Maintaining Fit, Adapting Quickly, or Changing Little: Personality Congruence Trajectories Among Organizational Newcomers

This study examines the relationships between personality congruence—a specific form of person-organization fit—and personality change and adjustment in a large sample of 1,014 newcomers. Data were drawn from the Lifelong Learning at Work Project (LLW), a three-wave longitudinal study of newly hired employees (about 90%) in a large public administration organization. The results revealed three distinct classes of employees based on personality congruence trajectories: Fit-Maintainers, Quick Adapters, and Misaligned Changers. These classes were differentially associated with changes in personality traits and with key organizational outcomes, such as organization-based self-esteem, affective commitment, exhaustion, and depressive symptoms. Results are discussed in terms of implications for personality and socialization research and organizational practices.