Person-Environment (PE) fit theory, although relatively new has become more well-developed and mature since its inception in 1974 (Caplan 1987). 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. Then there are the positive aspects for organizations that might use PE fit and other fit theories. These can include greater employee career prospects, increased worker engagement, and greater job satisfaction.
In 2022, a non-profit, contractor training organization in the Gulf Coast region of the United States supporting workers in the energy industry performed a qualitative study on employees’ experiences of being hired and how fit theory may have been applied by their hiring organizations. This study was performed to determine: (a) challenges faced by new employees who support the energy industry, (b) how these new employees deal with those challenges over their first three months or work, and (c) how the concepts of "fit" theory apply to these employees, the contracting organizations, and these challenges.
Research Purpose and Questions
The purpose of this research is to explore in what ways industrial contractors are motivated to remain at their organizations after several weeks of work as compared to their expectations about the organization. A secondary purpose of this research is to help understand the contracting learning community that this safety council serves. Safety councils offer classes for new employees entering the energy industry and by understanding the nature of the challenges they face at their hiring organizations, the safety council can be more able to guide these employees through training and courses that might help them overcome the challenges that are identified through this research.
Additionally, this study has the potential to influence the hiring practices of these organizations which could then in turn lead to decreased recruiting and onboarding costs and increase the safety standards of the organizations. A lower turnover rate among employees, especially new-to-the-industry employees, leads to an organization with an employee base with more experience. A lack of experience leads to confusion and potentially a greater number of safety issues. This study could potentially help decrease the number of accidents that contracting organizations experience as well as decrease recruiting and onboarding costs.
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 regarding fit theory within their first three months?
Theoretical and Methodological Frameworks
This qualitative study follows a case study format, in that the participants were interviewed multiple times over a three-month period. This study included 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.
The methodology used for this study is a case study, and as Stake (1995) writes about different types of case study research, it fits well with research that is performed on multiple participants from multiple organizations performing a variety of jobs. Stake refers to this type of case study as a collective case study. The idea that Stake presents of dealing with multiple realities using a case study makes this methodology particularly ideal for this study. Writing about external reality (#1), experiential reality (#2), and rational reality (#3), Stake states that "the aim of the research is not to discover #1, for that is impossible, but to construct a clearer reality #2 and a more sophisticated reality #3" (p. 101). Research with a constructivist perspective views the world through prisms where meaning for experiences and that the nature of reality is ambiguous. As Creswell and Poth (2018) write about social constructivism and the nature of reality associated with that framework, "multiple realities are constructed through our lived experiences and interactions with others" (p. 35). This makes using case studies with a focus on a constructivist perspective especially useful for this study.
The value that make up a part of this study is that people will inherently know whether or not they are constructing a life or reality that is harmonious with their own values and principles. This is in line with the concept of values fit theory, meaning that employees seek organizations whose values match their own and that this will lead to a more beneficial working environment for the worker. This study attempts to study the phenomenon of what occurs to newly hired workers within a specific industry, a framework based on interpretivism, one that as Jones et al. (2014) citing Crotty (1998) writes, "seeks to take participants and researchers to a deeper understanding of a phenomenon by uncovering aspects that have been hidden" (p. 17).
Background
PE fit as a concept is based on the idea that the values, traits, or characteristics of an employee when matched with an organization with similar values, traits, and characteristics, provides a greater possibility for increased job satisfaction and long-term employment and growth for employees. This concept, also called, "values-fit." has many subsidiary concepts and theories such as: (a) Person-Organization (PO) fit, (b) Person-Group (PG) fit, (c) Person-Supervisor (PS) fit, (d) Person-Vocation (PV) fit, and (e) Person-Job (PJ) fit as shown in Figure 1.
Many studies, such as Westerman and Cyr (2004) have found that there is a complex and dense network of relationships between PO fit and the other fit concepts in terms of job satisfaction, organization commitment, and an employee’s intention to remain at the organization. They find that values congruence, a foundational element of PO fit is a significant indicator and predictor of an employee’s retention, satisfaction, and commitment. According to fit theory and values congruence theories, aligning employees' values with organizations with similar values will yield employees that are more content in their work, have greater compatibility with the organization's workforce, and will yield an organization with less turnover resulting in less recruiting and onboarding costs as shown in Figure 2.
This values or goal congruence theory is the cornerstone of the theory of attraction-selection-attrition (ASA). As Hoffman and Woehr (2006) write in their study of the relationship between PO fit and ASA framework, workers will be attracted to organizations whose goals match their own and will help them meet their own individual goals. Additionally, all of these theories are based on aspects of self-determination theory (SDT) and Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Travaglianti et al. (2016) write that workers will find more satisfactory working conditions and quality of work if they are allowed to have satisfactory income, security of their position, and continued skill development. This idea of employees fulfilling their own needs is in line with what Uysal et al. (2017) write about Mazlow's theory of hierarchy of needs corresponding to individual motivation.
Four primary themes were used as a foundation for the interviews conducted for this study, these include how better use of PO fit by the organization and the employee could affect (a) employee retention, (b) recruiting and hiring, (c) job satisfaction, and (d) in changing employee’s mindset.
PO Fit
A majority of the articles reviewed for this project include ways in which PO fit can help ensure greater job satisfaction and decrease employee turnover. A majority of the articles reviewed for this article include studies focused on how PO fit can ensure greater job satisfaction and decrease employee turnover. Miller and Youngs (2020) build on work by Ellis et al. (2017) and Chan et al. (2008) and find that a greater degree of PO and PJ fit perceived by the employee after hiring leads to a greater degree of job satisfaction. Boon and Biron (2016) focus on how PO fit, and PJ fit can affect employee turnover, a byproduct of decreased job satisfaction by the employee. Miller and Youngs has a focus on how PO fit affects retention for first year teacher (FYT) retention. Their work, which includes a focus on Industrial organizational (I-O) psychology finds that "perceived PO fit had a stronger association with FYT retention than school characteristics, teacher characteristics, principal observation, or mentoring support" (p. 2). To build their study, Miller and Youngs build on work by Ellis et al. and Chan et al. and show that "higher levels of perceived PO fit and PJ fit were associated with high levels of job satisfaction" which is not supported by many of the other studies that were reviewed for this project.
Boon and Biron (2016) focus on how PO fit and PJ fit can affect employee turnover. Their work builds on a foundation of value congruence, a term relating employees' values aligning with an employer's or organization's values. Boon and Biron write of value congruence that it "fosters communication between employees, enhances employee's identification with the organization, creates and environment of trust, and translates into positive work-related attitudes and behaviors" (p. 2181). This idea of "fit" both in terms of value congruence, the concept of fit, and the various subsidiary concepts is a major focus of Furnham (2001) which provides an overall review of the concepts as well as dives into cross-cultural applications, occupational considerations, and social considerations of the different theories and concepts that make up the fit theory.
PO Fit to Increase Retention and Decrease Turnover
One area that is covered significantly by the PE fit and PO fit models regards employee turnover and retention using these theories as models. Many articles and studies work to find the direct and indirect relationship between these concepts and (a) workers retention, (b) worker turnover, (c) worker burnout, and (d) worker engagement. Miller and Young (2020) find in their study an indirect relationship between PO fit and FYT retention. They also find a tangential relationship with colleague or co-worker relationship and that "FYT's with higher levels of perceived person-organization fit with teaching colleagues were more likely to remain at the schools where they started teaching" (p. 8). Also focused on teacher attrition and retention, Newberry and Allsop (2017) provides an autobiographical, self-thematization of teachers after they had left their organizations in order to determine what causes teachers to either leave or stay. Although they do not expressly apply any of the PE fit theories or concepts to their work, Newberry and Allsop do find that many of the same emotional support and leadership structures that influence retention in other studies are present in their results as well.
Moving from teaching to other high-turnover industries like what we find within contractor organizations that support the energy industry, Olubiyi et al. (2019) studies retail business employees. They use the ASA model, which is similar to values congruence theory. However, Olubiyi et al. do not find a significant link between PO fit and job satisfaction thorough their qualitative survey study and write "this research indicates that while employees typically report job satisfaction as a result of value congruence when they perceive personal values in alignment with organizational values, there are some inconsistencies of reported job satisfaction despite a perceived lack of value congruence" (p. 7). In general, Olubiyi et al. find that "when employees perceive congruence between their values and the values of the organization, the outcomes include job satisfaction and reduced employee turnover" (p. 6) and in finding this realize that there are five themes that affected PO fit; (a) flexibility, (b) workplace environment, (c) stability, (d) commitment, and (e) family orientation. Similarly, McHugh et al., (2020) use a qualitative study to examine the effects of turnover in a high turnover industry, in their case manufacturing, but also focus on five themes, or domains; "physical environment and safety climate, workplace policies and culture, health status, work evaluation and experience, and home, community, and society" (p. 303). Although McHugh et al. do not specifically list PO fit as an area of study or interest they do find these domains which are similar to aspects that make up the PO and PE fit theories.
Another industry with high turnover, call center agents, is investigated by McCulloch and Turban (2007) and the authors apply a field study to examine if PO fit can help in selection of employees that might lead to a greater degree of job satisfaction and increased job performance once that applicant becomes an employee. McCulloch and Turban introduce the idea of complementary fit, or "when a person or the organization provides attributes that the other party needs" (p. 63) and supplementary fit, or "when a person and organization are similar on fundamental characteristics" (p. 63) to help develop and refine their study, focusing mainly on perceived rather than actual PO fit. Perceived fit, the authors note is "related to attraction to the organization, socialization, and work outcomes" (McCulloch and Turban, 2007, p. 64). Their work, however, does not find a relationship between PO fit and job performance, but do find that "cognitive ability was related to job performance" (McCulloch and Turban, 2007, p. 69). Finally, in the area of affecting attrition rates, Knekta and McCartney (2021) look into how a sense of belonging can affect retention among students in a biology department. Using Tinto's model of institutional action as a theoretical framework, a theory "that puts focus on the conditions within institutions that may affect students' success (Knekta and McCartney, 2021, p. 724) the authors find that their interaction called the Quantifying Biology in the Classroom (QBIC) program, had a positive effect on student retention through creating a senses of belonging. There are commonalities between how a sense of belonging, or a strong sense of social ties within the environment relates to both to the five themes in Olubiyi et al., (2019) and the five domains found within McHugh et al. In summary, there are varying results of the degree to which job satisfaction and retention can be affected by value congruence and PO or PE fit theory being applied during the hiring process.
PO Fit Used for Recruiting and Hiring
Other than using PO fit and PE fit for mitigating turnover and helping retain employees, there are a significant number of studies on using PO fit assessments in order to make better hiring decisions. The rationale behind this use of the theory is that by using the PO fit theory as a framework for hiring, the population of employees within the organization will be more highly satisfied in their work and less likely to suffer burnout. Arthur et al. (2006) focus on using PO fit in the employment decision making process. The authors focus on the approach that see "fit between the individual and the environment as a predictor of specified outcomes" (Arthur et al., 2006, p. 786). Using the ASA model, that Olubiyi et al. (2019) use, they state that "PO fit is predicated on the idea that the congruence between an organization and the individual's values, interests and beliefs, and needs is related to the outcomes of interest. ASA theory posits that individuals are attracted to organizations that match their values and interests" (Arthur et al., 2006, p. 787). So in simple terms, the intention of Arthur et al. is to use PO fit to fine tune the effect of ASA for hiring decisions. However, the authors do not find a direct relationship between using PO fit and hiring decisions creating positive hiring outcomes. However, O'Brien and Ackroyd (2011) have a similar goal in their work in recruiting nurses in the UK and their outcome shows positive effects on employee retention.
The study by Sekiguchi (2007) focuses on PJ and PO fit in employee selection and hiring with a special focus on transactional psychological contracts which occur with recruits coming into an organization. These workers possess relational psychological contracts which are more long-term and are built between the organization and the employees over time. Sekiguchi argues that "psychological contracts suggest that the importance of PJ fit and PO fit in selecting employees may differ according to the type of psychological contracts that organizations want to develop with specific types of employees. Simply, PJ fit may be more important during hiring, but PO fit may be a more long-term concern for retention. Following along in this vein or the changing nature of the PO and PJ fit, Yen (2017) attempts to answer if "job seekers place different weight on PO fit and PJ fit when making job choices" (p. 2612) and if these two fit concepts influence the applicants' choices across the different recruiting stages within the recruiting process. Yen (2017) finds that overall PJ fit has a stronger influence on the applicant’s decision making than PO fit, but also points out that their results do "not indicate that PO fit is not important . . . Just not as much as PJ fit when each fit perception was considered individually" (p. 2623).
Carless (2005) finds something similar about the importance of PJ fit in the attraction of recruits and hiring in her study on PJ fit verse PO fit as recruiting predictors. Carless finds that PO and PJ fit do help predict attraction to an organization by an applicant based on their knowledge and abilities and the demands of the position, and that "PJ, and not PO fit perceptions were related to acceptance intentions . . . while both types of fit influence attraction to the organization, PJ fit perceptions are the key determinant of intentions to accept a job offer" (p. 422).
Swider et al. (2014) also focus on the recruiting process and how PO fit might change as applicants advance through the recruiting and hiring processes. The authors apply differentiation-consolidation theory (DCT) to their work as it "argues that decision makers positively or negatively adjust and update preferences and attitudes toward individual alternatives as they gather more information over time" (Swider et al., 2014, p. 882). The authors find results that support all of their proposed hypotheses including that "applicant PO fit perception differentiation will increase over the recruitment process" (p. 883). This equates to the applicant having a greater or more refined "favorite" organization when being recruited.
The final article reviewed for this project that dealt with using PO fit for recruiting and hiring to predict more successful employee reviews investigates how referrals from friends or family members might affect the hiring process and how employee referrals might enhance PO fit. Employee referral (ER), Hsieh and Chen write "denotes a situation in which the employees' source of work-related information is provided by an existing employee of the organization prior to the applicant's joining of the company" (p. 327). Using a framework of relationship orientation theory which Hsieh and Chen describe has three factors; (a) trust, (b) promise, and (c) communication, they find that their "hypothesis that PO fit is higher if the applicant is recruited through ER is not supported" (p. 334) by their results.
PO Fit and Job Satisfaction
Another area of focus for this study is the literature that relates PO fit to job satisfaction for employees. Chen, et al. (2016) find in their study of 225 employees in 12 different catering organizations that PO fit not only predicts job satisfaction but that job stress mediates the relationship between the two. Chen et al. designed their experiment to examine "the relationship between the following variables: PO fit, supervisor support, job stress, and job satisfaction, under a single model" (p. 948) since there are already many established connections, according to their paper, "PE fit theory posits that stress arises from a poor match between characteristics of the individual employee and of the job situation" (p. 946). They conclude that the role of leadership in the relationship, a topic that is covered later in this paper, has a more profound effect on job satisfaction than PO fit.
Just as teacher retention and turnover were a subject within previous sections, so teaching plays a significant part in PO fit and job satisfaction. Lane et al. (2019) review teachers morale using Bandura's self-efficacy theory as a conceptual framework for their interviews. Lane et al. find the following themes from those interviews regarding retention: (a) powerlessness, (b) excessive visitations, (c) loss of confidence, (d) ineffective instructional practices, (e) stress and burnout, and (f) ineffective professional development as challenges to morale and job satisfaction. Similarly, Ellis et al. (2017) research how an accurate or realistic job preview relates to job satisfaction and the role PJ and PO fit might affect that relationship.
Shah and Ayub (2021) find the same relationship, specifically that PJ fit and PO fit both have a positive significant relationship with job satisfaction. Shah and Ayub find that "teachers with high degrees of PO fit and PJ fit were more satisfied with their campus and profession, respectively. Because congruity between what is expected before the job and what is experienced after hiring has been identified as one component of job satisfaction" (p. 465).
Gregory et al. (2010) look beyond just job satisfaction and try to determine if other relationships exist that might affect employee performance. Referencing ASA as a theoretical framework they propose four hypotheses ranging from PO fit being positively related to job satisfaction and performance to how psychological empowerment (PE) plays into PO fit, job satisfaction, and performance. PE, according to Gregory et al. is "an individual difference, whereby different people will interpret the same managerial practices to empower them in different ways" (p. 641). Their results prove that their first two hypotheses regarding job satisfaction, performance, and PO fit are correct, but did not show positive results regarding PE. These results on PE, as they are focused on leadership and relationships with supervisors, play a part in the next section of this paper, but suffice it to say, as Gregory et al. (2010) write, "the degree to which an individual shares the organization's values (ie. high PO fit) did not influence individual's perceptions of their capabilities to perform their job" (p. 646) and did not influence their values in line with the values that the organization hold. In short, PO fit may effect job satisfaction, but PE does not empower employees to greater PO fit.
Job satisfaction can be affected both by workers' behaviors and attitudes. This is what the research of both Hoffman and Woehr (2005) and Leung and Chaturvedi (2011) focus on. With an aim toward effecting turnover and retention, Hoffman and Woehr provide a quantitative study into PO fit and behaviors. Building on work by Verquer et al, (2003) that "indicated that PO fit was related to intent to quit, job satisfaction and organizational commitments" (Hoffman & Woehr, 2005, p. 389), which are altitudinal variables, the author's purpose is to find a link between PO fit and behavior outcomes such as performance, citizenship, and turnover. However, their results although positive, suggest only a weak relationship between PO fit and behavior outcomes. However, they do confirm that a relationship exists. Drawing on Hoffman and Woehr and with the intention of building on Verquer et al., Leung and Chaturvedi look to strengthen the links between PO fit and attitudinal outcomes with their study. Their model suggests that "an individual’s "objective fit" perception influences his or her organizational commitment and job satisfaction through the construction of perceived fit and subjective fit" (Leung & Chaturvedi, 2011, p. 399).
Finally, work by Andela and van der Doef (2019) focuses on the relationship between PE fit and work-related outcomes including job satisfaction but also looks into burnout and turnover. Their work breaks down PE fit into four variables for study; (a) PJ fit, (b) PO fit, (c) PG fit, and (d) PS fit. Their study however suggests a few mixed results in that "job satisfaction, burnout, and turnover intention were mostly explained by PJ fit, PO fit, and PS fit, and to a lesser extent by PG fit" (Andela and van der Doef, 2019 p. 577).
PO Fit and Changing Employees' Mindset
While many of the studies for this project focus on stopping the loss of workers, finding relationships between PO fit and employee satisfaction, and recruiting, there are many experiments that study how employees can change their situation at their organization after being hired with values alignment as a goal. Cooper-Thomas et al. (2007) investigate the changes in perceived and actual PO fit and the impact of socialization tactics on the employees' different variables of fit. Their investigation measures perceived and actual fit variables over an employee’s first four months and looks at how fit and socialization such as mentorship with senior employees, affected qualities like job satisfaction, commitment, and actual fit. What Cooper-Thomas et al. find is that in terms of actual fit, "newcomers do not change their own values in the first months of socialization" (p. 69), and "newcomers who received social support from insiders show higher perceived fit after the first 4 months as compared to newcomers having received less support" (p. 69). This implies that there are ways to adjust and change fit variables, including PO fit to help employees with job satisfaction after their recruitment is complete.
Boon and Biron (2016) also had a complementary focus on leader-member exchange (LMX). The intent of these author's research is to determine what role the leadership of an employee plays on the job satisfaction and retention of employees, or how the tangential relationship of the leader affects the PO fit after being hired. Both Gregory et al. (2010) and Chen et al. (2016) discuss the role leaders play in terms of affecting job satisfaction, but Boon and Biron (2016) take it further to determine not just if LMX influences PO fit and how that affects the relationship to PJ fit, but also how LMX and PJ fit influence employee turnover intention. Taking the ideas of LMX influence on turnover to another level, Zhang et al. (2016) focus on LMX in comparison to PS fit and guanxi; guanxi being a personal and social network around relationships. Zhang et al. (2016) theorize and find relationships that "because LMX focuses on work-related qualities, we argue that when we consider both LMX and supervisor-subordinate guanxi at the same time, LMX should contribute more to the perception of person-organization (PO) fit, not PS fit as prior research suggests" (p. 1006). Already this study has pointed out that PS fit, as shown in Andela and van de Doef (2019) can affect employee turnover intention and job satisfaction, so it’s not surprising to find that LMX and PS fit would affect PJ and PO fit positively.
The goal of Travaglianti et al. (2016) is to investigate how the concept of Needs Supply (NS) fit, a sub-category of a larger series of value's-fit concepts that include PO fit might affect retention and motivation for employees at organizations. NS fit is a direct subset of PJ fit along with Demands Ability (DA) fit. These two sub-categories of PJ fit focus directly on what the authors argue is a key employee fit marker. NS fit, and the ability for the employee to change their job through Job Crafting (JC) is part of psychological needs fulfillment and "is related to well-being at work and positive employee attitudes" (Travaglianti et al., 2016, p. 2). Additionally, Burn Out (BO) and Worker Engagement (WE) can be affected by a greater focus on JC by employees. Specifically, the authors hypothesize that workers engaged in JC behaviors will proactively modify their job to increase the fit between their specific work-related needs and their current job characteristics (Travaglianti et al., 2016, p. 4). The intent is to increase WE and decrease BO for workers. The Travaglianti et al. study "provides empirical evidence of the underlying mechanisms between JC and individual outcomes, but also of the role of JC behaviors in proactively modifying the nature of the job in order to match with workers’ needs and desires" (Travaglianti et al., 2016, p. 9). One specific recommendation that the authors make is that "managers should, for example, ensure more job autonomy and increase interactions. In this way, employees may be able to modify their job demands and their job resources to match their own needs and abilities, in order to increase their well-being at work" (Travaglianti et al., 2016, p. 9).
Raja and Bouckenooghe (2017) look into leadership’s relationship with employees' PO fit and apply a secondary variable to the study, that of organizational social capital. They contend that transformational leadership, similar to LMX from the previous studies cited above, can lead to greater PO fit for employees, then to more positive organizational social capital. Transformational leadership, which they defined as a relationship-oriented style of leadership that is "characterized by idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation, and individualized consideration" (Raja and Bouckenooghe, 2017, p. 914). Their findings suggest that PO fit is positively related to organizational social capital and that transformational leadership mediates this relationship since "transformational leaders are likely to exert their influence on followers by affecting their feelings of identification with the organization" (p. 922).
Method
These four primary themes (a) employee retention, (b) recruiting and hiring, (c) job satisfaction, and (d) changing employee mindset created the perspectives through which participants were interviewed for this study. However, as Orlikowski and Baroudi (1991) write, interpretivist researchers should not view a study in an objective manner but rather understand that participants will construct their own reality and meanings from their experiences. Interpretivist researchers should analyze their data with this understanding, so although the above four perspectives were used as a framework for the questions in this study, and during the analysis, how the participants interpreted the world was a part of the analysis by the researcher. Qualitative case study research is better at eliciting from participants the lived experiences and the how and the why of their thoughts than other methods. Yin (2009) advocates the used of case study research to perform in-depth investigations of phenomenon within real-life contexts. Qualitative case study provides a framework for following a relativist ontology as all the data that is recorded by the participants is relative.
Throughout this study the themes identified and discussed above were used as a lens through which questions were asked of the participants, and through which the answers were reviewed and coded. Stake (1995) warns however, that although it is natural to try and generalize results from case studies to other groups, especially similar groups, case study research is best used to attempt to understand the specific participants and their reactions to the specific case studied. Stake 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). This dichotomy, or rather this emphasis on the completeness of the case being researched without using the research to make broad generalizations is the heart of case study research. Researchers who employ this methodology should come to know their specific research and case intimately but should be cautious about using lessons from their research to draw similar conclusions about other cases.
Participants for this study were selected from an industry introduction class called Basic Orientation Plus which most newer workers in the energy industry must take before beginning work. Participants were asked to volunteer with the knowledge that each interview would be 15 to 20 minutes and that there would be four interviews over the course of the first few months following their completion of Basic Plus. The participants were not told that this interview would cover PO fit theory, but only that it was a survey of workers in their industrial community.
Volunteer participants were advised that they could drop out of the study at any time. Interviews were conducted via phone, recorded, and transcribed, and all participants' names and organizations were anonymized during the transcription process to maintain confidentiality. For completing this series of interviews, the participants were rewarded with a $50 dollar gift card. Participants were provided a consent form with all of this information and a sample set of questions, to sign before volunteering.
Interviews took place between September 1, 2022, and December 30, 2022. Of the 10 volunteers, only six participants took part in all four interviews. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. Interviews were reviewed and themes were identified to determine if there were commonalities between the experiences of the participants.
The first round of coding was performed as a "read-through" of the transcripts with the researcher taking notes on common themes identified throughout the discussions. Although the researcher continued to apply a lens of (a) employee retention, (b) recruiting and hiring, (c) job satisfaction, and (d) changing employee mindset, the researcher remained conscious that other themes might appear through this coding process.
The researcher recorded notes, procedures, discussions, and other information relevant to the analysis as memos both in a hardcopy journal and online as shown in Figure 3. These notes or memos were reviewed periodically to help ensure alignment and to determine if there were any new themes or information provided from them.
Themes were identified during the research for this article, after the initial interviews, and following the first cycle of coding. These themes came about both through understanding expected results, from hearing directly from the participants, from a first read-through of the transcripts, and then again when coding transcripts in NVivo. This process is shown in Figure 4.
While Figure 4 is designed to show the process of theme identification and the increase in identified themes through different process moments, the list is not comprehensive, specifically in terms of the themes identified while coding in NVivo. Figure 4 and Table 1 both include all of the themes and codes identified during the first cycle of transcript coding.
Subjectivities
Researchers who use case studies as a primary methodology in their qualitative studies should be aware, Stake (1995) points out, to what degree their own interpretations and experiences might leach into the study. Stake writes of the prominent and "ongoing interpretive roles of the research" (p. 43) and "its orientation away from cause and effect explanation and toward personal interpretation" by the researcher" (p. 43). The researchers for this study are a part of the community that they are studying. Therefore personal perspectives might influence the interpretation of the participant's interviews. Stake writes about case studies with similar characteristics as "qualitative case study is highly personal research. Persons studied are studied in depth. Researchers are encouraged to include their own personal perspectives in the interpretation. The way the case and the researcher interact is presumed unique and not necessarily reproducible for other researchers. The quality and utility of the research is not based on its reproducibility but on whether or not the meanings generated, by the researcher or the reader, are valued" (p. 135). Every consideration was made in this research not to allow biases or the researcher’s own history to influence the results or the analysis to a point that it would no longer be valid.
The relationship between the participants and the researcher in this specific study will be one of an insider who has experienced many of the same challenges the participants will face will have been faced by the researcher years before and who is working to discover what challenges remain in the environment, or in what ways the challenges that employees face in the energy industry might be evolving. Creswell and Poth (2018) explain that "researchers recognize that their background shapes their interpretation, and they "position themselves" in the research to acknowledge how their interpretation flows from their own personal, cultural, and historical experiences. Thus, the researchers interpret what they find, an interpretation shaped by their own experiences and background" (p. 24). The primary researcher has a deep understanding of the energy industry having worked with and in the energy industry contracting community for many years. This understanding, hopefully, will provide greater insight and empathy for the employees, which may lead to a deeper understanding but could also lead to confirmation bias and thinking within a silo.
Results
There were four themes identified through the participant interviews, these included: (a) pay, (b) career development, (c) job security, and (d) family and personal life. The theme of "pay" refers to any time the participants discussed if they expected their positions and new careers to be more lucrative than their present positions, or other positions they had held in the past. Career development and career advancement came up several times during the interviews and refers to future prospects either within the industry or the hiring organization. Job security as a theme was discussed by several participants as was the intersection of their jobs and the participants' personal and family lives. Finally, the theme of leadership was discussed by several participants.
In terms of the themes or code groups that were most commonly found include: (a) career, (b) emotion, (c) financial motivation, (d) personal life, (e) safety, (f) secondary interests, (g) training, and (h) travel. Although these code groups do not necessarily align with the themes identified for this study, taking this information and applying the themes to the data was a part of the analysis and this discussion.
Codes Identified in Second Round of Coding
Codes\Sub-Code | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Benefits | 3 | 3 |
Career | 38 | 9 |
Co-Workers | 3 | 3 |
Emotion | 47 | 18 |
Financial | 24 | 3 |
Job | 7 | 4 |
Personal | 14 | 6 |
Physicality | 6 | 4 |
Provide | 1 | 1 |
Recruiter | 11 | 4 |
Safety | 24 | 3 |
Secondary | 21 | 6 |
Supervisor | 1 | 1 |
Time | 8 | 3 |
Tools | 1 | 1 |
Training | 19 | 2 |
Travel | 20 | 3 |
Values | 5 | 3 |
Pay
This theme was a major contributing factor to all six of the participants who completed this series of interviews. When asked about why they were looking forward to the opportunities that their new job provided them, Participant 1, responded, "I'm very excited about it, because for one it is lucrative" and went on to say about the industry "I'm kind of loving the industry and the lucrative nature of the work and the freedom and growth." Participant 2, in their first interview, discussed the pay at her new organization by saying, "well, they pay very well, . . . they pay very, very well" and later in that same interview said, "I know with this position that I have and the amount of money that I will be making, it'll be tremendous change from where I'm at now." More than any other theme the participants discussed and focused on the pay that they received as a motivating factor, either to stay or leave the industry. Three of the participants left the industry by the end of the case study, and although they took their positions because of the pay range that the organization offered, the three of them all stated that the amount of pay did not make up for the amount of time they spent working. Participant 4, who left his position by the second interview stated that he could make more money without the travel or the physical work. Participant 6 stated that even though his hours were such that he was making a significant amount of overtime, the take-home pay, after taxes, was not enough to justify the time on the job.
Within the code group "financial motivation" there were a total of 24 times that the participants mentioned pay, and finances, provided information about their concern for money, or expressed a contentment or satisfaction with pay. This is among the most mentioned codes from this study which helps to demonstrate the importance that pay and financial motivations have for the participants, a characteristic that might be generalized across all workers within this industry. Over the course of the study, 22 completed interviews, pay or finances were expressed or discussed by the participants at least once per interview on average.
Codes\Sub-Code | Times Referenced | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Financial | 4 | 24 | 3 |
Financial | 13 | ||
Financial | 7 |
Career Development Opportunities
Another theme that was pervasive throughout the interviews was the desire the participants had for advancing their careers, or career development. Participant 1 said in his first interview, "but just overall, this, is, having a career, . . . I've had multiple jobs, but this one is a career" and he felt comforted by the fact "to know that I have a career and potential to grow." The discussion of career development and growth came up four times in Participant 1's first two interviews. A theme that touched on by him more than any other theme. Participant 3 expressed her desire for career advancement by saying "I do want to grow and I know the company has room for growth and employees improvement. I do know companies always say that they could possibly keep employees." Participant 4, who left his position before the second interview, stated in his first interview that one reason he took the job was that it was in his career of choice and there was potential for growth. Participant 2 had been looking forward to a job with the organization that hired her, and was eager for the opportunity to grow into new roles throughout each of the three interviews she was a part of.
In terms of the codes and code groups that pertain to career goals and career mentions, this was one of the most discussed codes in the study. This suggests the degree of attention or importance that the study participants placed on their own careers or their expectations for their careers. Additionally, this could be a natural result of the participant’s own expectations for the discussion based on the nature of the questions being asked as a part of this study. Finally, there is a code with a negative connotation, "career frustration" which is not mentioned as much as the others, which could indicate that the participant's more negative reactions to their new careers or organizations were not as evident as the more positive aspects, especially within the first few months that the study tracked, a time period when workers are still within the honeymoon period of their new jobs (Boswell et al., 2005; Helmreich, 1986).
Codes\Sub-Code | Times Referenced | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Career | 5 | 38 | 9 |
Career\Career | 2 | ||
Career\Demonstrated | 2 | ||
Career\Education | 6 | ||
Career\Experience | 2 | ||
Career\Growth | 7 | ||
Career\Opportunity | 9 | ||
Career\Promotion | 3 | ||
Career\Second | 2 |
Job Security
Participants generally described job security in terms of consistency in their work life to include, regular paychecks and a sense of stability in their job. Knowing that they will have a job the next day and for the foreseeable future. In his first interview, Participant 1 stated: "So while I'm at home, it's not so stressful because I know I have that job security and can provide and take care of my family." However, there have been no other clear statements regarding job security alone, in some cases, it corresponds with personal life. Participants 2 and 3, who held similar positions at the same company, both enjoyed the stability of their new jobs. Although Participants 4, 5, and 6 all left their positions, it was not the lack of job security that drove them away, but rather the travel demands and the demands that were placed on their family and personal life.
This code or code group was not utilized often during the coding of the participant’s transcripts of their interviews. This could be due to the similarity between job security and characteristics discussed in the career code group which was used often.
Codes\Sub-Code | Times Referenced | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Job | 1 | 7 | 4 |
Job\Interest | 2 | ||
Job\Job | 2 | ||
Job\Not | 2 |
Family and Personal Life
Whether positive or negative, the way that participant's jobs influenced their personal and family lives, was a major theme. As stated above, participants 4 and 5 left their positions, and Participant 6 was waiting for another opportunity before leaving his, because of the travel demands and how that affected their ability to maintain the personal life that they expected. However, Participants 1, 2 and 3 all felt that the positions they accepted provided opportunities to be with their families in ways that other positions that they had held previously did not. Participant 1 stated: "just knowing that I can get he different licenses and I can still provide for my family, but also there is a career aspect" is a good feeling. While Participant 2 said when asked about her work experiences and where she worked she stated: "at a pest control company, which is great, . . . fine and dandy and everything, . . . but the problem was I felt like me and my family were literally on a hamster wheel with inflation and everything going up with, you know, having three kids and extracurricular activities and keeping that healthy home life was really, really, hard." In her second interview, Participant 2 stated about how work stays at work: sometimes in some positions, you'll be in where you're coming home and you're just so exhausted, whether it's physically, mentally, or emotionally exhausted, that you're not putting in 100% at home" and then later in the interview went on to say that her new position has "tremendously helped in my home life as well."
Coding in NVivo showed that this code group was used often; not among the highest group codes, but not within the lowest. This could be because the highest code group used, emotion, interfered with this code group, but since codes were not used singularly, rather a single discussion point from a participant could be coded to both emotion and personal life, this rationale seems weak. The participants reacted to the manner in which their jobs affected their home and personal lifes, especially in terms of travel. Travel was mentioned a total of 20 times, and negative mentions of travel occurred 12 times where positive mentions only five. However, again, codes were not used singularly, but rather multiple codes for travel that also mentioned how travel might have affected their personal life could have and were coded to both code groups. Taking this into account with the knowledge that three of the six participants left their positions before the end of the study due to excess travel, the demands on the personal lifes of the participants, especially in terms of travel, shows how this characteristic of the job affected the participants.
Codes\Sub-Code | Times Referenced | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Personal | 5 | 14 | 6 |
Personal | 2 | ||
Personal | 2 | ||
Personal | 2 | ||
Personal | 1 | ||
Personal | 2 |
Codes\Sub-Code | Times Referenced | Total Within Group | Number of Codes and Sub Codes |
Travel | 5 | 20 | 3 |
Travel\Travel | 12 | ||
Travel\Travel | 3 |
Discussion
In an industry that has a high turnover rate, of the six participants who continued throughout the entirety of the case study, three left their positions and were no longer looking for positions in the industry. Three remained with their positions and did not expect to leave their organizations. Notably, the three participants who left their organizations all had travel demands with their jobs, the three who remained all worked locally with no extensive travel demands. Additionally, for these three participants who left their positions, all three were in the same field, that of environmental testing and quality control. Of the four themes, (a) pay, (b) career development, (c) job security, and (d) family and personal life, the two that seemed to have the most bearing on the participants who left were pay and family and personal life, while career development and job security also figured heavily for those who stayed.
Future case studies of this sort might want to focus on how travel demands figure into the PO and PJ fit aspects of job positions and turnover in the industry, or look directly into the position of environmental quality technician. Although travel demands were a significant part of the reason that participants 4 and 5 left their positions and Participant 6 was seriously considering it, the lack of travel or the aspect of travel was not a part of the question set for participants 1, 2, and 3.
Significantly, in terms of organizations using PO and PJ fit to recruit employees and decreasing turnover, Participants 4, 5, and 6 all admitted that when they took the offer, they were all told that travel would be a significant part of the job, and all agreed to take the respective jobs despite the extensive travel demands. However, when tasked with the actual demands of the jobs they took, the travel demands in each case became a primary reason for leaving. However, Participant 5, admitted that had he been paid more, he might have stayed with the job despite the travel demands. Participant 4, who left his position prior to the second interview, admitted that he could make more money at his new position without having to travel than he could have had he stayed with the original position.
From the organization's perspective, the interviews tend to show that they recruited the participants with the intent to have a positive PO and PJ fit. For Participants 1, 2, and 3 this tended to work, but failed for Participants 4, 5, and 6. There could be an opportunity for the original position, and two others were considering leaving. The reason for each of these leaving revolved directly around the theme of personal and family life. The themes established at the beginning of this study: (a) PO fit for recruiting, (b) PO fit for job satisfaction and (c) PO fit for changing employee mindset were all a part of the many discussions and interviews. For Participants 1, 2, and 3, the recruiting framework seemed to include an understanding of the PO fit concepts, and in terms of the themes of retention, recruiting, and job satisfaction the framework tended to be successful. For the participants who left their positions, the framework, although expressed by the organizations, did not yield the positive results they hoped for.
Conclusion
During the interviews, the researcher focused the questions around values fit and PO fit, specifically in terms of recruiting, job satisfaction, leadership, training, and commitment to the organization to determine to what degree PO fit theory was used naturally by industrial organizations during their recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and operations processes and the resulting success of those efforts. The conclusions regarding using PO fit theory as a framework for hiring, to stop turnover, increase retention, or change employee’s mindset tends to show a mixed bag of results. Does PO fit theory and the subsidiary concepts that make up the cohort of "values fit" theories make sense to use for employee relationships both before, during, and after hire? As Morley (2007) writes "achieving a high degree of PO fit is viewed in many quarters as desirable in terms of positive work-related outcomes, especially in the context of a tight labor market and the war for talent and in buttressing organizational culture" (p. 111). Based on this case study there is evidence that Morley (2007) is correct, that using PO fit frameworks can help with recruiting and job satisfaction. However, as shown by the fact that 50% of the participants who completed the study left their positions and the industry, it is not a guaranteed success mechanism.
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