Purpose The possible effect of conflicts as the consequence of differences between personal and organizational values (OV) on organizational commitment (OC) of internal construction stakeholders was an unclear issue in the areas of organizational behaviour in the construction industry, especially in Malaysia. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to focus on this issue in the Malaysian construction industry. Design/methodology/approach This paper targeted professional project consultants, who are identified as architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors, as the internal construction stakeholders. The personal-OV and the level of OC of the stakeholders were evaluated through a questionnaire survey. To achieve the research objective, comparative and hierarchical regression analyses were performed. Findings The results generated by the analyses indicated a high level of value conflicts in the construction organizations which significantly and negatively affected commitment of the internal stakeholders. Originality/value Value conflicts in construction organizations are the agenda of this paper while not many empirical studies have been conducted on this issue in Malaysia. This paper through investigating the potential effect of value conflicts on the stakeholders’ commitment reveals the importance of interaction between personal and OV in construction organizations which contributes to the extant literature of organizational behaviour as to the construction literature.

This study investigated the relationship between “profession” and personal values to explain the potential conflicts between various groups of construction stakeholders. In this study, personal values of three professional groups of project consultants including architects, engineers, and quantity surveyors were assessed through questionnaire survey in the Malaysian construction industry. Using comparative analysis, the personal value priorities and conflicts between these professional groups of stakeholders were identified. The research findings indicated dissimilar patterns of personal values which explain potential conflicts between the stakeholders with different professions in the Malaysian construction industry. Therefore, this research confirmed the predictor role of “profession” variable in explaining personal values although this relationship was an ambiguous issue in the extant literature. This research, through identifying the value priorities of different groups of construction stakeholders, provides better understanding of their different needs, expectations, and preferences which would help project managers to have better perception of the potential conflicts between these groups of construction stakeholders.

This paper looks at the issue of value congruence as being a key driver of fit among persons and the organizations they work for in the context of construction industry in Malaysia. In construction industry many parties have been identified as stakeholders and these abundant and diverse stakeholders do need to be managed based on this fact that, success in construction projects is significantly dependent on meeting the needs of project stakeholders. According to this issue in the construction industry, the importance of embracing PersonalOrganizational fit (P-O fit) which mostly emphasizes on values and known as value congruence is revealed, due to its function for creating compatibility between individual values and organizational values. Recently, the concept of value congruence has attracted many scholars, especially in the field of Organizational Behaviour (OB). Although the literature of OB regarding value congruence indicates a disarray according to several theories and methodologies but affirms the positive outcomes of this construct on some individual variables related to work environment like; organizational commitment, job satisfaction and organizational identification.