The purpose of this study was to investigate the mediating effect of person-environment fit on the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. Data were obtained from full-time employees who were working in private and public sectors from various organisations in Malaysia (n = 204). Person-environment fit was found to be a significant mediator of the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. This has wide-ranging implications for organisational development consultants who intend to shape the culture of various organisations, on the assumption that certain organisational cultures directly lead to certain desirable employee outcomes. Managers need to pay attention to not only their organisational culture such as training, rewards, teamwork and communication, but to also ensure that they are aimed towards improving the fit between individuals and their work environment. Whereas previous research tends to look at P-E fit as a predictor of employee outcomes, this is one of the first few studies to provide evidence of P-E fit as a mediator of the relationship between organisational culture and organisational commitment. Keywords: Organisational culture, Person-environment fit, Organisational commitment 1. Introduction Organisational culture has been consistently an important theme in management and business research for the past few decades due to its potential to affect organisationally and individually desired outcomes. For instance, there are many studies that looked at how organisational culture was a predictor of employee retention (Sheridan, 1992). Most people, especially younger employees understand and accept that loyalty towards their organisation is largely a losing proposition, and they are no longer willing to be dependent on their employers or accepting of organisational policies, practices and decisions, that do not meet their needs or career aspirations (Ooi and Arumugam, 2006). There are also many studies that found that the fit between the person and the environment (i.e., P-E fit) was an important predictor of work-related outcomes such as job satisfaction, organisational commitment and staff turnover (Cable and Judge, 1996; Kristof, 1996; Kristof Zimmerman and Johnson, 2005). In fact, from the various studies, cited in Kristof (1996), Kristof et al., (2005) and Verquer, Beehr and Wagner (2003), P-E fit was popularly viewed in the past, as a predictor or an independent variable affecting the dependent variable of employee outcomes. However, more recent research have begun to look beyond the simple bivariate relationships between P-E fit and job outcomes, and begun to discover the mediating and moderating variables that exist within this relationship (Jelinek and Ahearne, 2010; DaSilva, 2010).Yet, despite the current trend, according to our search in the Web of Science database, there was not a single empirical study that looked at how P-E fit was a mediating variable in the relationship between organisational culture (communicat...

Whereas previous research tends to look at Person-Environment (P-E) fit as a predictor of employee outcomes, this is one of the first studies to provide evidence of P-E fit as a mediator of the relationship between organisational culture and the employee outcome of job satisfaction. Data were obtained from full-time employees who were working in private and public sectors from various organisations in Malaysia (n = 204). Person-environment fit was a significant mediator of the relationship between organisational culture and job satisfaction. This has wide-ranging implications for organisational development consultants who intend to shape the culture of various organisations, on the assumption that certain organisational cultures will lead to certain desirable employee outcomes. Managers need to pay attention to not only their organisational culture such as training, rewards, teamwork and communication but to also ensure that there is a fit between individuals and their work environment.