South African amateur coaches’ perceptions of the relationship between employee fit dimensions, organisational commitment and job satisfaction

Abstract

Recently, there has been an effort to integrate the individual, the job and organisational foci of theory that guide the examination of the reciprocal relationships between individuals and their employing organisations. This study is propelled on the elementary assumptions of organisational psychology, which proposes that behaviour is a function of person, job and the environment in which an employee works. The study examines the relationship between fit dimensions (personorganisation fit, person-job fit, person-environment fit) on organisational commitment and the influence of organisational commitment on job satisfaction among amateur schools sport coaches. The study was located within a post-positivist quantitative paradigm with survey data obtained from 250 amateur coaches in the Gauteng province of South Africa. Results of correlation analysis revealed that person-job fit (p=0.672), person-environment fit (p=0.646), person-organisation fit (p=0.537) had strong positive associations with organisational commitment. Organisational commitment further showed strong positive correlation with job satisfaction (p=0.642). The regression analyses revealed that employee fit to job (t=6.865; p<0.05; β= .402), fit to organisation (t=4.204; p<0.05; β=.248) and fit to the environment (t=4.759; p<0.05; β = .240) positively influenced their organisational commitment. Furthermore, organisational commitment positively influenced job satisfaction of the amateur sport coaches (t=0.661; p<0.05). The findings have implications for human resource practitioners in sport organisations and schools, who are encouraged to consider the three fit measures during job applicants’ interviewing process as they have a significant potential to influence organisational commitment and job satisfaction.

Keywords: Person-organisation fit, person-job fit, person-environment fit, organisational commitment, job satisfaction