A study on employee relations

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An Analysis of the RelationBetween EmployeeOrganization Value

Congruence and Employee Attitudes

ELIZABETH A. AMOS

BART L. WEATHINGTONUniversity of Tennessee at Chattanooga

ABSTRACT. Researchers have examined the fit or match between a person and anorganization extensively in the empirical literature. Overall findings have supported theexistence of a positive relation between the congruence of employee and organizationalvalues with employee attitudes toward the organization. However, this relation is notfully understood, and more research is needed to understand the relation between thecongruence of different value dimensions and multiple employee attitudes. Therefore,the authors aimed to analyze value congruence across 7 dimensions and its relation to (a)job satisfaction, (b) organizational commitment, (c) satisfaction with the organization as

a whole, and (d) turnover intentions. The results suggest that the perceived congruence ofemployeeorganizational values by employees is positively associated with satisfactionwith the job and organization as a whole and employee commitment to the organization.The results also support a negative relation between value congruence and employeeturnover intentions.

Keywords: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, personorganization fit

THE PERSONENVIRONMENT (PE) FIT THEORY ASSUMES that indi-

viduals prefer an environment that possesses characteristics (e.g., values, beliefs)

that are similar to their own (Kroeger, 1995). In the context of an organization,this theory is referred to as personorganization (PO) fit. The concept of PO

fit is important to organizations because it suggests that if people fit well with

an organization, they are likely to exhibit more positive attitudes and behaviors.

This relation is supported by the literature, and many studies have found relations

between PO fit and work-related attitudes and behaviors (Boxx, Odom, & Dunn,

1991; Posner, 1992; Saks & Ashforth, 1997; Sekiguchi, 2004; Ugboro, 1993).

PO fit is multidimensional, and its components include personality, skills,

needs, and values (Westerman & Cyr, 2004). However, in the present study, we

Address correspondence to Bart L. Weathington, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga,

Department of Psychology, Department 2803, 615 McCallie Avenue, Chattanooga, TN37403, USA; [email protected] (e-mail).

The Journal of Psychology, 2008, 142(6), 615631

Copyright 2008 Heldref Publications


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were interested in primarily the values component and specifically the level of

congruence between the values of employees and their employing organizationand the relation of value congruence to satisfaction, commitment, and turnover.

When an employees values match those of an organizationand those of their

colleagues in the organizationthe values are said to be congruent. Researchers

suggest that the level of value congruence between employees and their organiza-

tion is positively related to attitudes such as satisfaction and commitment (e.g.,

Adkins, Ravlin, & Meglino, 1996; Boxx et al., 1991; Furnham & Schaeffer,

1984; Rosete, 2006). The main goal of this study was to investigate this relation

further by using the seven values that Peters and Waterman (1982) identified as

values that American companieswith exceptional performance records possess.

These values are (a) superior quality and service, (b) innovation, (c) importanceof people as individuals, (d) importance of details of execution, (e) communica-

tion, (f) profit orientation, and (g) goal accomplishment.

We propose that employees who have high levels of congruence on these

value dimensions will also report higher levels of job and organizational satis-

factions and organizational commitment. Also, we propose that these employees

will report lower turnover intentions.

Although we make no specific hypotheses regarding the prevalence of any

value, Boxx et al. (1991) found that most organizations held superior quality and

service, innovation, details of execution, and goal attainment as high values but

placed little emphasis on the importance of people as individuals. However,mostemployees felt that the value of people as individuals should be increased. This

finding suggests that there may be differences across values. No researchwas

identified that addressed what happens when employees are congruent on some

values and not others and what effect this phenomenon has on their attitudes.

Therefore, researchers need to examine the relation between value congruence

and employee attitudes for each value dimension holistically and separately.

The relation between value congruence and job satisfaction has been exam-

ined extensively in the empirical literature (Adkins et al., 1996; Boxx et al., 1991;

Furnham & Schaeffer, 1984; Westerman & Cyr, 2004). However, little research

has been conducted on the relation between value congruence and satisfactionwith the organization as a whole. Also, a significant amount of empirical research

has addressed the relation between value congruence and organizational commit-

ment (e.g., Boxx et al.; Meglino, Ravlin, & Adkins, 1989; Rosete, 2006), but few

studies have examined the relation of congruence to different types of commit-

ment (i.e., affective, continuance, normative; Allen & Meyer, 1990). Therefore,

one goal of the present study was to contribute to this limited area of research.

Value Congruence and Job Satisfaction

When employees values match those of their coworkers, employees reporthigher levels of satisfaction (Adkins et al., 1996). In addition, employees who

616 The Journal of Psychology


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perceive that their supervisors values are similar to their own were found to be

satisfied with their job (Meglino et al., 1989). For example, Furnham and Schaef-fer (1984) found a positive relation between value congruence and job satisfaction

for 82 full-time employees in the United States. Boxx et al. (1991) used the seven

values of excellence that Peters and Waterman (1982) developed and found, again,

a significant relation between congruence of these values and job satisfaction for

387 highway and transportation managers. In a more recent study, Westerman and

Cyr (2004) found that, when analyzed with personality and work environment

congruence, value congruence was the best predictor of job satisfaction.

In addition, Verquer, Beehr, and Wagners (2003) meta-analysis of 21 stud-

ies resulted in support for a positive relation between value congruence and job

satisfaction. However, this relation is confounded by other research that showedno relation between value congruence and job satisfaction (Rosete, 2006). These

conflicting results may be because of the definition and measure of satisfaction

that the researchers used. To corroborate Verquer et al.s findings, we hypoth-

esized that that there is a positive relation between value congruence and job

satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1 (H1): A positive relation exists between PO value congruence

and job satisfaction.

Value Congruence and Satisfaction With the Organization

As previously mentioned, there is a lack of empirical literature on employ-

ees satisfaction with their organization. Most literature focuses only on job sat-

isfaction. On one hand, it is possible to assume that employees would be satisfied

with their organization if they were satisfied with their job. On the other hand,

employees could dislike the organization but still be satisfied with their job, and

vice versa. In the present study, we hypothesized that there is a positive relation

between value congruence and satisfaction with the organization as a whole.

H2: A positive relation exists between PO value congruence and satisfac-

tion with the organization.

Value Congruence and Organizational Commitment

Allen and Meyer (1996) define organizational commitmentas a psycho-

logical link between the employee and his or her organization that makes it less

likely that the employee will voluntarily leave the organization (p. 252). There

are three commonly recognized types of organizational commitment. Affective

commitmentis emotional commitment (i.e., employees stay at their job because

they want to stay). In continuance commitment, employees stay at an organiza-

tion because it would cost them more to leave it (i.e., employees stay becausethey must stay). In normative commitment, employees remain a part of their

Amos & Weathington 617


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organization because they feel obligated to stay (i.e., employees stay because

they feel that they should; Allen & Meyer).A review of the research literature identified several studies that examined

the relation between value congruence and organizational commitment; Meglino

et al. (1989) found a positive relation between the two constructs. However, the

relation was significantly higher for those who were employed at the organiza-

tion for a longer time, suggesting that tenure could account for the relation.

Also, Boxx et al. (1991) found a positive relation between congruence and com-

mitment among transportation department executives. Posners (1992) results

showed that there was a significant positive relation between value congruence

and organizational commitment (type of organizational commitment measured

was not identified). Ugboro (1993) examined the relation between value con-gruence and affective commitment and found that they were significantly and

positively related. Recently, Rosete (2006) examined the relation between value

congruence of employees and human resources managers and found a significant

positive relation between value congruence and organizational commitment.

Verquer et al.s (2003) meta-analysisalso examined organizational commit-

ment. Not all of the studies in the meta-analysis included a measure of commit-

ment; those that did measured only normative or affective commitment. How-

ever, the results of the meta-analysis generally supported the positive relation

between value congruence and organizational commitment (Verquer et al.).

Most of the studies we reviewed have included only one measure of com-mitment. Therefore, results that concern the possible differences between value

congruence and affective, continuance, or normative commitment are unavailable.

Accordingly, one goal of the present study was to add to the literature concern-

ing values and affective, normative, and continuance commitments. We assumed

that there is a positive relation between congruence dimensions and affective and

normative organizational commitments. Individuals who have a high continuance

commitment stay with an organization because they feel that it would cost them

more to leave than it would to stay (Allen & Meyer, 1996). This suggests that peo-

ple may leave the organization if other aspects of their life permitted them to do so

(e.g., better job opportunity, more money). Therefore, we did not assume that valuecongruence has a significant positive relation with continuance commitment.

H3a

: A positive relation exists between participant value congruence dimen-

sions and affective organizational commitment.

H3b

: A positive relation exists between participant value congruence dimen-

sions and normative organizational commitment.

Value Congruence and Turnover

Employee turnover is a problem for organizations around the world because

it is costly. That is, turnover costs time and money for employees to separatefrom an organization and for an organization to recruit and train replacements.



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According to the American Management Association, turnover costs can range

from 25% to 200% of annual compensation (Branham, 2000).Verquer et al.s (2003) meta-analysis found a significant relation between value

congruence and turnover intent. When individuals values match those of their orga-

nization, they are less likely to leave. Therefore, we hypothesized as follows:

H4: A negative relation exists between participant value congruence dimen-

sions and turnover intent.

Method

Participants

Participants were 151 undergraduate and graduate students (94 women

[62.3%], 50 men [31.1%], 7 unreported [4.6%]) from a midsize university in the

southern United States. The participants age ranged from 18 to 45 years (M= 23

years, SD = 4.2 years). Of participants, 92 (60.9%) were undergraduate students,

whereas 51 (33.8%) were graduate students, and 8 (5.2%) did not specify their

academic status. Regarding their work status, 95 participants (62.9%) reported

that they had a part-time job, whereas 37 (24.5%) reported that they had a full-

time job; 11 (7.3%) reported that they were not employed; and 8 (5.2%) did not

report employment information. The participants race or ethnicity varied: 107

(70.9%) indicated White; 25 (16.6%) indicatedAfrican American; 5 (3.3%) indi-catedAsian or Asian American; 2 (1.3%) indicatedLatino or Hispanic; and 12

(7.9%) indicated Otheror did not report their race or ethnicity.

Procedure

Each participant received a questionnaire that contained measures of value

congruence, job satisfaction, organizational satisfaction, organizational commit-

ment, and turnover intent. The participants completed the questionnaires during

scheduled class periods. In addition to providing the participants with a written

informed-consent form, we informed them verbally that the survey was confiden-tial and anonymous. The participants were instructed to refrain from providing

any identifying information on the survey. The experimenter collected the ques-

tionnaires immediately after the participants completed them. The response rate

was 92%. We omitted 12 participants (8%) from the study because of incomplete

responses or because they did not currently hold a job. Consequently, we used

139 participants in our analysis.

Measures

Value congruence. We measured value congruence by using the Seven Values ofExcellence Scale that Peters and Waterman (1982) developed. The seven values



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that we measured were (a) superior quality and service, (b) innovation, (c)

importance of people as individuals, (d) importance of details of execution, (e)communication, (f) profit orientation, and (g) goal accomplishment. We asked

the participants to what extent each value exists in their organization, using a

7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (does not exist) to 7 (exists to a large

extent). Later in the questionnaire, we asked them to what extent they think each

value should exist in their organization, using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging

from 1 (should not exist) to 7 (should exist to a large extent). We calculated con-

gruence by subtracting the degree to which participants believed a value should

exist from the degree to which they felt a value existed. Peters and Waterman

reported a reliability coefficient of .83. However, in the present study, the reli-

ability coefficient was .75.

Job satisfaction. We measured this value by using the Overall Job Satisfaction

Scale that Brayfield and Rothe (1951) developed. The scale consisted of 18

statements. For consistency with other measures, this scale was modified from

its original 5-point Likert-type scale. We asked the participants to what extent

they agreed with each statement, using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from

1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). Brayfield and Rothe reported a reli-

ability coefficient of .87. In the present study, the reliability coefficient was .94.

Although this measure is relatively old (developed in 1951), it is generally rec-

ognizedas an affectively based measure of job satisfaction (Schleicher, Watt, &Greguras, 2004) and has been used in many recent studies that have examined

employee attitudes, emotions, and PO fit (Bono, Foldes, Vinson, & Muros,

2007; Meglino & Korsgaard, 2007; Piasentin & Chapman, 2007).

Satisfaction with the organization as a whole. We measured satisfaction with the

organization by modifying Warr and Routledges (1969) scale. For consistency,

we modified this measure for 12 statements so that participants used a 7-point

Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The

reliability coefficient for this measure was .84.

Organizational commitment. We measured organizational commitment by using

the Affective Commitment Scale (ACS), Normative Commitment Scale (NCS),

and Continuance Commitment Scale (CCS) that Allen and Meyer (1990) devel-

oped. Each scale comprised eight items that we asked participants to rate on a

7-point Likert-typescale ranging from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree).

Allen and Meyer (1990) reported that the reliability coefficients for ACS, NCS,

and CSS were .87, .79, and .75, respectively. In the present study, the reliability

coefficients for ACS, NCS, and CSS were .85, .69, and .68, respectively.

Turnover intent. We measured turnover intent by using a scale that Mobley, Grif-feth, Hand, and Meglino (1979) developed. The measure consisted of three items



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that participants rated using a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging from 1 (strongly

disagree) to 7 (strongly agree). The reliability coefficient for this measure was .86.

Results

Table 1 presents descriptive statistics for each variable in the present study.

Table 2 presents the correlation coefficients for each variable. Results support all

hypotheses. Total value congruence correlated significantly with job satisfaction

(r= .41), organizational satisfaction (r= .41), affective commitment (r= .36),

normative commitment (r= .34), and turnover intent (r= .37). Value congru-

ence did not correlate significantly with continuance commitment.

We also calculated correlations for congruence of each value dimension(see Table 3). Superior quality and service were significantly correlated with

job satisfaction (r= .24), organizational satisfaction (r= .33), affective commit-

ment (r= .30), normative commitment (r= .28), and turnover intent (r= .17).

Innovation correlated significantly with job satisfaction (r= .19), organizational

satisfaction (r= .16), affective commitment (r= .13), normative commitment (r

= .21), and turnover intent (r= .21). The value of importance of people as indi-

viduals was significantly correlated with job satisfaction (r= .48), organizational

satisfaction (r= .53), affective commitment (r= .48), normative commitment (r=

.37), and turnover intent (r= .48). Importance of details of execution correlated

significantly with job satisfaction (r= .24), organizational satisfaction (r= .19),affective commitment (r= .21), normative commitment (r= .26), and turnover


TABLE 1. Descriptive Statistics for Variables

Score

Variable Min Max M SD

Job satisfaction 2.57 17.57 11.60 3.03

Organizational satisfaction 25.00 83.00 59.05 12.00Affective commitment 8.00 54.00 30.70 10.09Continuance commitment 14.00 53.00 32.87 8.65Normative commitment 12.00 52.00 31.95 7.51Turnover intent 3.00 21.00 10.10 5.33Superior quality and service 6.00 1.00 0.91 1.17Innovation 6.00 2.00 1.08 1.44Importance of people as individuals 6.00 1.00 1.20 1.49Importance of details of execution 6.00 2.00 1.01 1.50Communication 6.00 1.00 1.63 1.65Profit orientation 5.00 3.00 0.19 1.37Goal accomplishment 5.00 1.00 0.99 1.20

Total value congruence 30.00 2.00 7.00 6.25


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intent (r= .24). The value of communication was correlated significantly with

job satisfaction (r= .38), organizational satisfaction (r= .48), affective commit-

ment (r= .35), normative commitment (r= .27), and turnover intent (r= .40). In

addition, the value of goal accomplishment was significantly correlated with job

satisfaction (r= .31), organizational satisfaction (r= .25), affective commitment

(r= .20), normative commitment (r= .18), and turnover intent (r= .17). The

value of profit orientation was significantly negatively correlated with organiza-

tional satisfaction (r= .18). Profit orientation was not significantly correlatedwith any other variable.

Hypotheses-Related Analyses

We analyzed the relation between total value congruence and employee atti-

tudes further by using a simple regression analysis (see Table 4). We found that

the total value congruence had a significant relation (p < .001) with job satisfac-

tion ( = .41), organizational satisfaction ( = .41), affective commitment ( =.36), normative commitment ( = .34), and turnover intent ( = .37). We also

conducted multiple linear regression analyses for all of our hypotheses; Table 4shows these results.

H1

predicted that there would be a positive relation between value congru-

ence dimensions and job satisfaction. Results provide evidence that the con-

gruence of only one value, importance of people as individuals ( = .35; p

A study on employee relations

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