Person-organization and person-supervisor fits: Employee commitments in a Chinese context

Abstract

The present study simultaneously examined people's perceptions of person-organization (PO) and person-supervisor (PS) fit and related these perceptions to employees' commitments. Three-hundred-and-sixty employee-supervisor dyads from Taiwanese organizations reported about their PO fit and PS fit perceptions. In addition, supervisors reported about their perceptions of fit and guanxi with each of their employees. Results indicated that PO and PS fit perceptions both had an independent and additive relationship with organizational commitment. The link between employee PS fit perceptions and organizational commitment was mediated by commitment to the supervisor. Both employee and supervisor fit perceptions contributed to commitment to the supervisor through their influence on the quality of the leader-member exchange (LMX). Guanxi could not explain additional variance in LMX and supervisor commitment. Implications for theory and practices regarding person-environment fit, commitment, and LMX are discussed. The study findings offered suggestions for a new Theory of Multiple Fits. © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.