Person-organization fit: bibliometric study and research agenda

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose a research agenda on person-organization fit (P-O fit). Design/methodology/approach – A systematic review of the literature from a bibliometric perspective is performed. All documents indexed in the Scopus database with the term “person-organization fit” in the title were mapped. Findings – An increasing interest in P-O fit since the 1990s is observed. Amy L. Kristof-Brown, affiliated to the University of Iowa, is the most productive author. All empirical studies from our sample used quantitative methodology and non-probabilistic sample, and 85.9 per cent of them were cross-sectional. The similarity conceptualization of P-O fit and the perceived fit perspective have been adopted more often. Job satisfaction, intention to leave and organizational commitment are the most studied outcomes of P-O fit. Research limitations/implications – By offering a general view of the production on P-O fit, the paper may be valuable not only for those who aim to start researching on the field, but also for practitioners who may benefit from an overview of the field to evaluate interventions to increase the fit between employees and organizations. Noticing the absence of publications from Latin America, and taking into account the positive outcomes of P-O fit to individuals and organizations, this paper aims to stimulate researchers from this region to develop research on P-O fit. Originality/value – Original insights for future research are presented: The need for qualitative studies to understand the individual perception of fit; the study of complementary P-O fit from a needs–supplies perspective; and the need to consider the multi-dimensionality of constructs that are taken as content of fit, which may offer a possible answer to Van Vianen’s (2001) claim about the “value of fit”.

Impact of employee development on job satisfaction and organizational commitment: person–organization fit as moderator

“…Person–organization fit (P–O fit) is widely understood as congruence between individual and organizational values (Santos & Domenico, ). Increased loyalty, organizational commitment, enhanced productivity and decreased turnover are some of the reported outcomes in favor of P–O fit.…”

A cross-sectional study investigating the associations of person-organisation and person-group fit with staff outcomes in mental healthcare

“…Supplementary fit, the most commonly studied component, is defined as the congruence between the individual and the environment, such as through sharing similar values, goals or ‘personality’ 16 35. Complementary fit is the converse, and describes a type of fit in which the individual or their workplace or organisation fills a gap in, adds something unique to or ‘makes whole’ the other 35–37. Two additional components, needs-supplies (where the individual’s requirements, eg, for further training, are fulfilled by the environment16 38) and demands-abilities (where the individual has the required capability and capacity to meet environmental requests16 39) are studied less frequently, both within and outside healthcare.…”

The Role of Entrepreneur-Venture Fit in Online Home-Based Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review

“…Despite the growth in popularity of person-organization fit as a theoretical basis (dos Santos and De Domenico, 2015), it has a number of challenges and limitations (Wheeler et al, 2005;Morley, 2007). For example, a number of different levels of fit have been identified and explored, such as person-job fit, person-vocation fit, person-group fit, but it is unclear how these either reinforce or undermine each other (Kristof-Brown et al, 2005).…”

“…In supplementary fit, which is sometimes also called similarity fit (dos Santos and De Domenico, 2015), a person fits into an organisation because they have similar values to the organisation. In contrast, complementary fit occurs when the person provides something that is missing but is required by the organization or vice versa.…”

“…Entrepreneur-venture fit draws upon the wider notion of person-organization fit (Van Vianen, 2000;Billsberry et al, 2005;Li, 2006 Santos and De Domenico (2015) suggests that interest in the topic has grown rapidly since then, witnessed by an increased rate of academic publications in the domain.…”