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The Effects of Person–Organization Ethical Fit on Employee Attraction and Retention: Towards a Testable Explanatory Model

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Abstract

An exploratory model is presented as a heuristic to indicate how individual perceptions of corporate reputation (before joining) and corporate ethical values (after joining) generate specific individual organizational senses of fit. The paper suggests that an ethical dimension of person-organization fit may go some way in explaining superior acquisition and retention of staff by those who are attracted to specific organizations by levels of corporate social performance consonant with their ethical expectations, or who remain with them by virtue of better personal ethical fits with extant organizational ethical values. Specifically, the model suggests that individual misfits that arise from ethical expectations that either exceed or fall short of perceived organizational ethical performances lead to problematic acquisition and retention behavioural outcomes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Open University Business School, The Open University, Michael Young Building, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, MK7 6AA, UK

    Jon Billsberry, Nathalie van Meurs & Philip J. G. Marsh

  2. Faculty of Management Studies, University of Kwazulu-Natal, Private Bag X54001, 4000, Durban, South Africa

    David A. Coldwell

Authors
  1. David A. Coldwell
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  2. Jon Billsberry
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  3. Nathalie van Meurs
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  4. Philip J. G. Marsh
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Correspondence to Jon Billsberry.

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Coldwell, D.A., Billsberry, J., van Meurs, N. et al. The Effects of Person–Organization Ethical Fit on Employee Attraction and Retention: Towards a Testable Explanatory Model. J Bus Ethics 78, 611–622 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9371-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-007-9371-y

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