (cf. Kristof, 1996).
Rynes et al. (1991) examine ways in which job
seekers assess their degree of fit. A study
done by Cable and Judge (1996) suggests that
people use the criterion of ``fit'' in making job
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choices, but little further attention has been
paid to the factors that determine the
perceived ``importance of fit''. Do job seekers
actively seek good ``fit'' when considering
prospective employers? Are there particular
situational or dispositional factors that
determine whether an individual will
consider P-O fit important in evaluating a
prospective employer? The research
presented in this paper represents a
preliminary investigation of importance of
fit to job seekers, and establishes importance
of fit as a job search criterion.
Conceptual framework and
hypotheses
An individual's tendency to view P-O fit as an
important criterion in the job search may
derive from work-related experiences that
make fit more salient, or a general
predisposition to exercise control over
potentially uncertain circumstances by
seeking out more predictable and familiar
environments. The next sections examine
these assumptions.
Prior experience
As suggested by the phrase ``experience is the
best teacher'', it seems reasonable to assume
that a job seeker's prior work experience
might highlight the importance of fit.
Support for this assertion is provided by
Feldman and Arnold (1978), who found that
prior work experience provides insights
about the importance of organizational
characteristics and helps job seekers make
more informed job choices. As relates to
instrumental learning (Skinner, 1969), the
degree to which we place importance on fit
will be contingent on how useful this factor
has proven to be in the past. Related to this,
Cable and Parsons (1999) have demonstrated
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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[ 21 ]
Kristin Backhaus that lessons learned from previous
Importance of experience seem to guide workers toward
person-organization fit
to job seekers organizations in which they find greater
value congruence. So, it seems that as people
Career Development
International accrue job experience, they become more
8/1 [2003] 21-26 adept at discriminating between
organizational attributes. Moreover, it seems
logical that people would learn some of the
lessons that research has shown ± that good
fit leads to good outcomes. Job seekers would
learn to appreciate the value of P-O fit,
recognize it more readily, and more actively
seek it:
H1. Job seekers' years of work
experience will be positively
associated with the degree of
importance they place on fit in the
job search process.
H1a. Job seekers' age will be positively
associated with the degree of
importance they place on fit in the job
search process.
Types of work experiences may also lend
something to the job choice process. This is
supported by recent work by Meglino and
Ravlin (1999). The researchers studied the
effect of realistic job previews on job
acceptance. They found that realistic job
previews (providing information about both
the positive and negative aspect of the job)
had little effect on the job acceptance rate of
interviewees who had never done work
similar to the job being studied. In contrast,
providing realistic job previews to
individuals who had done similar work in
the past decreased the job acceptance rate
significantly. The negative information
became more salient to people with prior
related experience. To put it another way,
people who have had unpleasant experiences
tend to exaggerate the noxiousness of those
experiences (Christensen-Szalanski et al.,
1983) and try to avoid experiencing them
again. This is consistent with an operant
conditioning perspective, suggesting that
punishment reduces the likelihood that
behavior will be repeated (Skinner, 1969).
Consequently, one may expect that workers
who have experienced poor fit within an
organization would seek to avoid a repeat
episode, and would place additional
emphasis on finding an organization that
would be likely to provide good P-O fit.
H2. Job seekers who have had a negative
P-O fit experience will place greater
importance on P-O fit than those who
have not had a negative experience.
Desire for control
Studies of organizational attributes used in
job choice have looked at the connection
[ 22 ]
between psychological variables and
attribute preferences. In general, this work
has demonstrated support for the role of
personality in both process and outcome
(e.g. Judge and Cable, 1997; Posner, 1992;
Tom, 1971). However, there have been no
empirical studies that have looked for a
connection between personal characteristics
and the desire to fit; in fact, the desire to seek
fit with an organization's culture has been
taken for granted. But what personal
characteristics might affect the importance
placed on fit with the organization?
To develop a reasonable hypothesis, we
must first look to the context of the job
seekers' situation. As individuals look
toward entering a new organization, they
face a period of change, contrast and surprise
(Louis, 1980). Entrants are faced with
uncertainty, a lack of knowledge about their
tasks, their relationships and their place in
the social order. When confronted with this
experience, the worker is likely to feel they
have lost control over their circumstances
(Ashford and Black, 1996). Further, if the
newcomer experiences a situation of value
incongruence, where the values of the
organization feel different and unfamiliar to
the newcomer, it would seem to increase the
degree of uncertainty and hence the
perceptions of low control.
The desire for personal control is a
construct well established in the
psychological literature (Greenberger et al.,
1988). Personal control can be defined as the
level of one's motivation to control
circumstances in one's life (Wise et al., 1996).
Research indicates that individuals want to
feel a sense of control over their
circumstances (Greenberger and Strasser,
1986), and feelings of low control can be
disturbing. Thus, the desire for personal
control can serve as a motivator ± individuals
will act to increase their perceptions of
control over their circumstances (Wortman
and Brehm, 1975). Personal control is based
on beliefs, personality and biases
(Greenberger et al., 1988), and can be
considered a dispositional factor. Desire for
control varies among people (Ashford and
Black, 1996). Not all individuals react the
same way to feelings of low control. Thus, we
may hypothesize that individual differences
in desire for control may influence the extent
to which people attempt to avoid situations of
low control. It seems logical to hypothesize
that those with high desire for control would
attempt to mitigate their chances of entering
a new setting that was incongruent with his/
her values because those situations lower the
overall feeling of control for the newcomer.
Hence, individuals high in desire for control
Kristin Backhaus will view P-O fit as a more important
Importance of criterion than those low in desire for control.
person-organization fit H3. There will be a positive association
to job seekers
between need for control and
Career Development
International importance placed on fit.
8/1 [2003] 21-26
Methods
Sample and procedure
Subjects were students participating in a job
fair at a public, comprehensive college in the
northeastern USA. The event was organized
by the college career advising office for the
purpose of linking professional employers
with students completing bachelor's degrees
in a variety of academic majors. Job fair
participants were asked to complete a
questionnaire asking for information about
what issues were important to them in their
job search. The survey took about five
minutes to complete. The survey was
distributed to 500 participants at the job fair.
There were 175 completed surveys (35
percent). Respondents' ages ranged from 18 to
60 years, with an average age of 25.81 (SD 6.93
years) and 49 percent of respondents were
women.
Measures
Importance of fit
Importance of fit to job seekers was measured
by two items drawn from Cable and Judge
(1996): ``In general (with no specific
organization in mind), when you evaluate an
organization, how important is fit (your
values match with those of current
employees in the organization)''; and ``To
what degree is your job search based on a
match or `interpersonal fit' between your
values and those of the current employees in
the organization''. Responses were on a
five-point scale that ranged from ``not at all''
to ``completely.'' The internal consistency of
this two-item scale was 0.79.
For comparison purposes, participants
were also provided with a list of ten other
organizational characteristics, and asked to
rate the importance of each using the same
five-point scale, ranging from (1) not
important, to (5) extremely important. The
items included salary, benefits, management
style, size of the organization, opportunities
for advancement, flexible scheduling,
location, company ethics, diversity of the
organization and prestige of the
organization.
Work experience
Two items measured work experience. First,
respondents were asked whether or not they
had work experience. Of the sample, 92
percent indicated that they did have work
experience. The amount of work experience
for the entire sample varied from 0 to 30
years (M = 7.45, SD = 6.76). Negative
experiences with fit were assessed by means
of one item with a yes/no response, ``Have
you had a work experience in which you felt
that your values did not match or fit with the
organization and/or the employees in the
organization?''. A follow-up question asked
respondents answering yes to provide details
about the outcome of the experience.
Desire for control
Desire for control was assessed by a scale
developed by Greenberger and Strasser
(1986). The 11-item instrument asks the
respondent to report the amount of control
they wish to have on the job using a
five-point scale of ``very little'' to ``very
much''. Scale reliability was acceptable,
coefficient alpha = 0.86.
Results
Table I provides descriptive statistics and
intercorrelations of the survey items. Table II
provides results of multiple regression
predicting the importance of fit using age,
years of experience, negative fit experience,
and need for control.
The data were analyzed using multiple
regression, to determine the amount of
variance in importance of fit that can be
explained with the variables. The four
variables included in the regression equation
predict 17 percent of the variation in
importance of fit to job seekers in the sample
(R2 = 0.171, F = 7.68, p < 0.01). H1 proposes a
relationship between years of work
experience and importance placed on fit
during the job search process. Results from
multiple regression reveal no statistically
significant relationship between these
variables. Similarly, the next hypothesis
proposes a relationship between age and
importance placed on fit and, again, there is
no statistically significant relationship
between the two variables.
H2 proposes a relationship between having
negative fit experiences and importance of fit
in the job search. The regression model
reveals a relationship between these
variables that is significant at the 0.05 level,
thus supporting H2.
H3 is based on the need for control scale.
Scores can range from 11 to 55. For this
sample, scores ranged from 11 to 50 (M = 36.93,
SD = 6.36). As the regression analysis reveals,
need for control is the strongest predictor of
importance of fit (b = 0.35, p < 0.01). Thus H3
is supported.
[ 23 ]
Kristin Backhaus
Importance of Discussion
person-organization fit
to job seekers The results of this study provide some initial
support for continued research on the
Career Development
International importance of fit as a job search criterion, its
8/1 [2003] 21-26 precise nature and its situational and
dispositional determinants. Though it seems
logical that job seekers would come to
appreciate the importance of fit as they
accrue job experience, the results of this
study do not expose significant differences in
priorities among workers based on years of
experience or based on age. On the other
hand, the study reveals a connection between
negative experiences and importance placed
on fit, suggesting that while experience in
general does not influence priorities, bad
experiences do. Consistent with H3, desire
for control was related to importance placed
on fit. As desire for control increased, so did
the importance of fit.
Considering the present findings, there is a
clear suggestion that individuals do differ in
the importance they place on fit. Despite the
strength of the data suggesting the positive
outcomes of strong P-O fit, not all job seekers
perceive of fit as an important job search
criterion. The findings of this study are
interesting in that they differentiate between
the effects of job experience in general and
negative organization fit experiences. Age
and years of work experience did not predict
the degree of importance placed on fit, but
negative experiences did. It suggests that
experience may be instructive when it has
been negative. An experience that highlights
the importance of congruence between
individual and organizational values may
affect how an individual assesses future
employers. Because this study focuses on the
effect of negative fit experiences, future
research might investigate the effects of
highly positive fit experiences. It is possible
that very good experiences may also motivate
individuals to seek good fit between their
values and those of their employing firm.
The lack of relationship between age, years
of work experience and importance placed on
fit may be explained in a few ways. First, the
sample for the study, while varying
considerably in age and degree of work
experience, was drawn from a college
population. Therefore, even though the
respondents may have had as many as 20 or
more years of work experience, they are
anticipating a significant boundary crossing.
Their completion of the baccalaureate degree
will mark their entry into a new area or a
new level of employment. Thus, in many
ways, they may discount that which they
have experienced before. They may consider
their prior job experiences to have little to
offer in terms of informing them about future
experiences.
The study also indicates that not only
situational, but dispositional factors as well,
may predict the importance placed on fit by
job seekers. The finding that desire for
control relates to the importance placed on fit
is intuitive ± clearly, individuals who desire
control over their circumstances are likely to
use all information they can to reduce the

Table I
Descriptive statistics and intercorrelations
Variable description M SD 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. Age 25.8 6.93 ±
2. Sex (1 = male,
2 = female) 1.58 0.94 0.11
3. Years of work 7.45 6.76 0.80** 0.01
4. Control 36.93 6.36 ±0.05 ±0.02 0.00
5. Neg. fit exp.
(1 = yes,
2 = no) 1.58 0.50 ±0.12 0.02 ±0.17* 0.08
6. Impt. fit 10.01 2.11 ±0.01 0.08 0.11 0.31 ±0.15
7. Salary 3.86 0.88 0.04 0.00 0.07 0.38** 0.07 0.04
8. Benefits 3.68 0.98 ±0.07 ±0.03 ±0.04 0.30** 0.12 0.08 0.44**
9. Mgt style 3.26 0.97 0.12 ±0.03 0.04 0.20* 0.03 ±0.01 0.03 0.17*
10. Firm size 2.31 0.94 ±0.03 0.09 ±0.08 0.04 0.19* 0.12 0.06 0.27** 0.23**
11. Advancement 4.21 0.89 ±0.08 ±0.08 ±0.07 0.39** 0.12 0.06 0.32** 0.22** 0.07 0.13
12. Flexible hours 3.57 1.05 0.08 0.11 0.14 0.30** 0.15* 0.17* 0.28** 0.23** 0.07 0.05 0.20
13. Location 3.42 1.07 0.10 0.06 0.06 0.32** ±0.00 0.17* 0.26** 0.21** 0.10 0.14 0.21** 0.35**
14. Ethics 3.72 1.02 0.21** 0.10 0.16* 0.23** 0.02 0.36** 0.04 0.29** 0.29** 0.18* 0.13 0.26** 0.19*
15. Prestige 2.85 1.00 ±0.16* 0.05 ±0.26** 0.12 0.00 0.17* 0.24** 0.33** 0.15* 0.35** 0.20** 0.15* 0.31** 0.22**
16. Diversity 3.02 1.19 0.03 0.00 0.00 0.13 ±0.06 0.28** 0.04 0.19** 0.23** 0.25** 0.19** 0.09 0.25** 0.40** 0.37**
Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01

[ 24 ]
Kristin Backhaus stress of entering an organization with
Importance of unknown or unfamiliar values. But are there
person-organization fit
to job seekers other dispositional factors that may predict
the importance placed on fit? Future
Career Development
International research might investigate other
8/1 [2003] 21-26 dispositional factors, like tolerance for
ambiguity, tolerance for frustration or
openness to experience and their
relationship to importance of fit to job
seekers.
This study not only establishes importance
of fit as a variable and proposes future
research directions, it also provides helpful
information for career counselors. These
data suggest that for certain individuals, fit is
a high priority in the job search. Career
counselors might identify those individuals
using personality assessments, and help
them to gather the data on organizational
culture and values that would be needed for
them to make a good match. Second, because
other research has demonstrated the
importance of congruence for positive
organizational and individual outcomes,
career counselors might help those who are
less concerned with fit to recognize its
importance. Finally, knowledge of the
antecedents of importance of fit would help
career counselors provide the information
and services best suited to their clients.
While this study provides good foundation
for future research, it also has weaknesses
that should be noted. While the overall
response rate (35 percent) was strong for
survey research, there still exists the
possibility of self-selection bias. Second,
because the career fair was a college-
sponsored event, the sample was limited to
college students, and the results may not
generalize to non-college populations. Third,
as mentioned before, the fact that job seekers
were anticipating a change in job level or
entry into a new area of work may have
mitigated their perception of the importance
of their previous experiences. Future
investigations should expand the sample
populations and focus on individuals
pursuing jobs for which they have related
experience. Finally, the fact that all of the
data were derived through self-report
measures leaves the results susceptible to
Table II
Results of multiple regression analysis
Independent variables b t R2 F df
**
Years worked 0.226 1.793 0.171 7.68 153
Age ±0.196 ±1.56
Need for control 0.35 4.67**
Poor fit experience ±0.17 ±2.24*
Notes: * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01
common method variance. While attempts
should be made to capture actual search
strategies through more objective
(independent) measures, the participants
must provide much of the data that are
required in this type of research.
This study is important in that it explores a
variable that has been given little attention
in the P-O fit or job-search literatures,
``importance of fit'', as well as some potential
determinants of this predisposition. It opens
the door to further research about who is
concerned about fitting in, and how those
individuals go about seeking a good fit with
an employer.
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