Person-environment Fit Perspective Research Articles

Personal Competence or Environmental Characteristics? Factors Influencing Happiness among Ageing Adults in Hong Kong Around the Period of COVID-19 Pandemic.

Drawing upon person-environment fit perspective, this study examines the joint and interactive influences of personal competence and environmental characteristics on the happiness of ageing adults around the period of COVID-19 pandemic. Data was collected in two rounds, before and during the pandemic, with 2,028 participants aged 55 years and older in Hong Kong. Personal competence encompassed financial status, physical health, and mental capital, while environmental characteristics included experiences of ageism, perceived social conditions, and age-friendly policies. Ordinary least squares regression was used to examine personal and environmental influences on happiness. Results indicated a significant decline in happiness following the onset of COVID-19 pandemic. Mental capital was found to have the strongest positive influence on happiness, followed by physical health, financial status, and social conditions. Mental capital mitigated the negative relationship between experiences of ageism and happiness. Practical interventions are informed to improve the well-being of ageing adults during pandemic.

From thriving to task focus: the role of needs-supplies fit and task complexity

Can thriving at work be a self-sustaining phenomenon? In our study we incorporated the person-environment fit perspective into socially embedded model of thriving by Spreitzer’s et al. (Organization Science, 16(5), 537–549, 2005) to explore how and when thriving affects individuals’ task focus, an agentic behavior often considered an antecedent of thriving. We proposed that individuals who thrive at work tend to perceive that the rewards supplied by the job meet their needs of growth and development, which leads to more focus on their tasks. We also proposed that task complexity interacts with thriving to influence the mechanism of needs-supplies (N-S) fit. Based on two-wave data from 170 product engineers, the results of our study showed that thriving indirectly affects task focus through perceived N-S fit. When faced with high-complexity tasks, high-thriving employees generated higher N-S fit perceptions. When thriving was low, N-S fit was highest in in the low-complexity task context, suggesting that matching thriving to task complexity could be an important strategy by which managers might maintain higher levels of task focus, which we speculate could in turn promote thriving. Our study advances research on thriving, fit perceptions and work behavior by revealing these relationships.

School climate: Using a person–environment fit perspective to inform school improvement

Strong and consistent findings suggest that a positive school climate is related to improved student outcomes. However, assessment of the school climate rarely considers the environmental fit (or misfit) between individuals' actual or lived experiences and their preferred environment. This study drew on a person-environment fit perspective to examine whether: students’ experiences of the school climate (actual environment) differed from their views of their ideal school climate (preferred environment); the views of the actual and preferred environment differed between schools; and the actual–preferred discrepancy (as a measure of the environmental fit) was related to student wellbeing, resilience and reports of bullying. The results from the analysis of data collected from 993 upper primary school students suggest that outcomes were enhanced when the perceived environment more closely matched the preferred environment. Our study’s findings support using a person-environment fit perspective alongside a socio-ecological approach to inform strategic decisions for school improvement efforts.

Workplace hazing and employee turnover intention in the hospitality industry: a person-environment fit perspective

Workplace hazing and employee turnover intention in the hospitality industry: a person-environment fit perspective

The antecedent, consequences, and importance of students’ learning preference on learning outcomes with the flipped classroom approach: a person-environment fit perspective

Flipped learning performance is possible to be improved when there is an alignment between students’ learning preferences and educators’ chosen pedagogy, especially in the student-centered learning context. Adopting pretest-posttest research design among students in diverse academic disciplines (Study 1: N = 361; Study 2: N = 408), this research revealed the antecedents of learning experience on learning preference and showed the temporal consequences of initial learning preference on the end-of-course twenty first century competencies. The findings supported that individual attributes outweigh external factors in university learning, and these varied across disciplines. The findings highlighted the implications for the flipped classroom and support for the constructivist movement.

Psychosocial determinants of religious/denominational conversion: a person–environment fit perspective

Religious or denominational conversion is a complex process that involves various psychosocial factors. One theoretical framework that has been utilized to comprehend the determinants of religious conversion is the person-environment fit model. This study examines the role of personal and socio-cultural factors that play a significant role in conversion processes within a person-environment fit perspective. The analysis demonstrates that individuals are more likely to convert to a new religion or denomination when they perceive a good fit between their personal and socio-cultural characteristics and the characteristics of the religious or denominational environment. Personal factors that may influence the decision to convert include: personality traits, values, beliefs, and thinking styles, while socio-cultural factors comprise: socialization, familial and cultural norms and standards, and social integration processes. Moreover, both categories of factors interact in the conversion process, influencing potential decisions to convert to varying degrees. When an individual’s religious beliefs, values, and norms align with those of a newly encountered group, they are more likely to identify with the group's goals and mission.

Links between life-course SES and frailty trajectory moderated by community environment resources: Person-environment Fit perspective

IntroductionDrawing from the life course and person-environment fit perspectives, this study examined whether life-course SES disadvantages during childhood, adulthood and old- age influence frailty development in late- life and how community environment resources moderated the association between life-course SES disadvantages and frailty trajectories over a seven-year follow-up period. MethodsData from 11,675 participants aged ≥ 50 years at baseline who participated in the four waves (2011-2018) of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Survey (CHARLS) were used. Life-course SES disadvantages were self-reported, and community environment resources (basic infrastructure and voluntary organizations) were ascertained from informed officials in the community. Frailty development was measured at each wave by the Frailty Index (FI) based on 39 potential deficits. Multilevel growth modeling was used to examine the interactive effect of life-course SES disadvantages and community environment resources on frailty development. ResultsLife-course SES disadvantage exerted cumulatively negative effects on frailty trajectory, and individuals with SES disadvantages in two or three life stages reported higher initial levels of and faster increases in frailty scores. Community environmental resources (basic infrastructure and voluntary organizations) had a protective effect on frailty development and buffered the negative effects of SES vulnerability experiences accumulated over the life course. Community basic infrastructure resources played an important role in slowing the progression of frailty for individuals with cumulative SES disadvantage and downward mobility. DiscussionOur findings provided new evidence of person-environmental docility among older adults, documenting the role of community resources in buffering SES disparities in health during later-life.

Understanding employees' responses to information security management practices: a person-environment fit perspective

ABSTRACT This study tests the person–environment fit theory in information security (ISec), which describes situations in which the extent of ISec management is linked to positive or negative employee outcomes. We hypothesise that employees appraise their organisational ISec depending on the mismatch or match perception between their needs and organisational supplies. We define a mismatch as ISec misfit and a match as ISec fit and develop hypotheses framing the relationship between ISec fit (vs. misfit), employees’ emotional reactions (anxiety and attentiveness), and, subsequently, ISec behaviours (ISec in-role, extra-role, and violation behaviours). We conduct quadratic polynomial regressions and apply response surface methodology to test our hypotheses and obtain two findings. First, ISec management are proactively needed by employees instead of prior enforcement perspective. The results show that ISec management practices are appraised negatively when they either exceed or fail to meet employees’ preferences. Second, in expounding on a theoretical construction and empirical test of ISec fit and misfit and their relationships with employee outcomes, we find that attentiveness is greater with ISec fit, whereas anxiety is higher and attentiveness is lesser with ISec misfit. We also find that emotion mediates employees’ ISec behaviours, while only anxiety does not mediate extra-role behaviour.

Presenteeism Is Reloaded and Ready for Further Research – A Commentary on Priebe, J. and Hägerbäumer, M. (2023)

Presenteeism Is Reloaded and Ready for Further Research – A Commentary on Priebe, J. and Hägerbäumer, M. (2023)

An Analysis of Diversity of the GS-14, GS-15, and SES Ranks in the Department of Veterans Affairs from 2002-2022

This article examines the diverse types of diversity, including age, disability, and sex/gender diversities, among the top three levels of management at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This research will shed light on these differences and their implications. By examining the differences among the top three levels of the senior leadership branch of government at the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), this research seeks better to understand the impact of changes in diversity policies. As the Department of Veteran Affairs continues to transform, it is increasingly vital that we have the tools necessary to measure the impact of our efforts on our changing culture. From a diversity point of view, it will help us understand veterans as a social group and their inclusion in the workplace. In contrast, the person-environment fit perspective helps us describe veterans’ compatibility with their work environments in terms of organizational demands and veterans’ needs. National attention and resources are being brought to the issue of supporting the economic success of Veteran’s Affairs.

Associations between the implementation of telework strategies and job performance: Moderating influences of boundary management preferences and telework experience.

Boosted by the COVID-19 pandemic, more than ever, an organization's success depends on its teleworkers' performance. However, little attention has been paid to the individual strategies implemented by teleworkers to achieve goals such as drawing boundaries between work- and private-life, working task-oriented and productively, and keeping social contact. We collected quantitative survey data of 548 teleworkers indicating their implementation of 85 telework strategies derived from scientific literature and popular media (e.g., working in a separate room, wearing work clothes at home), self-reported job performance, boundary management preferences, and telework experience. We identified (a) the implementation of telework strategies, (b) associations with job performance, (c) divergences between the implementation and the performance association, and (d) moderating influences of boundary management preferences and telework experience. The results suggest that the most implemented telework strategies tend to be the ones most positively associated with job performance. These telework strategies serve goals related to working task-oriented and productively by adopting a conducive work attitude as well as keeping social contact by using modern communication technology rather than goals related to drawing boundaries between work- and private-life. The findings underscore the benefits of expanding a narrow focus on telework strategies stemming from boundary theory to unravel telework strategies' puzzling impacts on (tele-) work outcomes. Also, taking a person-environment fit perspective appeared to be a promising approach to tailor evidence-based best practice telework strategies to teleworkers' individual preferences and needs (boundary management preferences and telework experience).

Fostering a salesperson’s team identification: An investigation into the effects of leader-follower emotional intelligence congruence from a person–environment fit perspective

Integrating the person–environment (PE) fit theory with the literature on social identification, we investigate how leader–follower congruence in emotional intelligence (EI) fosters the focal follower’s team identification. We propose that EI (in)congruence between followers and their team leader significantly affects the followers’ relational separation of leader-member exchange (LMXRS), an individual-within-team level construct that indicates one’s relative standing in the team and is operationalized as the Euclidean distance between followers and their team members in terms of perceived LMX quality. Moreover, leader–follower EI (in)congruence indirectly affects the followers’ team identification via the mediating role of LMXRS. The proposed theoretical model was supported by field data collected from 1,416 leader–follower dyads in 143 sales teams across two-time points using polynomial regression and response surface methodology. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

SENIOR HOUSINGS’ ROLE FOR AGING IN PLACE: FOCUSING ON THE NATIONAL PROFILE OF INDEPENDENT LIVING FACILITIES IN KOREA

Abstract Understanding the changing preference for alternative housing arrangements is important due to the confluence of a global population aging, increasing cost concern for long-term care, and the desire of older people for aging in place (AIP). To date, little is known about to what extent the current housing models meets the needs of AIP for older people. Guided by the Person-Environment fit perspective, we examined the South Korean case using the first national data on independent living facilities (ILF) for older adults. Employing a convergent mixed-method design, we conducted a quantitative analysis of 277 ILFs and qualitative interviews with executive directors and managers from 10 facilities. We found the majority of the housings serve the low-income, and the residents' health status varies widely (i.e., ranging from fully independent to those homebound). However, the characteristics and nature of services available and staff composition are not adequate to meet the needs of the residents. Notably, privacy issues (i.e., a shared restroom and bedroom) in congregate settings stood out, decreasing the occupancy rate. Our findings suggest that the housing model needs to be diversified corresponding to the resident's needs for health and social care and economic affordability and should respect their privacy needs. We discussed ways to reform the current policy governing the ILFs, including strengthening service coordination programs to alleviate gaps between the residents' needs and the service availability. Our findings provide implications for improving and reforming the existing housing model to age in place in Korea and potentially other aging societies.

A meta-analysis of polychronicity: Applying modern perspectives of multitasking and person-environment fit

We apply modern theory on multitasking and person-environment fit to holistically explain the relations of polychronicity as well as provide justifications for disparate results found in prior studies, such as undetected differences regarding task-switching and dual-tasking. We then conduct a meta-analysis of polychronicity's relations. We show that the nomological net surrounding polychronicity matches our proposed fit perspective. We likewise demonstrate that differences in task-switching and dual-tasking indeed influence the observed results of polychronicity, and the growing complexity of businesses may have caused the association of polychronicity and job performance to strengthen over time. Our discussion highlights that polychronicity plays an important role in personal well-being and employee performance, which can be understood by our person-environment fit perspective.

Effects of segmentation supply and segmentation preference on work connectivity behaviour after hours: a person–environment fit perspective

Effects of segmentation supply and segmentation preference on work connectivity behaviour after hours: a person–environment fit perspective

Exploring links between Chinese military recruits' psychological stress and coping style from the person-environment fit perspective: The chain mediating effect of self-efficacy and social support.

The choice of coping style of recruits under psychological stress in the process of military task execution has been an important topic in the promotion of military operations and cohesion of military forces. Taking a positive coping style under psychological stress can help recruits overcome the negative effects of stress and improve military morale and group combat effectiveness. Although soldiers' psychological stress in the process of military mission execution having an impact on coping style has been studied by a large body of literature, very little literature has focused on the mechanism of self-efficacy and social support between recruits' psychological stress and coping style from the person-environment fit perspective. Therefore, this study was conducted to analyze the impact of recruits' psychological stress on coping style through a chain mediation model and to discuss the role of self-efficacy and social support in this relationship. Two waves of survey data were utilized to test the research hypotheses on a sample of 1028 Chinese recruits performing military tasks. The results indicated that recruits' psychological stress negatively impacted positive coping styles and positively correlated with negative ones. In addition, self-efficacy and social support mediated the relationship between psychological stress and positive coping style, and self-efficacy mediated the relationship between psychological stress and negative coping style. More importantly, self-efficacy and social support play the chain mediating effect between psychological stress and positive coping style.

Attitude and accessibility on transit users’ travel satisfaction: A person-environment fit perspective

Transit users’ travel satisfaction is important for assessing the performance of transit-oriented development. Existing studies emphasize the role of service attributes, built environment, and travel attitudes in predicting transit users’ travel satisfaction. However, few studies have jointly examined the effects of environment and attitudes based on sophisticated theoretical foundations. This paper aims to narrow this gap by examining the interaction effects of transit accessibility and attitudes towards transit on transit users' travel satisfaction from a person-environment fit perspective. The data is from a household survey conducted in Shanghai in 2018. Using polynomial regression analysis with response surface methodology , the study finds that interaction effects significantly influence the affective component of travel satisfaction, but not the cognitive component. Public transit users’ travel satisfaction increases with the congruence between attitude and accessibility. Dissonance is not necessarily a bad situation and may improve travel satisfaction when there is an increase in either factor.

How people higher on social dominance orientation deal with hierarchy-attenuating institutions: the person-environment (mis)fit perspective in the grammar of hierarchies

Interweaving Social Dominance theory with Person-Environment (P-E) fit theory, the present study examines how people higher on social dominance orientation (SDO, i.e., those who generally favor group hierarchies and inequalities) can deal with belonging to institutions that culturally sustain group equality (i.e., hierarchy-attenuating institutions). We enrolled two cohorts of first year students majoring in social work (Sample 1, N = 296; Sample 2, N = 117), a typical hierarchy-attenuating setting. Participants’ belonging to a hierarchy-attenuating institution was primed before administering a self-report questionnaire for measuring the study’s variables. Results of mediation analyses showed that people higher in SDO experienced higher P-E misfit with the institution in both samples. In turn, P-E misfit was positively associated with the intention to leave the social work faculty and with a higher pro-self hierarchy-enhancing motivation (i.e., agreeing that “I am enrolled in a Social work faculty primarily to have more chances to gain money and success in the future”). These results show that people higher in SDO can deal with the dissonant condition of P-E misfit with a hierarchy-attenuating institution by leaving such institution (i.e., differential attrition process) and/or by adopting a framework for their presence in a hierarchy-attenuating institution that aligns with their own’s socially dominant beliefs (i.e., motivational shaping process). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Excessive use of personal social media at work: antecedents and outcomes from dual-system and person-environment fit perspectives

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the antecedents and outcomes of excessive use of personal social media at work. The prevalence of personal social media in the work environment can easily lead to excessive use and negative consequences. Understanding the predictive factors and negative consequences of employees' excessive use of personal social media at work is important to develop their appropriate use of social media and improve their job performance.Design/methodology/approachBased on dual-system theory and the person-environment fit model, this study develops a research model to examine the effect of habit and self-regulation on excessive use of personal social media at work and that of the outcomes of excessive use on employee job performance through strain. This study conducts a questionnaire survey on 408 employees to test the research model and hypotheses empirically.FindingsResults suggest that the imbalance between habit and self-regulation drives excessive personal social media use of employees at work. Furthermore, excessive use of personal social media has a strong impact on employee strain, which can significantly decrease job performance.Originality/valueFirst, this study considers excessive use of personal social media at work as a result of two different cognitive systems, that is, an automatic system and a controlled system, thereby extending the dual-system theory to explain excessive use of personal social media in the work context. Second, unlike previous studies that focused on the outcomes or explored the antecedents of excessive social media use at work respectively, the study employs the person-environment fit model and examines the systematic influence of excessive social media use at work from a broad perspective by linking its antecedents and outcomes.

Sensory Processing Sensitivity as a Predictor of Proactive Work Behavior and a Moderator of the Job Complexity–Proactive Work Behavior Relationship

This study investigates the role of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) as a predictor of employees’ proactive work behavior. SPS is a multidimensional concept that depicts differences in people’s sensory awareness, processing, and reactivity to internal and external influences. Based on research on SPS as grounded in a heightened sensitivity of the behavioral inhibition and activation systems, it was argued that the relationships with task proactivity and personal initiative as indicators of proactive work behavior differ for the three SPS dimensions. Furthermore, based on the person–environment fit perspective, SPS was assumed to moderate the relationship between employees’ job complexity and proactivity. The hypotheses were tested in two two-wave studies (N = 215 and N = 126). Across both studies, ease of excitation (EOE; i.e., the tendency to be easily overwhelmed by changes) was unrelated to proactivity. Low sensory threshold (LST; i.e., unpleasant arousal from external stimuli) was negatively related to personal initiative, only in Study 2, but it did not predict task proactivity. Meanwhile, aesthetic sensitivity (i.e., AES; awareness of and openness to positive stimuli) was positively related to proactivity, but in Study 2, this relationship could only be established for personal initiative. Moreover, job complexity was positively related to proactivity for those employees high but not for those low in AES. EOE and LST did not act as moderators. This study offers evidence of positive behavioral implications among highly sensitive persons when dealing with job complexity. Overall, the study presents an interesting point of departure for the role of SPS in employee proactivity that calls for more research.