PERSON-ORGANIZATION FIT AND JOB SATISFACTION - An interactional approach

Person-organization (PO) fit is a complex conceptualization of the congruence between an employee and their organization's environment. The following paper investigates two different approaches to looking at this relationship. PO fit is assessed (1) using recognized statistical measures of PO fit and (2) using measures of employee and organizational characteristics and assessing their interactions. An empirical study of the relationship between PO fit and job satisfaction is presented. The organizational implications of the relationship between PO fit and job satisfaction are discussed using Schneider's (1987) ASA framework to integrate the results of the study. The implications of this study support the importance of PO fit. The relationship of PO fit varies depending on the facet of job satisfaction used as the dependent variable of interest. This research is used to assess whether either of the two approaches have more utility for organizations seeking to use PO fit to improve on important organizational criteria.