Person–Organization Fit and Turnover Intention: Exploring the Mediating Role of Employee Followership and Job Satisfaction Through Conservation of Resources Theory

• Author: Myung Hun Jin,Jaehee Park,Bruce McDonald
• Published date: 01 June 2018
• Date: 01 June 2018
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X16658334
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X16658334

Review of Public Personnel Administration

2018, Vol. 38(2) 167 –192

© The Author(s) 2016

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DOI: 10.1177/0734371X16658334

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Article

Person–Organization Fit

and Turnover Intention:

Exploring the Mediating Role

of Employee Followership

and Job Satisfaction Through

Conservation of Resources

Theory

Myung Hun Jin1, Bruce McDonald2, and Jaehee Park3

Abstract

This study examines the mediating role of employee followership and job satisfaction

in the relationship between person–organization (P-O) fit and turnover intention.

Understanding the mechanisms that link P-O fit and turnover intention may provide

useful intervention strategies for leaders and human resource professionals to

effectively manage and interact with their followers. Using Hobfoll’s conservation

of resources theory, we explore a three-step mediation model in which high P-O fit

is related to turnover intention through employee followership and job satisfaction.

This model is tested using cross-sectional survey responses from 692 faculty at an

urban public university. The authors discuss the implications of the results as well as

the limitations of the study for future research.

Keywords

person–organization fit, human resources, public service motivation, organizational

theory, conservation of resource theory

1Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA

2NC State University, Raleigh, NC, USA

3Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, South Korea

Corresponding Author:

Myung Hun Jin, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, Virginia Commonwealth

University, 921 W. Franklin St., Kearney House, Rm. 204, Richmond, Virginia, 23284 USA.

Email: mhjin@vcu.edu

658334ROPXXX10.1177/0734371X16658334Review of Public Personnel AdministrationJin et al.

research-article2016

168 Review of Public Personnel Administration 38(2)

Introduction

Person–organization (P-O) fit has become an increasingly important aspect of the

employment relationship in the public management literature. Previous studies have

indicated that P-O fit is significantly related to individual intention as well as attitudi-

nal and behavioral outcomes, such as turnover intention, job satisfaction, organiza-

tional commitment, and contextual performance (Hoffman & Woehr, 2006;

Kristof-Brown et al., 2005; Verquer, Beehr, & Wagner, 2003). However, several schol-

ars have criticized that the process through which P-O fit leads to employees’ turnover

intention has not received much attention in the literature (Peng, Lee, & Tseng, 2014).

Given the positive employee outcomes associated with P-O fit, understanding the

mechanisms through which it operates may offer additional insight for human resource

professionals on how to effectively communicate with their employees and address

their needs proactively.

Consistent with the recent call for understanding the psychological mechanisms of

P-O fit perceptions (Peng et al., 2014; Schmitt, Oswald, Friede, Imus, & Merritt,

2008), we focus on the process through which perceived fit may affect an employee’s

turnover intention through its influence on followership and job satisfaction and seek

to add to the P-O fit literature in two key ways. Our first contribution is to test the

mediating role of followership and job satisfaction as a causal chain in linking P-O fit

to turnover intent. Several recent studies examine the psychological mechanisms of

P-O fit. These studies are limited, however, in that they primarily focus on emotion-

based conditions, such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment (Vilela,

González, & Ferrin, 2008; Westerman & Cyr, 2004) and emotional engagement

(Gregory & Albritton, 2009). However, given that work attitudes are shaped in large

part as a result of undertaking their daily work (Cable & DeRue, 2002; Kristof-Brown

et al., 2005), the oversight on leaving employee behavior out of the P-O fit and turn-

over intention equation is somewhat surprising. For example, Ryan and Deci (2000)

have theorized that individuals are extrinsically motivated to engage in behaviors so as

to satisfy their desire to feel belongingness and connectedness with their organizations

and, thus, maintain their fit (Yu, 2009); yet behavioral implications of P-O fit on turn-

over intention are noticeably absent in the literature. Given that P-O fit is linked to

both attitudinal (Verquer et al., 2003, offer a meta-analysis) as well as behavioral out-

comes (Hoffman & Woehr, 2006), understanding the relational nature of work behav-

iors and attitudes may help clarify the process through which employees’ intention to

turnover is shaped.

Drawing from Hobfoll’s (1989) conservation of resources (COR) theory, we

hypothesize that individuals with high levels of P-O fit in terms of value congruence

are more likely than others to demonstrate extra-role behaviors (i.e., followership

behavior; Kelley, 1992) so as to retain and protect their P-O fit as valued conditional

resources (Hobfoll, 1989). This followership behavior is, in turn, hypothesized to lead

to increased job satisfaction because effective followership role fulfills important per-

sonal needs for individuals through comradeship with valued others, which helps sat-

isfy one’s social needs (Howell & Costley, 2006). Job satisfaction is enhanced because