Moderators of the relationship between person-environment congruence and intrinsic job satisfaction

Abstract

Personal-environmental congruence refers to the degree of similarity between personal and environmental characteristics. This work investigated moderators of the relationship between person-environment congruence and intrinsic satisfaction with work. The moderators investigated were career salience, differentiation between occupational interests, and interest types. Measures of interests and occupational environments, intrinsic job satisfaction, and career salience were answered by 842 Brazilian workers. The congruence-satisfaction relationship was significant only in workers with low career salience, with high interest differentiation and/or who have a predominantly investigative interest. We concluded that the lower the career salience of the worker and/ or more differentiated his/her profile of interests, the more relevant is the congruence to satisfaction, especially in workers with investigative interest. It is suggested that people with high career salience are able to find alternatives for professional achievement even in work environments that are incongruous with their interests.