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The predictive validity of a measure of job compatibility was studied for theater personnel. Scores on a forced-choice instrument, developed from the Job Compatibility Questionnaire (JCQ), predicted employee performance (r = .22, p< .05), turnover (r = -.35, p< .01), and scores on a "value composite" (reflecting a combination of job performance and employee retention criteria) as defined by the research sponsor (r = .41, p< .01). Furthermore, job compatibility scores explained a statistically significant increment in turnover and value composite score variance when analyzed concomitantly with verbal and numerical ability test scores. Finally, job compatibility scores were shown to be nonredundant with hiring decisions based on an application review, reference check, and interview, whereas the cognitive ability test scores shared considerable redundancy with hiring decisions based on the current selection system.
The concept of person-job (P-J) fit has a long tradition in the context of personnel selection (e.g., Edwards, 1991; Hall, 1930-31; Lofquist & Dawis, 1969). Despite this history, implementation of the P-J fit concept has largely followed the traditional personnel selection model that emphasized matching people and jobs in terms of qualifications based on knowledge, skill, or ability, and overlooked other personal characteristics of applicants that might be more suitable for the assessment of "fit." Unfortunately, typical selection inventories are not designed to determine whether new hires will react favorably to the job and remain long enough for the organization to recover recruitment, selection, and training costs. Over 60 years ago, Hall (1930-31) identified "a need for methods of selecting from otherwise qualified applicants [italics added] those least susceptible to particular disagreeable features of the job" (p. 298).
More contemporary research supports the contention that worker preferences for job and organizational characteristics are related to job performance, voluntary termination, and employee affective reactions to both the job and the organization (e.g., Bernardin, 1987; Caldwell & O'Reilly, 1990; O'Reilly, Chatman, & Caldwell, 1991; Spokane, 1985; Villanova & Bernardin, 1990). Discussions of fit, such as those appearing in a review in the Academy of Management Review (James & Mitchell, 1989) exemplify the current dissatisfaction with exclusively person or situational approaches for explaining work behavior. Past research has often described persons and situations in different terms or situations tended to be anthropomorphized (Chatman, 1989). In addition,...