The impact of organizational culture and person‐organization fit on organizational commitment and job satisfaction in Taiwan

Abstract

The related concepts of organizational culture and person‐organization (P‐O) fit or congruence between the person and organization are important to organizational success. The psychological contract, which is both perceptual and individual, forms the basis of the P‐O fit. However, there has been little attention paid to the interaction of fit and organizational culture with such concepts as job satisfaction and organizational commitment and the application of this concept in non‐western cultures. The results of this study, conducted in Taiwan, indicate that P‐O fit is a key element in both the level of job satisfaction that employees experience and also in their level of organizational commitment whether measured by an instrument or turnover rates. An organization is not a passive or stable institution and it evolves and grows within an organizational culture. While P‐O fit may be linked to organizational culture, the impact of specific types of organizational culture was also assessed. Involvement in an organization that had a bureaucratic organizational culture resulted in the lowest levels of job satisfaction and organizational commitment. An innovative culture was next highest and a supportive culture had the highest level of employee job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These findings indicate that organizational culture plays an important role in the level of job satisfaction and commitment in an organization. In terms of the impact of the P‐O fit on job satisfaction and organizational commitment in Taiwan, the results indicate that the degree of fit plays an important role in all of the types of organizational culture studied. The better the fit the higher the levels of these two variables. The results indicate that the P‐O fit is an important variable within the organizations in non‐western cultures.