Curvilinear Relationships in Person‐environment Fit Research: is There Evidence for a Too‐much‐of‐a‐good‐thing Effect?

In this paper, we revisit this well-established linear relationship of person-organization, demands-abilities, and needs-supply fit with job satisfaction, commitment, and OCBs, and propose that this relationship may be linear for affective work outcomes but curvilinear for behavioural ones. We test this idea in a two-wave sample of 212 employees, with measures taken 4 weeks apart. The results support the idea that the relationship between fit and behavioural outcomes can, indeed, be curvilinear. Overall, this study contributes to a better understanding of the nature of the relationship between fit and work outcomes by challenging the long-held 'more fit is better' logic that pervades much of the PE fit research to date.