This article brings together three current themes in organizational behavior: (1) a renewed interest in assessing person-situation interactional constructs, (2) the quantitative assessment of organizational culture, and (3) the application of “Q-sort,” or template-matching, approaches to assessing person-situation interactions. Using longitudinal data from accountants and M.B.A. students and cross-sectional data from employees of government agencies and public accounting firms, we developed and validated an instrument for assessing person-organization fit, the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Results suggest that the dimensionality of individual preferences for organizational cultures and the existence of these cultures are interpretable. Further, person-organization fit predicts job satisfaction and organizational commitment a year after fit was measured and actual turnover after two years. This evidence attests to the importance of understanding the fit between individuals' preferences and organiza...

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People and organizational culture: a profile comparison approach to assessing person-organization fit

This meta-analysis investigated the relationships between person‐job (PJ), person‐organization (PO), person‐group, and person‐supervisor fit with preentry (applicant attraction, job acceptance, intent to hire, job offer) and postentry individual-level criteria (attitudes, performance, withdrawal behaviors, strain, tenure). A search of published articles, conference presentations, dissertations, and working papers yielded 172 usable studies with 836 effect sizes. Nearly all of the credibility intervals did not include 0, indicating the broad generalizability of the relationships across situations. Various ways in which fit was conceptualized and measured, as well as issues of study design, were examined as moderators to these relationships in studies of PJ and PO fit. Interrelationships between the various types of fit are also meta-analyzed. 25 studies using polynomial regression as an analytic technique are reviewed separately, because of their unique approach to assessing fit. Broad themes emerging from the results are discussed to generate the implications for future research on fit.

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Consequences of individuals' fit at work: a meta-analysis of person-job, person-organization, person-group, and person-supervisor fit

This article presents a comprehensive definition and conceptual model of person-organization fit that incorporates supplementary as well as complementary perspectives on fit. To increase the precision of the construct's definition, it is also distinguished from other forms of environmental compatibility, silch as person-group and person-vocation fit. Once defined, commensurate measurement as it relates to supplementary and complementary fit is discussed and recommendations are offered regarding the necessity of its use. A distinction is made between the direct measurement of perceived fit and the indirect measurement of actual person-organization fit, using both cross- and individual-level techniques, and the debate regarding differences scores is reviewed. These definitional and measurement issues frame a review of the existing literature, as well as provide the basis for specific research propositions and suggestions for managerial applications.

Person-organization fit: an integrative review of its conceptualizations, measurement, and implications

A life-span, life-space approach to career development

Historically, education goals have tended to fluctuate from emphasis solely on cognitive outcomes to major concern with social and affective ones. The emphasis on achievement and the "cult of efficiency" (Callahan, 1962) early in this century was followed by a shift in the 1930's to the comprehensive high school with its social and affective concerns (cf. the Eight Year Study, Aikin, 1942). Then Sputnik initiated a rapid and dramatic reemphasis on cognitive outcomes (Bruner, 1960) from which the current trend seems to be moving in its emphasis on "humanistic" aspects of education. The sharp increase in the number of studies on self-concept is one reflection of the reemphasis on noncognitive outcomes of education. (For references to current educational studies, see reviews by Coller, 1971; Purkey, 1970; Yamamoto, 1972; Zirkel, 1971.) Another symptom of this shift has taken the form of increased concern with enhancing the child's self-concept, espe-

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Self-Concept: Validation of Construct Interpretations

Activities Assistant, Montchanin Assisting Living Facility, Wilmington, DE Adolescent & Adult Therapist, American Day Treatment Centers, Cherry Hill, NJ Case Manager, Rejoice! Inc. Foster Care and Adoption, Allentown, PA Case Manager, Child Guidance Resource Center, Coatesville, PA Caseworker, Berks County Children and Youth, Reading, PA Certified School Psychologist, Central Bucks School District, Doylestown, PA Child Care Counselor, KidsPeace, Orefield, PA Child Care Specialist, Mars Home for Youth, Mars, PA Children’s Advocate, Berks Women in Crisis, Reading, PA Clinical Case Manager, Association for the Advancement of Mental Health, Princeton NJ Clinical Neuropsychologist, Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT Clinical Supervisor, Fairview Counseling & Play Therapy Center, Allentown, PA Clinical Supervisor, Kindred House, West Chester, PA Counselor, The Renfrew Center, Philadelphia, PA Crisis Counselor, Access, Pottsville, PA Developmental Therapist, NJ Center for Autism Resources& Education, Brielle, NJ Family Resource Specialist, Justice Works, Reading, PA Member Advocate, Cigna Behavioral Health, Eden Prairie, MN Mental Health Technician, Brooke Glen Behavioral Hospital, Fort Washington, PA Mental Health Therapist, Hampton Hospital, Lakewood, NJ Program Assessor, Benjamin Rush Community Mental Health Center, Philadelphia, PA Program Assistant, Child and Youth Services, Fort Meade, MD Program Specialist, Confront Treatment Center, Allentown, PA Psychiatric Assistant, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA Psychiatric Assistant, Philhaven Hospital, Mt. Gretna, PA Psychologist, Children’s Home of Reading, Reading, PA Psychotherapist, Regional Behavioral Health Corporation, St. Clair, PA Rehabilitative Residential Adviser, Creative Health Services, INC, Pottstown, PA Residential Advisor, Foundation Behavioral Health, Doylestown, PA Residential Counselor, The Pathway School, Norristown, PA School Psychologist, Avon Grove School District, West Grove, PA School Psychologist, Brandywine Heights School District, Topton, PA School Psychologist, Woodbridge Township School District, Colonia, NJ Support Services Manager, North Country Transitional Living Services, Watertown, NY Supervising Counselor, Bay Area Addiction Center, Richmond, CA Therapeutic Staff Counselor, Northwestern Human Services, Sunbury, PA Therapist, Delaware County Psychological Services, Broomall, PA Therapist, Holcomb Behavioral Health Systems, Reading, PA Vocational Evaluator, Handi-crafters, Thorndale, PA

The Psychology of Careers.

This chapter discusses a theory of vocational development, a theory inherent in and emergent from the research and philosophy of psychologists and counselors. Occupational choice is a developmental process, which takes place over a period of some 10 years. The process is irreversible. The process of occupational choice ends in a compromise between interests, capacities, values, and opportunities. There are three periods of occupational choice. A theory of vocational choice and adjustment would synthesize the results of research because they lend themselves to synthesis; it would take into account the continuity of the development of preferences and of the differences in the stages, choices, entry, and adjustment; it would explain the process through which interest, capacities. Values and opportunities are compromised. The chapter discusses the elements of the theory of vocational development. The term “development” is used rather than “choice,” because it comprehends the concepts of preference, choice, entry, and adjustment. There are many elements to a theory of vocational development.

Donald E. Super

Papers

A life-span, life-space approach to career development

The Psychology of Careers.

A theory of vocational development.

The psychology of careers : an introduction to vocational development

Career Development: Self-Concept Theory