Impact of Person–Environment Fit on Employees’ Career Attitude – A Case Study of a Finnish Multinational Corporation

Understanding of human behavior and its compatibility to environment has fascinated scholars for decades and gathered much attention over the years in organizational studies. The way employees perceive their fit with work environment is considered one of the key determinants to be satisfied and successful in work. Moreover, due to the emerging changes in globalization and technology recently, the nature of employment has evolved, which is linked to employees’ fit perceptions, thus affecting their attitudes of career satisfaction and career development. The theoretical framework of this study rests on an idea that the concept of person-environment (P-E) fit has four different dimensions depending on the environment type in question, which then has influence on career attitudes of employees. These four aspects examine the relationship to organization (P-O), job tasks (P-J), working group (P-G) and supervisors (P-S). Hence, the main objective for this research is to understand better what kind of impact individuals’ person-environment fit – in terms of its fit dimensions – has on their career attitudes. The empirical part of this study was conducted as a case study, utilizing multiple sources of data and focusing on one multinational corporation and its employees particularly. Six current employees were interviewed dyadically by following a semi-structured interview format to examine the perceived P-E fit in respect of their career attitudes, career satisfaction and career mobility. Also, secondary data from the company’s website and the official annual sustainability report was gathered to support the interview findings. The findings from the data revealed that especially the fit with the position and job assignments was one of the main drivers contributing individual’s the level of career satisfaction, commitment and mindset towards boundaryless and protean attitude. Besides suitable job tasks, the overall ambiance was influenced by nice and approachable colleagues and congruent organizational values, which together enhanced a positive attitude, commitment to work and willingness of staying in the company. Also, support and congruent values and views from the organization and supervisor’s side seemed to correlate together, thus enhancing individual’s protean attitude and self-directness to take control of their personal career development. However, especially P-S fit was not perceived so important, as poorer P-S fit did not yet alone deteriorate the overall level of career satisfaction, if the other areas of fit were perceived positive. In conclusion, the findings exemplified that certain fit dimensions correlated stronger to employees’ protean and boundaryless attitudes, level of commitment and career satisfaction – some in turn having the most impact as a combination. Therefore, from a managerial perspective, examining the dimensions of P-E fit can offer organizations beneficial insight into understanding better their employees’ behavior and career attitudes, hence improve their well-being, career success and career satisfaction, which is seen highly profitable for the organizations as well