This project will be used to investigate the effects of Person-Environment (PE) fit on contractor hiring and retention in the energy industry and will focus on several different established qualitative study methods and methodologies including phenomenology, case study interviews, and qualitative coding. PE fit theory or the idea that finding a "values congruence" between an employee and the organization they work in has been studied for decades to determine to what degree PE fit or other subsidiary concepts and theories can help lessen negative consequences such as high turnover, and worker burnout. There are many positive aspects for organizations that use PE fit and other fit theories; these include but are not limited to: (a) greater employee career prospects, (b) increased worker engagement, and (c) greater job satisfaction.
In 2022, a non-profit safety council in the Gulf Coast of the U.S. performed a qualitative study on employees' experiences of being hired and how fit theory may have been applied by the hiring organizations. This study was performed to determine: (a) challenges faced by new employees to organizations among contractors who support the energy industry, (b) how these new employees deal with those challenges over their first three months of work, and (c) how the concepts of "fit" theory apply to these employees, the contracting organizations, and these challenges. The purpose of this research is to explore in what ways industrial contactors are motivated to remain at their organizations after several weeks of work as compared to their expectations about the organization. A secondary purpose is to help determine if the worker's expectations for the hiring organization and their goals for themselves align with the organization's goals.
Case Study Format
This project, a case study, follows an interpretivist epistemological approach as its intent is to understand better the personal reality of the participants’ experience during hiring and while working for contractor organizations in the energy industry. The strength of using an interpretivist methodology is that it allows researchers an opportunity to understand more deeply the social world of the participants, themselves, and the world around the research. According to Battacharya (2017) "unlike positivism, interpretivism takes into account the cultural and historical interpretations of one's social world when conducting inquiry" (p. 59). Understanding the social world of the participants, how they interact with their hiring organizations, and with the industry that they are working in, will help the researcher understand more about the lived-experiences of the participants and the effect of PO and PE fit on the participants. A phenomenological approach for this research is appropriate in that allows the researcher to investigate “the meaning making of the structure of the phenomenological experience” (Battacharya, 2017, p. 64).
This qualitative study will follow a case study format, in that the participants were interviewed multiple times over a three-month period. This study includes a focus on phenomenology, as this study intends to explore a phenomenon within a particular context of an employee's first few months of work, through multiple interviews with a variety of workers. As this research depends on multiple interviews with the participants over a period of four months, it deliberately follows a case-study methodology which Battacharya (2017) writes is “targeted at information-rich sources for in-depth understanding and can also be used to inform policies or to uncover contributing reasons for cause-and-effect relationships” (p. 109). However, Stake (1995) also points out that “the real business of case study is particularization, not generalization. We take a particular case and come to know it well, not primarily as to how it is different from others but what it is, what it does” (p. 8) and case study research is “not sampling research. We do not study a case primarily to understand other cases. Our first obligation is to understand this one case” (p. 4).
Taking this into account, care should be taken in trying to generalize the results of this research study with other organizations, participants, or industries. The strength of this case study research is understanding to a greater degree the relationships, meaning-making, and lived experiences of the participants who are within the study, but these experiences, understanding of the experiences, and results this study finds may not be what might be found by other workers in the industry and especially by other workers in other industries.
Research Purpose and Questions
The research questions this qualitative case study hopes to answer include:
- How do the participants express their career goals and expectations for their positions within the organizations when hired?
- How do the participants express their lived experiences of working within their new organizations especially in regard to fit theory within their first three months?
Software and/or Data Management Processes
Only the primary researcher will have access to the study consent forms and the information on them, the data, and other study information. Interviews were conducted via phone and recorded on an independent iPod Touch that was used exclusively for this research. Once interviews were completed, the interview sessions were transcribed using Microsoft 365 Word's native transcription application and then printed. All information from this research will be kept in a locked office after it is collected. No one other than the primary researcher will have access to the office without the primary researcher being present. The participants' names will not be shared with their organizations, contractor organizations' names will not be shared with anyone, nor will any of this; participants' names or contractor organizations' names, or other information be included in any articles or papers that are written as a part of this research. Coding will be completed both manually by the researcher reviewing the written, printed transcripts, making written notes on the printed copies of the transcripts, and also by using Nvivo software, release 1.7.1, which will be downloaded on the primary researcher's work computer.
First and Second Cycle Coding
The first round of coding for this research will be performed primarily as a read-through/listen of the interviews during the interview sessions. Provisional or a priori coding as Saldaña (2021) writes is a “predetermined start list of codes prior to fieldwork. These codes can be developed from anticipated categories of types of responses/actions that may arise in the data yet to be collected” (p. 216). Saldaña continues that this type of initial coding is appropriate when the research will “build on or corroborate preview research and investigations” (p. 217) as this study does. Hypothesis coding, similar in nature to provisional coding, is “the application of researcher-generated, predetermined list of codes to qualitative data specifically to assess a research-generated hypothesis” (p. 219). This type of coding will be conducted during the first read-through. Citing Strauss and Corbin, (1998) Saldaña (2021) writes that “initial coding breaks down qualitative data into discrete parts, closely examines them, and compares them for similarities and differences (p. 148).
Concept coding, according to Saldaña (2021) “assign meso or macro levels of meaning to data or to data analytic work in progress” (p. 152) and “concept codes tend to be applied to a larger units or stanzas of data – an analytic “lumping” task that harmonizes with the bigger picture suggested by a concept” (p. 153). This type of coding, and all of the above coding, will be incorporated in the first cycle of coding, during the read-through/review of the transcripts. The primary researcher will write notes/memos directly on the printed transcripts and used color-coded tabs to highlight themes and inductive codes identified as a part of the development of this project.
Second Cycle Coding Approach
The second cycle of coding will occur using a digital methodology and software and include a more comprehensive reading/review of the data. Simultaneous coding according to Saldana (2021) is appropriate when the content of the data suggests multiple meanings that necessitate and justify more than one code” (p. 124). Subcoding according to Saldaña (2021) is “appropriate for virtually all qualitative studies, but particularly for ethnographies and content analyses, studies with multiple participants and sites, and studies with a wide variety of data forms” (p. 121). He goes on to write that “subcoding could be employed after an initial yet general coding scheme has been applied (such as Holistic Coding) and the researcher realizes that the classification scheme may have been too broad” (p. 121). Saldana (2021) writes that Values coding is the “application of codes to qualitative data that reflect a participants values, attitudes, and beliefs, representing his or her perspectives or worldview (p. 167) and is appropriate for all studies “but particularly for those that explore cultural values or belief systems, identity, intrapersonal and interpersonal participants experiences and action in cases studies” (p. 168).
The second cycle coding will include a comprehensive reading of the data looking for deductive codes that might not have been considered during the initial development of the project. These codes will be developed directly into the Nvivo software during the read-through. These deductive codes will include subcodes and follow as simultaneous coding process as described above. This second cycle coding may include multiple readthroughs and reviews of the data.
Additional cycles of coding may be necessary throughout the project to help bring clarity and understanding to the data that has been collected and to determine how that data reflects the framework and attempts to address the research questions.
Analytic Memos, Researcher Reflections, and/or Journaling
Two types of analytic memos will be captured as a part of this research project. First, notes will be taken at the time of coding in a digital format using Nvivo’s memo functionality. These notes will capture the researcher’s thoughts and direction for coding and will be reviewed between rounds of coding and between coding for different subjects. These will also be summarized for content or insight when writing the final article.
The second type of memo that will be captured as a part of this project includes hand-written notes documented in a researcher's journal. This journal will be kept on the researcher for writing thoughts or feelings that might crop up during the course of the day or night when not actively working on the project. These too, like the digital memos will be summarized and reviewed at strategic moments throughout the project. Writing about memos, Saldaña (2021) states that “whenever anything related to and significant about the coding or analysis of data comes to mind, stop whatever you are doing and write a memo about it immediately” (p. 59). Having a memo notebook on hand will facilitate memos of this type for this project. Additionally, the researcher will block time at the end of the week to reflect on the coding and writing process with the specific intent of adding to the memos for this project. Again, writing about memos, Saldaña (2021) writes that they are “personal written musing before, during, and about the entire enterprise are a question-raising, puzzle-piecing, connection-making, strategy-building, problem-solving, answer-generating, rising-above-the-data heuristic” (p. 58). Allowing time for reflection, as well as writing as-they-come-up notes, will facilitate this process of strategy-building and rising above the data.
Visual Representation of Organization and Researcher Reflection
Having completed several phases of this research project, there are adjustments that should be made to the initial project plan. Among these is the iterative cycle of coding. According to the initial project plan, only two Nvivo coding cycles were likely. Having completed the first coding cycle, I have decided that a more iterative series of coding cycles should be utilized. This cycle of coding will continue until a more complete analysis can be determined from the data.
A schematic of the overall project plan can be shown in Figure 1 below. The iterative cycle of coding and analysis is shown in Figure 2.
Saldaña (2021) writes regarding coding that researchers must “be able to deal with ambiguity. Coding and codifying are not precise sciences with specific algorithms or procedures to follow. Yes, occasionally answer may suddenly and serendipitously crystallize out of nowhere, but at other times, a piece of the analytic puzzle may be missing for days or weeks or even months” (p. 20). Saldaña continues that researchers much be flexible. He writes “Coding is a cyclical process that requires you to recode not just once but twice (and sometimes even more). Virtually no one gets it right the first time” (Saldaña, 2021, p. 20). This iterative cycle shown in Figure 2 takes into account the ambiguity that Saldaña describes in this passage and hopes to account for this ambiguity through multiple coding cycles.
Part of the challenge has been the overwhelming number of codes discovered within the data by the researcher during the first cycle of coding. These include many of the codes whown in Figure 3. The exercise of thematic coding only identified five total theme. The first cycle of coding using the NVivo software yielded more than six times as many primary and secondary codes.
Reflection on the process has yielded this adjustment and the need to be patient with the coding process and allow several cycles to continue until a clearer analysis of the data becomes apparent to the researcher. This reflection has also led the researcher to understand that coding cannot be schedule to a fixed timetable easily, and that the amount of time it takes is far more time to comprehend, sort, and analyze collected transcripts and data. Future project plans will take into account this challenge and include a more flexible timetable for coding completion than was originally suggested by this paper.
References
Bhattacharya, K. (2017). Fundamentals of qualitative research: A practical guide. Left Coast Press.
Saldaña, J. (2021). The coding manual for qualitative researchers the coding manual for qualitative researchers (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Stake, R. E. (1995). The art of case study research. SAGE Publications.
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