Person-environment congruence as a predictor of customer service performance

    Authors

    B. A. Fritzsche; A. B. Powell;R. Hoffman

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Vocat. Behav.

    Keywords

    JOB-PERFORMANCE; INDEXES; SATISFACTION; INTERESTS; MODEL; Psychology, Applied

    Abstract

    Within the framework of Holland's theory, we examined the use of person-environment congruence in predicting job performance for a sample of customer service representatives. it was predicted that: (1) Congruence scores based on specific environment classification derived by job analytic methods would correlate more highly with performance than congruence scores based on a more general environmental classification; (2) Congruence and cognitive ability would correlate with different aspects of performance (task v. contextual performance); and (3) Congruence scores would significantly relate to job performance, whereas interest test scores would not. No support for the first hypothesis was found. Instead, there were no significant differences between the environment typing methods, and congruence predicted Quality performance ratings. Partial support was found for the second and third hypotheses. Congruence was significantly correlated with task-related ratings, whereas cognitive ability was not significantly correlated with any performance ratings. In addition, none of the three relevant interest test scores (Conventional, Social, and Enterprising) were significantly correlated with performance. A significant negative correlation was found, however, between performance ratings and investigative interest scores, suggesting a need for person-environment fit indices to rake into account all six interest scores. Overall, this study provides some evidence that person-environment fit, when guided by theory, may be a useful predictor of job performance. (C) 1999 Academic Press.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Vocational Behavior

    Volume

    54

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-1999

    Document Type

    Article; Proceedings Paper

    Language

    English

    First Page

    59

    Last Page

    70

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000078601900003

    ISSN

    0001-8791

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