The Journal of Psychology, 2008, 142(6), 615-631 Copyright © 2008 Heldref Publications An Analysis of the Relation Between Employee—Organization Value Congruence and Employee Attitudes ELIZABETH A. AMOS BART L. WEATHINGTON University of Tennessee at Chattanooga ABSTRACT. Researchers have examined the fit or match between @ person and an organization extensively in the empirical literature. Overall findings have supported the existence of a positive relation between the congruence of employee and organizational values with employee attitudes toward the organization, However, this relation is not fully understood, and more research is needed to understand the relation between the congruence 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 of employee-organizational values by employees is positively associated with satisfaction with the job and organization as a whole and employee commitment to the organization, The results also support a negative relation between value congruence and employee turnover intentions. Keywords: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, person-organization fit THE PERSON-ENVIRONMENT (P-E) 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 person-organization (P-O) fit. The concept of P-O 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 P-O fit and work-related attitudes and behaviors (Boxx, Odom, & Dunn, 1991; Posner, 1992; Saks & Ashforth, 1997; Sekiguchi, 2004; Ugboro, 1993). P-O 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, TN 37403, USA; bart-weathington@ utc.edu (e-mail). 615616 The Journal of Psychology were interested in primarily the values component and specifically the level of congruence between the values of employees and their employing organization and the relation of value congruence to satisfaction, commitment, and turnover. When an employee’s values match those of an organization—and those of their colleagues in the organization—the 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 companies with exceptional performance records possess. ‘These values are (a) superior quality and service, (b) innovation, (c) importance of 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, most employees felt that the value of people as individuals should be increased. This finding suggests that there may be differences across values. No research was 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 satisfaction with 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 report higher levels of satisfaction (Adkins et al., 1996). In addition, employees whoAmos & Weathington 617 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 Wagner’s (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 showed no 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 | (H,): A positive relation exists between P-O 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. H,;: A positive relation exists between P-O value congruence and satisfac- tion with the organization. Value Congruence and Organizational Commitment Allen and Meyer (1996) define organizational commitment as “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 commitment is emotional commitment (i.c., 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 because they must stay). In normative commitment, employees remain a part of their