This article brings together three current themes in organizational behavior: (1) a renewed interest in assessing person-situation interactional constructs, (2) the quantitative assessment of organizational culture, and (3) the application of "Q-sort," or template-matching, approaches to assessing person-situation interactions. Using longitudinal data from accountants and M.B.A. students and cross-sectional data from employees of government agencies and public accounting firms, we developed and validated an instrument for assessing personorganization fit, the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Results suggest that the dimensionality of individual preferences for organizational cultures and the existence of these cultures are interpretable. Further, person-organization fit predicts job satisfaction and organizational commitment a year after fit was measured and actual turnover after two years. This evidence attests to the importance of understanding the fit between individuals' preferences and organizational cultures. Academy of Management Journal September expectations, interact with facets of situations, such as incentive systems and norms, to affect the individuals' attitudinal and behavioral responses. As with similar fit theories of careers (Holland, 1985), job choice (Hackman & Oldham, 1980), work adjustment (Lofquist & Dawis, 1969), and organizational climate (Joyce & Slocum, 1984), the validation of the construct of person-culture fit rests on the ability to assess relevant aspects of both person and culture. This measurement problem is a significant and sometimes controversial issue (Keon, Latack, & Wanous, 1982; Rousseau, 1990)-one that is at the center of the person-situation debate, that is, the controversy over the degree to which personality or context variables explain attitudes and behavior (Bem & Allen, 1974; Davis-Blake & Pfeffer, 1989; Kenrick & Funder, 1988). The purpose of this research was to examine person-culture fit and its implications for work attitudes and behavior. We draw on recent developments in the applications of Q-sort, or template-matching,1 approaches to resolve some of the measurement issues that have hindered previous research on fit (Bem & Funder,

Previous research on organizational commitment has typically not focused on the underlying dimensions of psychological attachment to the organization. Results of two studies using university employees (N = 82) and students (N = 162) suggest that psychological attachment may be predicated on compliance, identification, and internalization (e.g., Kelman, 19S8). Identification and internalization are positively related to prosocial behaviors and negatively related to turnover. Internalization is predictive of financial donations to a fund-raising campaign. Overall, the results suggest the importance of clearly specifying the underlying dimensions of commitment using notions of psychological attachment and the various forms such attachment can take. The authors wish to thank the Berkeley-IBM Joint Utilities Study for support in the data collection effort, and Harold Angle for helpful comments on an earlier version of the manuscript.

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This article brings together three current themes in organizational behavior: (1) a renewed interest in assessing person-situation interactional constructs, (2) the quantitative assessment of organizational culture, and (3) the application of "Q-sort," or template-matching, approaches to assessing person-situation interactions. Using longitudinal data from accountants and M.B.A. students and cross-sectional data from employees of government agencies and public accounting firms, we developed and validated an instrument for assessing personorganization fit, the Organizational Culture Profile (OCP). Results suggest that the dimensionality of individual preferences for organizational cultures and the existence of these cultures are interpretable. Further, person-organization fit predicts job satisfaction and organizational commitment a year after fit was measured and actual turnover after two years. This evidence attests to the importance of understanding the fit between individuals' preferences and organizational cultures.

No abstract