Comparison between Full-timers and Part-timers of the Effect of Person–Organization Fit on Working Attitude: A Hypothesis-Generating Case Study Using Polynomial Regression Analysis with Response Surface Methodology

The purpose of the present study is to compare the effects of Person–Organization fit on the organizational commitment of full-timers and part-timers using polynomial regression with surface response analysis, and to suggest an exploratory hypothesis based on this case study. A questionnaire survey was administered at a food retail/manufacturing company in Japan. After comparing the effects of P–O fit on 129 full-timers and 567 part-timers in relation to their organizational commitment, we found that: (1) In the human-oriented vs. task-oriented dimension of organizational culture, whereas full-timers held certain levels of commitment when they fit their value and organizational culture (whether at high levels (human-oriented) or low levels (taskoriented) of congruence), part-timers increased their commitment only at low levels of congruence and tended to decrease commitment at high levels of fitness; (2) Although incongruence between individual value and organizational culture in two dimensions (human vs. task-oriented and autonomous vs. heteronomous) had a negative effect on commitment for both employment statuses, the directions of unfitness were different. While full-timers decreased their commitment more seriously when the value of organizational culture exceeded that of individual value, the opposite happened with part-timers, who showed more a serious decrease when the value of individual value exceeded that of organizational culture. Based on the results and partial inclusion theory, we suggest a new hypothesis that P–O fit may have a relatively more serious effect on part-