Job characteristic beliefs and personality as antecedents of subjective person-job fit

Abstract

Theory and research on Person-Environment (P-E) fit tend to focus on the outcomes of fit, while antecedents have received less attention. Two antecedents of individuals' subjective Person-Job (P-J) fit are studied: personality and job characteristic beliefs (JCBs). In a framework similar to work on objective fit, the interaction of these person and environment variables is hypothesized to predict subjective P-J fit. The hypotheses are studied with customer service job scenarios that varied in the nature of employee-customer contact. Two studies found significant interactions between personality and JCBs in predicting subjective P-J fit. Implications and directions for research are discussed. © Springer Science+Business, LCC 2006.