본 연구의 목적은 인지된 개인-환경 적합성이 조직시민행동과 개인성과에 미치는 영향을 알아보기 위한 것이다. 먼저 적합성은 대상에 따라 개인-조직 적합성, 개인-상사 적합성, 개인-동료 적합성의 세 가지 유형으로 구분하고, 각 유형별로 조직 시민행동 및 성과와의 관계를 비교분석하였다. 다음으로 ASA이론(Attraction-Selection-Attrition theory), 유사성-매력이론(similarity-attraction theory), 사회정체성이론(social identity theory) 및 사회교환이론(social exchange theory)을 바탕으로 적합성과 조직시민행동, 그리고 적합성과 성과와의 관계에 미치는 공정성 지각의 매개효과를 검증하였다. 실증연구 결과, 개인-조직 적합성, 개인-상사 적합성, 개인-동료 적합성이 조직 시민행동에 미치는 영향은 모두 정(+)의 관계를 보여주었다. 적합성과 성과와의 관계에 있어서는 개인-상사 적합성만이 통계적으로 유의한 정(+)의 관계를 나타냈다. 공정성 지각의 매개효과는 적합성 중 개인-상사 적합성과 조직시민행동 간의 관계에서만 나타났다. 이로써 적합성은 조직시민행동이나 성과에 직접적인 영향을 미치기도 하지만, 공정성 지각을 통해 간접적으로도 영향을 미침을 알 수 있다. 본 연구는 적합성을 대상에 따라 세 가지 유형으로 이론에 근거하여 분류하고 실증적 검증을 동시에 실시하였다는 의의를 가지고 있다. 이러한 세 가지 유형의 적합성은 서로 다른 결과변수를 예측하였으며 개인의 태도변수가 아닌 행위적 성과로서 조직시민행동과 상사가 평가하는 성과와의 관계를 고찰하였다는 점에서 기존 연구를 확장하였다. 또한, 적합성이 개인의 결과변수에 미치는 영향관계에 있어 공정성의 매개효과를 설정하였으며 이중 개인-상사 적합성과 조직시민행동과의 관계가 유의하였음을 알아냈다. 비록 모든 결과변수와 유의하지는 않았지만 이전부터 제기 되어온 적합성과 개인수준 결과변수 간의 관계에 있어서 매개변수의 개입 가능성을 예측할 수 있다는 의의를 가지고 있다.
There has been a large body of literature on the issue of person-environment (P-E) fit. To date, the majority of studies about P-E fit have focused on the effect of P-E fit on various work outcomes (e.g., Kristof, 1996; Kristof-Brown et al., 2005). Research on P-E fit generally supports the idea that a high level of P-E fit is related to a number of positive individual and organizational outcomes. P-E fit theory, by and large, states that workers who feel fitted to the organization will show higher level individual outcomes such as higher job satisfaction and organizational commitment because they share values, personality or goals with others (Bretz & Judge, 1994; O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991). In social-psychological theories, similarity between people is predicted to lead to attraction (Byrne, 1971). The theories on attitudinal similarity explain why fit is posited to relate to favorable attitudes. That is, people find it more desirable to interact with others who have similar psychological attributes in that the interaction reinforces their own beliefs, behaviors and affect (e.g., Swan, Stein-Seroussi, & Giesler, 1992). Although prolific studies have been conducted to explore the effects of fit on the attitudes and behavior of employees, much of these studies have focused on only one or a few types of fit. But it should be noted that different types of fit tend to be related to job satisfaction, organizational commitment and intent to quit to a varying degree (e.g., Lauver & Kristof-Brown, 2001). For example, the environment in P-E fit has been typically focused on organization, supervisor, group and so on. However, researchers (e.g., Salancik & Pfeffer, 1978; Scott & Bruce, 1994) have paid attention to the role of coworkers as well as supervisors as the social environment that influences workers’ attitudes and behaviors since the workers spend more time and interact more frequently with their coworkers than with their supervisors. The coworkers are likely to be supportive when individual workers face difficulties with the supervisors Therefore, the person-coworker fit (P-C fit) appears to be very important in shaping the worker’s perception and behaviors at work. In this vein, more research is needed to explore the varying relationships between a broader set of fit indices and the employee’s attitudes and behavior. Thus, the present study is designed to overcome this limitation by examining and extending relationships between multiple types of fit and employee attitudes. The purpose of this article is threefold: First, this study specifically focuses on the relationship between subordinates’, supervisors’, coworkers’ fit in terms of values, personality, goals and work-related outcomes. Going beyond organizational orientation, fit could be directed toward a variety of foci such as supervisors, co-workers, and work team or groups. A second and related issue pertains to the notion the relationship between fit and the organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) and performance ratings. The great interest in OCB appears to stem largely from the belief that these behaviors enhance organizational effectiveness (Podsakoff & MacKenzie, 1997), although comparatively little empirical research has been done to substantiate this belief. For example, little research has been conducted to substantiate its predictors such as the various types of fit. Thus, the second aim of this study is to address this question: Can P-O fit, P-S fit, P-C fit affects OCB and performance ratings? To address this question, we tested the effects of P-O fit, P-S fit, P-C fit on the relationship between OCB and performance ratings. Third, we clarify the mediating role of organizational justice in the relationship between perceived fit and OCB/performance ratings. On the basis of attraction-selection-attrition (ASA) theory, social exchange theory and social identity theory, it proposes that the relationships between the P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit and the OCB and performance ratings would be mediated by organizational justice. So far, little work has been devoted to exploring the mechanism that explains the relationship between fit, organizational justice and the OCB and performance ratings and to expounding how their relationship can be made stronger. In relation to policy implications, we will pay attention to the role of organizational justice as a means to strengthen the effects of the various types of fit on the OCB and performance ratings. Based on literature review, our hypotheses are as follows. First, P-O fit, P-S fit, and P-C fit will be positively related to OCB (H1a, H1b, H1c). Second, P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit will be positively related to performance ratings (H2a, H2b, H2c). Third, organizational justice will mediate the relationship between P-O fit (H3a), P-S fit (H3b), P-C fit (H3c) and OCB. Forth, organizational justice will mediate the relationship between P-O fit (H4a), P-S fit (H4b), P-C fit (H4c) and performance ratings. We collected data from a private-sector firm as part of a larger project conducted for both policy and research purposes. Participants comprised of 163 employees from an electronic company located in Seoul. Of these, however, five cases were excluded from analysis due to the missing of relevant individual level data, and thus, the effective sample size was reduced to 158. The sample included both full-time and part-time employees who worked in a variety of job categories including general affairs/personnel, strategy/planning, finance/accounting, sales, production, R & D, purchasing, and quality control sections. The results of this study indicate that the P-O fit, P-S fit, and P-C fit is positively related to OCB-I. For OCB-O, P-C fit found to be insignificant. Therefore, these results provided support for Hypothesis 1a, 1b. The findings also provide partial supports for 1c. Hypotheses 2a, 2b and 2c predicted that the P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit will be positively related to performance ratings. However, the results did not support Hypothesis 2a and Hypothesis 2c. On the other hand, the P-S fit was significantly and positively related to performance ratings. Therefore, these results provided support for Hypothesis 2b. Additionally, we predicted that organizational justice would mediate the relationship between the P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit and OCB and performance ratings. Using the analytic techniques suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986), we found that P-S fit exerted a significant indirect path in predicting the OCB-I by means of organizational justice. Therefore, these results provided support for Hypothesis 3b. However, Hypothesis 3a and Hypothesis 3c were not supported. Hypotheses 4a, 4b and 4c predicted that organizational justice will mediated the relationship between P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit and performance ratings. Unfortunately, for organizational justice, performance ratings also proved to be more difficult to predict. These results did not support Hypotheses 4a, 4b, and 4c. The present findings are important in that they extended fit research by focusing on the P-O fit, P-S fit, and P-C fit as social environment and examining the effects of these three types of fit in teams on behavioral outcomes. In reflecting our results, three possible limitations are apparent. First, the study used a single questionnaire design and relied on self-report data. This raises the possibility of common method variance (CMV) bias in the sample and may disallow to draw causal inferences. Thus, future research should include both peer and supervisor evaluations of the OCB in order to examine the relationship between the two methods of measurement. Second, cross-sectional design used in this study has some limitations. This study has argued that higher levels of the P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit may result in the OCB and performance ratings. However, the reverse causal direction is also conceivable in such a way that higher levels of the OCB and performance ratings may lead to higher levels of the P-O fit, P-S fit and P-C fit. Third, the measurement of fit and performance have to be reexamined. Future research should examine both the effects of subjective and objective fits simultaneously. Just as the relationship between the perceived fit-performance may change according to how P-O fit, P-S fit, and P-C fit is measured, it may also vary depending on how performance is measured. Therefore, it is hoped that performance is based on objective measures.
