Seeking Sustainable Development in Teams: Towards Improving Team Commitment through Person-Group Fit

Sang Hun Sung,Jee Young Seong,Yong Geun Kim

doi:10.3390/su12156033

Abstract

This study explores the sustainability of work groups in the industry by enhancing team commitment via person-group fit and its boundary conditions. Specifically, we examine the relationship between person-group (PG fit) and team commitment, introducing person-organization (PO) fit and person-supervisor (PS) fit as moderators. Using data collected from a Korean company, this study reports that a three-way interaction between PG fit, PS fit, and PO fit predicts an employee’s commitment to their team. The results highlight that PS fit can compensate for PG fit when the level of PG fit is low by stimulating team members to commit to the work team. Likewise, PG fit also plays a compensatory role for inducing team commitment when confronting poor PS fit. The results reveal that as long as PG fit is high, PO fit is more important than PS fit in enhancing team commitment. However, when PG fit is low, high PS fit with low PO fit produces a higher level of commitment to the team than low PS fit with high PO fit.

Highlights

The increasing adoption of team-based structures by modern organizations enhances the influence of team members on fellow employees, as employees spend more time and interact more frequently with their co-workers than with their supervisors [1,2]
We examine the effects of PG fit, PO fit, and PS fit on team commitment simultaneously
The results consistently show that the employees who perceive high levels of PG fit, PO fit, and PS fit are very committed to the team, whereas those who perceive low levels of PG fit, PO fit, and PS fit exhibit the lowest level of team commitment

Summary

Introduction

The increasing adoption of team-based structures by modern organizations enhances the influence of team members on fellow employees, as employees spend more time and interact more frequently with their co-workers than with their supervisors [1,2]. PG fit mainly functions in a team context, the relationship of employees to other targets or actors (e.g., their supervisor and the organization) is critical for enhancing individual outcomes such as work satisfaction, organizational citizenship behavior, and task performance [3,6]. Team dynamics, such as high-quality person-supervisor (PS) fit, often lessens differentiation or segmentation in a team and facilitates integration between team members [7]. The effect of PG fit on individual outcomes, such as team commitment and task performance, seems to be moderated by PO fit and PS fit [13,14]

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Discussion

Conclusion