Person-environment Fit Approach Research Articles

A person-environment fit approach to environmental sustainability in the workplace

In times of multiple environmental crises, considering environmental sustainability in the context of work and organizations is imperative. Although research suggests that environmental sustainability may offer benefits for organizations, the implications of environmental sustainability for employees’ job attitudes have been largely overlooked. Drawing on person-environment (P-E) fit theory, we examine the role of environmental employee characteristics and corresponding environmental work characteristics in shaping job attitudes, including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and turnover intentions. We introduce environmental self-efficacy and values as environmental employee characteristics and environmental job demands, job autonomy, coworker support, supervisor support, and organizational climate as environmental work characteristics. In addition to analyzing direct effects of the interactions between environmental employee characteristics and environmental work characteristics on job attitudes, we also examine indirect relationships via five types of perceived environmental P-E fit (i.e., environmental demands-abilities, needs-supplies, person-team, person-supervisor, and person-organization fit). A sample of 2265 employees in Germany participated in a three-wave panel study across two months. Results of structural equation modeling showed that interactions between environmental employee characteristics and environmental work characteristics were significantly related to job attitudes. Specifically, combinations of high levels of environmental employee characteristics and corresponding environmental work characteristics were associated with higher job satisfaction, higher organizational commitment, and lower turnover intentions. These associations were partly mediated by perceived environmental P-E fit. The findings suggest that organizations should maximize environmental P-E fit to foster favorable job attitudes of those employees motivated to, and capable of, protecting the environment.

Holding open spaces to explore beyond: Toward a different conceptualization of specialization in high-performance sport.

This conceptual analysis aims to challenge the state of high-performance sport by questioning the concept of specialization. To start, we offer a brief, but critical overview of what specialization currently entails. Then, shifting the paradigm, we suggest an expansion rather than a reduction of developmental possibilities once an athlete reaches the "top". Specifically, rather than athletes conforming to national standards imposed by governing bodies about what it means to be "elite", we suggest sport systems consider a person-environment fit approach to support ongoing development. Drawing on an ecological dynamics rationale and various socio-cultural theories, we explore how concepts such as affordances and perspectives can be harnessed to create a better "fit" between athletes' action capabilities and the opportunities within their broader environment. Our conception of specialization requires moving away from a definition of success based on the accumulation of medals, toward one that accounts for the exploration and achievement of the possible. We argue that a person-environment fit welcomes diversity, so long as it sustains the person's health, wellbeing, and performance. This, it is suggested, is about collectively holding open spaces for each other to explore beyond the constraints of high-performance sport, encouraging all to carry on their lives in directions meaningfully impactful for them. We conclude this conceptual analysis with a brief case example demonstrating what our theorizing could look like in practice.

Big Five personality trait differences between students from different majors aspiring to the teaching profession

Person-Environment fit theories claim that students choose their academic path according to their personality. In this regard, teacher candidates are of special interest. On the one hand, they all make the same choice to enroll in a teacher education program. On the other hand, they make different choices with respect to the subjects they are going to teach. If the Person-Environment fit approach also applies to the selection regarding teacher candidates’ subject areas, teacher candidates from different majors might have different personality traits and as a result, different starting conditions for becoming a successful teacher. Such differences need to be taken into account by teacher education in order to create programs that allow teacher candidates from different majors to equally succeed. Therefore, the current study investigates to what extent personality group differences across majors occur within the population of teacher candidates. Using data from a large-scale study, the Big Five personality traits of 1735 female and 565 male teacher candidates were analyzed, with teacher candidates compared to male (n = 1122) and female (n = 1570) students who studied the same major but who did not intend to become teachers. Unlike previous studies, academic majors were not grouped into few broad categories, but eight different majors were distinguished. The results indicate that teacher candidates are more extraverted than their non-teaching counterparts. In addition, personality trait differences between teacher candidates from different majors could be observed. The results are discussed as they relate to the recruitment and training of future teachers.

Person-environment fit: A cross-national and cross-temporal study of human adaptation to isolated and confined environments

While most studies using a Person-Environment (P-E) fit approach focus on commonplace work settings, the present study adopts this approach to explore an extreme and unusual setting; specifically, Antarctic research stations. People who had been deployed for a year in Antarctica (n = 59) were asked to reflect on their experience and to report their perceived fit with the environment. Other measures reported included job satisfaction, cognitive impairment, sleep disturbance, and an indicator of subjective well-being (positive/negative mood ratio). It was hypothesized that measures of personality traits and social needs could predict one's fit with the environment. It was found that loneliness (misfit with isolation) was significantly negatively related to job satisfaction and mood, and positively related to cognitive impairment. Fit with confinement was not reliably associated with any outcome variables. The explanations regarding the lack of predictability from personality traits and social needs, and other limitations are discussed.

Relevance of the person-environment fit approach to career assessment in South Africa – A review

Despite concerns regarding its relevance, the person-environment fit approach to career counselling assessment remains a popular one in the South African context. This may be due to a lack of awareness of, or regard for, these concerns among career counselling assessment practitioners working in South Africa. This narrative review thus aimed to summarise literature regarding the relevance of the person-environment fit approach to career counselling assessment in South Africa and alternatives to this approach. Keywords were used to search for, and identify, literature on several electronic databases. Additional literature was identified through citations and citing publications in the initial literature obtained. Given the nature of a narrative review, no inclusion, exclusion or appraisal criteria were specified. Based on the review of literature, the following themes and subthemes were identified: questionable relevance of the person-environment approach (inadequate reliability and validity of tests in the South African context, Western-based theoretical underpinnings, language and socio-economic bias, and inadequate norms for the South African context) and alternative directions of career counselling assessment in this context (development of emic tests, qualitative assessment approaches and integrated assessment approaches). The findings suggest that an integrated quantitative-qualitative approach to career counselling assessment may be a feasible alternative to the person-environment fit approach. However, further research and development regarding the person-environment fit approach and other career counselling assessment approaches is required in order to move towards a more relevant career counselling assessment practice in South Africa.

Antarctic stations as workplaces: Adjustment of winter-over crew members

The living conditions at Antarctic stations can be challenging for support personnel. It has been; suggested that the experience of isolation and confinement can contribute to the emergence of the; winter-over syndrome. The present study adopts a Person-Environment fit approach to investigate; individual adjustment to the social constraints of an Isolated and Confined Environment (ICE). The; study gathered monthly data from 14 participants from five different stations, run by different National Antarctic Programmes. Results revealed that a lack of privacy generated by the confinement is associated with sleep disturbance. In addition, a high level of loneliness, experienced as a result of the; isolation, is positively related to cognitive impairment and negatively related to job satisfaction and; positive/negative mood ratio. The results further suggest that loneliness can be predicted by a predeployment; measure of need for affiliation, as well as levels of the personality traits of agreeableness; and extraversion.

The lived experience of bathing adaptations in the homes of older adults and their carers (BATH-OUT): A qualitative interview study.

The onset of disability in bathing may be followed by disability in other daily activities for older adults. A bathing adaptation usually involves the removal of a bath or inaccessible shower and replacement with a level, easy access shower. The purpose is to remove the physical environmental barriers and restore older adults’ ability to bathe safely and/or independently. The aim of this study was to explore the views and experiences of older adults and their carers who had received a bathing adaptation in order to examine how the adaptation had affected them and identify mechanisms of impact and outcomes from their perspectives. The study was nested within a feasibility Randomised Controlled Trial (RCT) (BATH‐OUT) conducted within one local authority housing adaptations service in England. Semi‐structured interviews were completed between 21 December 2016 and 19 August 2017 with 21 older adults and five carer participants of the feasibility RCT. Interview participants were purposively sampled on living arrangement and gender. Interviews were audio‐recorded, transcribed verbatim and analysed in seven stages using framework analysis. Findings were presented thematically. Five themes were identified: ease of use; feeling safe; feeling clean; independence, choice and control; and confidence and quality of life. The removal of the physical barriers in the bathroom led to older adults re‐mastering the activity of bathing, having an improved sense of physical functioning which gave a sense of ‘freedom’. This appeared to impact a range of areas contributing to a wider sense of increased confidence consistent with constructs underpinning social care‐related quality of life. We suggest that future research should examine housing adaptations from a person–environment fit approach, and that timely restoration of bathing ability is especially important as it can affect confidence and perceived competence in other areas of daily living.

Sensory processing sensitivity and entrepreneurial intention: The strength of a weak trait

Research on entrepreneurial personality traits has done a commendable job in developing theory and providing evidence for the consistent effects of the entrepreneurial trait profile (ETP) on various entrepreneurial outcomes. While research has established the fit between the extravert, conscientious and open traits and entrepreneurial intention (EI), the view that entrepreneurship may provide an alternative career path for people outside the norm has attracted increasing interest. In this study, we explore a counterweight to the dominant ‘superhero’ personality perspective by arguing that, in entrepreneurship, highly sensitive persons (HSPs) can attend to their own needs and skills, and turn their weaknesses into strengths. Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) – a fundamental meta-personality trait – may provide the crucial piece in the personality puzzle related to opportunity recognition ability (ORA) and the intention to act entrepreneurially. We adopt a person-environment fit approach and employ fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). We find that combinations of either SPS or ETP and ORA are sufficient conditions for EI. This study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurial traits by inviting reconsideration of the stereotypical view of extrovert and open entrepreneurs and acknowledging the strength of a ‘weak’ trait.

Person-Environment Fit Approach to Trajectories of Cognitive Function Among Older Adults Who Live Alone: Intersection of Life-Course SES Disadvantage and Senior Housing.

Drawing from life course and environmental perspectives, we examined the trajectory of cognitive function and how senior housing moderates the effects of life-course socioeconomic status (SES) disadvantage among older people living alone over time. Six waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) were used with multilevel growth modeling to analyze developmental patterns of cognitive function over time and how various forms of life-course SES disadvantage affect cognitive function depending on senior housing residency status. At baseline, we found a positive role of senior housing in four subgroups: SES disadvantage in childhood only, unstable mobility pattern (disadvantage in childhood and old age only), downward mobility (no disadvantage in childhood, but in later two life stages), and cumulative disadvantage (all three life stages). Over time, the positive role of senior housing for the unstable and the most vulnerable group persisted. Our findings provide a much-needed practical and theoretical underpinning for environmental policy-making efforts regarding vulnerable elders who live alone.

Appraisal of Email Use as A Source of Workplace Stress: A Person-Environment Fit Approach

The paper develops and tests theory that explains under what conditions the extent of email use is appraised as a stressor. Integrating concepts from information acquisition and person environment fit theories, we hypothesize that individuals appraise their extent of email use as stressful based on the mismatch between their current and desired extents of email use. We define such match as email fit and mismatch as email misfit. We first develop a conceptual framework that associates email misfit with the individual’s experience of three key workplace stressors – work relationship stressor, job control stressor and job conditions stressor. We then develop hypotheses framing the relationship between email fit and misfit, and these stressors. We test our hypotheses by applying quadratic polynomial regressions and surface-response analysis, to survey data obtained from 118 working individuals. The paper makes three theoretical contributions. Firstly, in reporting a theoretical and empirical construction of email fit and misfit and their relationship to workplace stressors, it shows that, email misfit is appraised as stress-creating. That is, both too much and too little email compared to what the individual desires, are associated with stressors. In doing so and secondly, it shows that IT use (in this case, email) is appraised as stressful both when it exceeds (i.e., associated with overload) and fails to meet (i.e., associated with underload), the user’s expectation and preference. Thirdly, it suggests the person environment approach as a theoretically novel way to conceptualize the cognitive appraisal and judgement associated with information under - and over – acquisition, and shows workplace stressors as potentially new effects associated with them.

Fit for self-employment? An extended Person–Environment Fit approach to understand the work–life interface of self-employed workers

AbstractThe recent growth in self-employment has sparked scholarly interest in why individuals choose and remain in self-employment. Yet, relatively little is known about how self-employed workers enact their daily lives and what this means for their work–life interface. Self-employment is often presented as a means to enhance life choice and as enabling work and nonwork activities to be combined more satisfactorily. However, extant evidence on how self-employment is experienced is mixed, with some studies reporting long and irregular working hours and high levels of stress. Furthermore, the way in which self-employment is experienced may be influenced by national context – economic, institutional and cultural factors. In this paper, we develop a multi-level model which extends existing work on the Person–Environment Fit by incorporating factors relevant to self-employment. The model assists us to understand how contextual factors create both opportunities and tensions which impact the work–life interface of self-employed workers.

The impact of forensic work on home life: the role of emotional labour, segmentation/integration and social support

Purpose – Adopting a person-environment (P-E) fit approach, the purpose of this paper is to examine the role of emotional labour, segmentation/integration and social support in the development of work-home conflict. Design/methodology/approach – Mental health professionals (n=118) completed the work-home conflict and home-work conflict scales (Netemeyer et al., 1996), the segmentation preferences and supplies scales (Kreiner, 2006) and the Mann Emotion Requirements Inventory (Mann, 1999). A social support checklist was also developed to assess the perceived value of work and non-work sources of support. Findings – Contrary to expectation, emotional labour was associated with lower levels of work-home conflict. There was no evidence found for the relevance of a P-E fit approach, rather the results indicated that the perception that the organisation supports the separation of work and home is sufficient in ameliorating work-home conflict. In addition, work-based support was found to reduce work-home conflict. Research limitations/implications – The importance of support within the work environment as a way of reducing work-home conflict has been highlighted. That is, providing a safe environment to discuss anxieties and concerns is a fundamental factor when developing organisational support structure. The importance of providing professionals with choice regarding their preference to segment or integrate work and home has also been highlighted. Based on the contradictory findings with regards to emotional labour and work-home conflict, future research should aim to further examine this relationship within a forensic psychiatric setting. Originality/value – This is the first research paper to explore the role of emotional labour, segmentation/integration and social support in the development of work-home conflict.

Pre-service music teachers' satisfaction: person–environment fit approach

Guided by three theoretical frameworks in vocational psychology, (i) theory of work adjustment, (ii) two factor theory, and (iii) value discrepancy theory, the purpose of this study was to investigate Turkish pre-service music teachers' values and the role of fit between person and environment in understanding vocational satisfaction. Participants were 85 students enrolled in the department of music education in a Turkish university. The Minnesota Importance Questionnaire (MIQ) was used to examine the participants’ values in six dimensions: achievement, comfort, status, altruism, safety and autonomy. Results revealed that the pre-service teachers value achievement most followed by autonomy, which suggests that they would like to have a sense of accomplishment and control in their future job. The degree to which their values fit their predictions about future work environment was found to be highly correlated with vocational satisfaction. These results provided evidence that the vocational theories used in the current study offers a helpful and different perspective to understand the pre-service teachers' satisfaction with becoming a music teacher in the future. We believe that researchers in the field of music education may use these theories and MIQ to examine the role of values in pre-service and in-service music teachers' job satisfaction.

Factorial Invariance in a Repeated Measures Design: An Application to the Study of Person-Organization Fit

An important methodological concern of any research based on a person-environment (P-E) fit approach is the operationalization of the fit, which imposes some measurement requirements that are rarely empirically tested with statistical methods. Among them, the assessment of the P and E components along commensurate dimensions is possibly the most cited one. This paper proposes to test the equivalence across the P and E measures by analyzing the measurement invariance of a multi-group confirmatory factor analysis model. From a methodological point of view, the distinct aspect of this approach within the context of P-E fit research is that measurement invariance is assessed in a repeated measures design. An example illustrating the procedure in a person-organization (P-O) fit dataset is provided. Measurement invariance was tested at five different hierarchical levels: (1) configural, (2) first-order factor loadings, (3) second-order factor loadings, (4) residual variances of observed variables, and (5) disturbances of first-order factors. The results supported the measurement invariance across the P and O measures at the third level. The implications of these findings for P-E fit studies are discussed.

Person-environment fit approach to intolerance of inequity and free-riders

This study uses the person-environment fit approach to assess the dissatisfaction one has towards co-workers who fail to carry their own weight, in groups of varying sizes. It is posited in these researches that in large groups where situations are more likely to be inequitable, highly sensitive people are more intolerant of inequity and thus more dissatisfied with their co-workers, compared with less sensitive ones. Sensitivity was measured as a personality trait by the 16PF (Cattell et al 1987) and group size (obtained from company records) was the objective measure of the work environment. On the basis of data from 257 factory workers in Wales, UK, results of hierarchical multiple regression generally indicated that the relationship between sensitivity and co-worker satisfaction are moderated by group size such that the relationship is positive in small groups and negative in large groups.

Work-to-family conflict, positive spillover, and boundary management: a person-environment fit approach

This study adopted a person-environment fit approach to examine whether greater congruence between employees’ preferences for segmenting their work domain from their family domain (i.e., keeping work matters at work) and what their employers’ work environment allowed would be associated with lower work-to-family conflict and higher work-to-family positive spillover. Different facets of work-to-family conflict (time-based and strain-based) and positive spillover (affective and instrumental) were examined. According to latent congruence modeling of survey data from 528 management employees, congruence was negatively related to both time-based and strain-based work-to-family conflict and positively related to work-to-family instrumental positive spillover as expected. However, contrary to expectations, congruence was negatively related to work-to-family affective positive spillover. Implications for how boundary management processes may affect both positive and negative experiences of the work–family interface are discussed.

A Person-Environment Fit Approach to Volunteerism: Volunteer Personality Fit and Culture Fit as Predictors of Affective Outcomes

This study employed a person-environment (P-E) fit approach to explaining volunteer satisfaction, affective commitment, and turnover intentions. It was hypothesized that personality fit would explain additional variance in volunteer affective outcomes above and beyond motives to volunteer. This hypothesis was supported. Personality fit but not culture fit was related to satisfaction and affective commitment. Volunteer turnover intentions were predicted by gender and by social and values motives. The implications of the results are discussed with respect to the two literature domains that were combined in this study: the functional approach to volunteerism and P-E fit theory. Functional approaches to volunteerism and paid work should be more strongly linked to each other in future research. Moreover, P-E fit theory should be extended by including conditional determinants that moderate P-E fit effects.

Prescreening, In‐Depth Exploration, and Choice: From Decision Theory to Career Counseling Practice

The authors present a 3‐stage model—Prescreening, In‐depth exploration, and Choice (PIC)—aimed at increasing the quality of the career decision‐making process and its outcome. PIC provides a framework for a dynamic and interactive process that emphasizes the role of career counselors as decision counselors, whose aim is to facilitate an active decision‐making process. The proposed model offers the advantages of systematic, analytical processing, while remaining compatible with individuals' natural way of thinking. The authors outline the implementation of PIC, discuss the role of intuition in decision making, and compare the PIC with the person‐environment fit approach.

AN EXAMINATION OF COMPETING VERSIONS OF THE PERSON-ENVIRONMENT FIT APPROACH TO STRESS.

This study examined two versions of the person-environment (P-E) fit approach to stress, one representing the fit between environmental supplies and employee values (S-V fit), and another the fit b...

An examination of competing versions of the person-environment fit approach to stress

An examination of competing versions of the person-environment fit approach to stress