J Acad Ethics (2009) 7:297314

DOI 10.1007/s10805-010-9103-2

Values Congruence and Organisational Commitment:

PO Fit in Higher Education Institutions
Ann Lawrence & Peter Lawrence

Published online: 9 June 2010

# Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010

Abstract This study examines business students individual values and their perception of
their universitys values and the relationship between these values and affective organisational commitment. Findings indicate that both groups of business students rated their
personal values as consistent with the rankings of the major pancultural values with
strong ethical orientation and selfdevelopment and learning values. In both educational
institutions organisational vision values and individual conservatism values predicted
affective commitment. Findings also indicate statistically significant differences between
the students personal values and their perception of their universitys values, suggesting a
degree of lack of PO fit between the students values and their universitys values.
Keywords Personal values . Organisational values . Value congruence . Commitment

Background
Over the past two decades, the rapid pace of technological change, the drive for quality and
innovation, the internationalisation of business, and shifting social and demographic trends
has challenged organisations. It has been widely articulated that knowledge creation and
continuous learning at the individual, team, and organisational levels are now seen as a
critical sources of sustainable competitive advantage (Jankowicz 2000). In addition, there
also has been strong demand from the public, government, consumers, and investors for
higher levels of corporate social responsibility and ethical behaviour from organisations and
their employees. In response organisations are recognising the benefits that can be gained
from attracting, developing and retaining employees whose values fit with those of the
organisation (PO fit) (Cable and Judge 1997; Chatman 1991; Westerman and Vanka
2005). Key values and attributes sought after include the need for innovation, ethical
behaviour, responsibility, teamwork, adaptability, a positive attitude to life-long learning
and self-development (De Geus 1998).
A. Lawrence : P. Lawrence (*)
Deakin Business School, Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, VIC 3125, Australia
e-mail: Peter.Lawrence@deakin.edu.au

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Organisations are addressing these issues through the implementation of strategically

focused human resource management policies and practices to support a value-based
culture founded on person-organisation (P-O) fit (Chatman 1991; McDonald and Gandz
1991, 1992). These policies encourage and reward ethical behaviour, and reinforce
continuous learning and sharing of knowledge, employee engagement and organisational
commitment (Finegan 2000; Hunt et al. 1989; Cable and Judge 1997; Chatman 1991;
Westerman and Vanka 2005). This trend in individual and organisational values alignment
and organisational commitment also relates to the higher education sector as these attributes
have influenced universities in their core mission and are recognised as key graduate
attributes for business students including accounting, marketing, management and human
resource management.

Values
Individual Values
There is a wide acceptance of the relevance of values to human behaviour at the individual,
group, organisational, and societal levels of analysis (Rokeach 1973; Schwartz 1992;
Schwartz and Bardi 2001; Deal and Kennedy 1982; Posner and Schmidt 1994). At the
individual level, values and value systems (groups of values) are seen as desirable, transsituational goals, varying in importance, that serve as guiding principles (Schwartz 1992).
They are important influences on a persons beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions; are
employed to influence the values, attitudes and actions of others; and act as standards
for guiding and justifying action and decisions making behaviour (Rokeach 1973;
Fritzsche 1995; Ferrell and Gresham 1985). Values are also connected with moral and
ethical systems and are seen as a useful way of examining interpretations of what is
perceived as right and wrong, ethical inclination and intention to act (Fritzsche 1995;
Fritzsche and Oz 2007; Hemingway and Maclagan 2004; Posner and Schmidt 1994).
Many researchers have operationalised the concept of ethical behaviour through
measurement of personal values that direct an individuals attitudes and behaviour and
influence the choices they make from among the available means and ends (Fritzsche
1995; Posner and Schmidt 1994).
To date much of the focus of individual value research has been on the difference and
variation between the value priorities of groups. However, recent research addressing the
similarities between values has found a notable degree of consensus in the relative
importance of certain value types across individuals and societies (Schwartz and Bardi
2001). Results for the average hierarchical order of values for the 13 nations studied
show a similar pattern to earlier studies with schoolteachers and college students from 54
nations. For example, Benevolence values, which promote positive cooperative social
relations within the group, were ranked as most important. Self-direction values, which
satisfy self-oriented needs and motivate individuals to work productively, and
Universalism values, which promote positive social relations with others outside the
group and reinforce a team learning orientation, social justice and equality and are
consistent with an ethical orientation, were ranked next in importance. These top three
sets of values are consistently rated across cultures by individuals as being more
important than power, tradition, and stimulation values that are rated as least
important; and security, conformity, achievement, and hedonism values that are in
between (Schwartz and Bardi 2001).

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Organisational Values
Values are also a key element of an organisations culture and its ethics (Brown 1995;
Dickson et al. 2001; Hofstede 1984; Schein 1992). At the organisational level there is
general agreement that organisational culture involves a set of cognitions that are shared by
members; that these cognitions are acquired through social learning and socialisation
processes; and that they include values, common understandings, and patterns of
beliefs and expectations (Rousseau 1990). Organisational values are the standards to
which reference is made for judging acceptable behaviour of relevance to the company,
both the behaviour acceptable for the organisation as it interacts with its external
environment, and the norms of behaviour for individuals within the organisation. Values
are inherent in a firms mission and goals; its strategies and structure; allocation of
resources; codes of practice, policies and procedures; and its actions (Holland 1999;
Schein 1992).
Making business decisions depends on more than just a persons individual value
system, but is also shaped and reinforced by the values and behaviours of the
organisational culture and climate in which they are made (Hofstede 1984; Victor and
Cullen 1987). Ethical conduct results from the interaction between the employees
characteristics such as values and the organisational context such as its HR systems and
policies (Trevino et al. 1998) and the values and behaviours of the organisations leaders
who have a key role in communicating, reflecting and reinforcing ethical values to their
employees (Dickson et al. 2001).
In recognition that values are an integral part of both organisational learning systems and
their moral and ethical systems, many organisations have attempted to promote an
understanding of the goals and actions necessary to reinforce a clear set of core values
which underpin this stance. However, a distinction must be drawn between the values the
organisation espouses as important via its published mission statements, and the values in
action i.e. those that are actually used to guide work activities, and as such, reflect
organisational practices (Argyris and Schn 1978). In some cases these maybe at odds.
Therefore, it is appropriate to examine the individuals perception of the organisations
values in action via the behaviours of the organisation and its constituents rather than just
the espoused values, as the values in action and behaviours are more likely to predict actual
behaviour and provide the cues that guide ethical behaviour in the organisation (Cullen
et al. 2003; Finegan 2000; Judge and Cable 1997; Kristof 1996; Victor and Cullen 1987).
PersonOrganisational (PO) Value Fit
The notion of shared values or person-organisational values fit (P-O fit) has been
investigated widely over the past two decades (Cable and Judge 1997; Chatman 1991;
Kristof 1996; Meglino et al. 1992; Westerman and Vanka 2005). Kristof (1996, p5) defined
P-O fit as the compatibility between people and organisations that occurs when: (a) at least
one entity provides what the other needs, or (b) they share similar fundamental
characteristics, or (c) both. Proponents of shared values approaches argue that P-O fit
brings positive benefits to both parties (Chatman 1991; Cable and Judge 1997; Kristof
1996; McDonald and Gandz 1992). Empirical evidence indicates that P-O fit plays an
important role in how potential employees choose an employer (Saks and Ashforth 1997)
and how job applicants are selected (Kristof-Brown 2000; Saks and Ashforth 2002).
Congruence between personal and organisational values also has a positive impact on work
adjustment, and career success (Adkins et al. 1994; Bretz and Judge 1994); on levels of

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organisational commitment and job satisfaction (OReilly et al. 1991; Finegan 2000; Lauver
and Kristof-Brown 2001; Ostroff et al. 2005); and is negatively related to turnover
intentions (Ostroff et al. 2005). It also has been argued that congruence between values
assists in the design and maintenance of effective organisational motivation systems
(Munson 1984) and may represent a means whereby the integration of business strategy and
human resource management can be articulated (McDonald and Gandz 1992; Quinn and
McGrath 1985). Moreover, a lack of value congruence may operate as a liability if
there is conflict between the core values of the individual or the groups within
organisations and those values that underpin organisational action (Chatman 1991;
McDonald and Gandz 1992).
Thus if the most important human values of benevolence, universalism and self direction
(Schwartz and Bardi 2001), are attributes consistent with the needs of organisations for
success, are not only espoused, but also practiced by individuals and the organisation, this
is likely to increase positive work behaviours and organisational commitment.
Students and Universities Values
Work value acquisition and the notion of person organisational value fit is also
particularly salient to universities (Poole 2001) and university business students. Like many
of their counterparts around the world education institutions in Australia have been subject
to many of the same competitive forces as private sector organisations and have
adopted strategic management approaches (Poole 2001). University faculties, including
business and commerce, have adopted visions and goals based on shared core values and
seek to attract and retain staff and students who share these core values (Ferrari et al.
2005). The inherent objectives of many universities are innovative research, life-long
learning, and professional development as well as being socially and ethically responsive
to their stakeholders and communities. These objectives are prima facie consistent with
the pan-cultural values of benevolence, universalism, self-direction and conformity
(Schwartz and Bardi 2001).
Higher educational institutions have a critical role in preparing employees for the
various business professions. Lessons from the business world help provide a focus on
the need for ethics and value-based curricula in the teaching and preparation of business
students for the various professions. The modern university community is diverse and
in Australia, the total domestic and international students enrolled in the higher
education sector for 2006 were 984,146 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Of
these, 733,352 were domestic and 250,794 international. Management and Commerce
was the most popular field of education, with the largest proportion of enrolled
students, at 26.7 per cent of all students (DEST 2007). A large proportion of these
students will ultimately form part of the pool of prospective graduates to be targeted by
organisations who are aiming to find employees whose values align with their vision,
culture and values.
In their endeavour to produce graduates with the attributes that will assist success in the
professions, universities influence their students values and attitudes through provision of
the learning environment and core curriculum. As our future and (often at postgraduate
level) current managers and professional employees, business and commerce students are
potentially part of our future leadership pool and many organisations are likely to seek
business graduates as managerial, technical and professional employees. They would favour
employees who are capable of working in high performance work systems (HPWS) i.e.

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capable of behaving ethically, taking responsibility, being innovative, working effectively in

teams, adapting to flexibility and change, managing diversity, and who have a positive
attitude to life-long learning and self development. In other words exhibiting values
consistent with the pan-cultural values of benevolence, universalism, and self-direction.
One could assume that these values would also be seen as more important to business
students than values which support a more traditional and conventional approach such as
conformity values (Schwartz and Bardi 2001).
Measuring Values
In any attempt to measure the extent of the fit between individual and organisational values,
it is essential to ensure that the value concept remains stable at the personal and the
organisational level. Of the taxonomies of values and survey questionnaire instruments
currently available to the researcher (for example Allport et al. 1960; England 1967;
Rokeach 1973; Schwartz 1992; Schwartz and Bardi 2001) many are relevant to the
exploration of individual values, but not applicable at the organisational level. However,
recent studies have employed the taxonomy of value dimensions adapted by McDonald
and Gandz (1991, 1992) from Milton Rokeachs (1973) list of values for the purpose of
measuring and comparing individual and organisational values. This taxonomy has been
empirically derived; the items represented are considered values that are relevant in both the
individual and the organisational context; it uses interval scales; and it provides a factorial
structure of its dimensions.
The taxonomy of 24 value dimensions proposed by McDonald and Gandz (1991) has
been has been operationalised by a number of researchers (Abbott et al 2005; Finegan
2000; Lawrence 2006; McDonald and Gandz 1992). As part of a larger study exploring the
relationship between values and organisational commitment Finegans (2000) findings
indicated conceptual support of the key aspects of the McDonald and Gandz model with a
17-item, four factor solution. Abbott et al. (2005) extended Finegans approach by assessing
the factorial structure and the instrument for use in two not-for-profit organisations. They
found strong support for two of Finegans factors humanity and vision values but
found that the convention and bottom line factors were highly correlated. Abbott et al.
2005 subsequently combined these into one factor labelled conservatism values. The
studies by Abbott et al. (2005) have also demonstrated these value dimensions, humanity,
vision and conservatism values, are consistent with aspects of the taxonomy and hierarchy
of human values as derived by Schwartz (1992) and Schwartz and Bardi (2001). The
humanity values align with the Schwartz values of benevolence and universalism, the
vision values are consistent with Schwartzs self-direction values, and conservatism
values align with Schwartz conformity values (Abbott et al. 2005; Schwartz and Bardi
2001). The nature and purpose of higher education and the conscious choice made by the
students to become part of a universitys community, and based on the findings of Schwartz
and Bardi (2001) and Abbott et al. (2005), could lead to the assumption that students would
seek out those institutions whose values were similar and congruent with their own. What is
yet to be determined is whether the values of Australian university students match those of
the pan-cultural values hierarchy as proposed by Schwartz and Bardi (2001) and Abbott
et al. (2005) and whether the individual and values of students in Australia and Australian
universities are aligned. Do students rate their personal humanity and vision values as
more important than conservatism values? Do students perceive that their university rates
humanity and vision values as more important than conservatism values? To what extent

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are students values congruent with those of their universities? The following hypotheses
explore these questions.
Hypothesis 1a: Business/commerce students from both universities will rate their personal
Humanity and Vision values as more important than Conservatism values.
Hypothesis 1b: Business/commerce students will perceive their universitys Humanity and
Vision values as more important than Conservatism values
Hypothesis 1c: There is no difference between the students personal values and their
perception of the universitys values.

Organisational Commitment
Like human and organisational values, the concept of organisational commitment (OC) has
occupied a prominent place in organisational behaviour research for many decades and
continues to be of interest to researchers and organisations alike. Early research by Porter
et al. (1974) suggested that OC generally could be characterised by three dimensions. These
are (a) a strong belief in, and acceptance of, the organisations goals and values, (b) a
willingness to exert considerable effort on behalf of the organisation, and (c) a strong desire
to remain with the organisation and to work hard toward its goals (Porter et al 1974). More
recent research has postulated that organisational commitment is a multi-dimensional
construct (Allen and Meyer 1990; Allen and Meyer 1996) consisting of affective,
continuance and normative commitment and that these constructs develop from different
antecedents. Affective commitment refers to an employees emotional attachment to,
identification with, and involvement in a particular organisation. Continuance commitment
refers to commitment based on the costs that the employee associates with leaving the
organisation. Normative commitment refers to the employees feelings of obligation to stay
with the organisation.
One stream of this research has explored the relationship between personal and
organisational values and organisational commitment. Findings indicate that perceived
organisational values can predict organisational commitment and that different value types
predict different commitment components (Finegan 2000; Abbott et al. 2005). Finegan
found that affective commitment was higher when employees perceived the organisations
operations were underpinned by humanity and vision values, and the greater the similarity
between personal and organisational vision values the higher the affective commitment.
Australian research lends strong support for this finding for the association between
perceived organisational values and affective organisational commitment (Abbott et al.
2005). Furthermore, these authors found that in some cases personal values also predicted
affective organisational commitment. There is also a link between ethical values and
commitment to the organisation. In their study, Valentine and Barnett (2003) found that
most employees prefer an ethical environment and perceptions of company ethical values
are associated with levels of organisational commitment. Trevino et al. (1998) argued that
employees may feel more attached and committed to an organisation if they perceive that
the organisation supports ethical conduct and discourages unethical conduct.
As in the employee employer relationship, university students clearly get involved
with their educational institutions, form an emotional bond and identify with them.
Therefore, it is appropriate to examine whether students affective commitment to their

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303

university can be predicted by their personal values and their perception of the universitys
values. The following hypotheses have been proposed.
Hypothesis 2a: Affective commitment will be positively related to students perceptions of
organisational Humanity and Vision and Conservatism values.
Hypothesis 2b: Affective commitment will be positively related to students individual
Humanity and Vision and Conservatism values.

The Present Study

The purpose of the present study is to measure business students personal values and their
perception of their universitys values and compare these with the hierarchy of values as
proposed by Schwartz and Bardi (2001). It will also compare these two groups and measure
the levels of congruence between their personal values and their universities values.
Furthermore, it will investigate whether the relationship posited between personal and
organisational values and affective commitment is supported in a higher education context.
The use of these instruments in the education sector with students rather than employees
provides an extension of current knowledge relating to measuring personal and organisational values, the measurement of P-O fit as value congruence, and the prediction of
affective commitment from values.
Measures
Individual and Organisational Values
Based on the need to measure individual and organisational values and the research cited
earlier by a survey questionnaire based on items from the McDonald and Gandz (1991,
1992) list of values was employed to obtain commensurate measures of personal values and
perceptions of the educational institutions values. Two sets of identical values and
explanatory phrases were prepared (Abbott et al 2005; Finegan 2000; McDonald and Gandz
1992). (For example Adaptability - being flexible and changing in response to new
circumstances). Students were first asked to rate the importance of each value to
themselves, and secondly, their perception of the importance of each value to their
educational institution. Values were rated on a seven point Likert scale with categories
ranging from extremely unimportant (1) to extremely important (7).
Affective Commitment
The purpose of this study was to measure students perceptions of their attachment toward their
university i.e. the affective commitment component. Following other studies affective
commitment was assessed using the abbreviated version of the Organisational Commitment
Questionnaire (OCQ) developed by Mowday et al. (1979). Seven items were deemed
appropriate for the student-university context, and the questions were adapted for this
purpose. Only positively worded items were employed due to their stability in test-retest
reliability (Lam 1998). The items were: I am willing to put in a great deal of effort beyond
that normally expected in order to help this university to be successful; I talk up this
university to my friends as a great place to study; I find that my values and the universitys

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values are very similar; I am proud to tell others that I am part of this university; This
university really inspires the very best in me in the way of performance of my studies; I am
extremely glad that I chose this university to study at over others I was considering at the time
I joined; and, I really care about the fate of this university. Respondents had to indicate the
degree to which they agreed with the statements regarding attitudes to their university on a
7-point Likert scale ranging from (1) strongly disagree to (7) strongly agree. Results of a
Principal Components analysis performed on the scale to determine its dimensionality
indicated a single factor solution. The measure had a coefficient alpha of 0.86.
Respondents
Questionnaires, with a covering letter outlining the aims of the study were distributed to a
convenience sample of undergraduate and postgraduate students in a range of business and
commerce programs at two large universities in Victoria, Australia. At UniX, 1,100
questionnaires were distributed with 244 useable responses (a return rate of 22%). At UniY
680 questionnaires were distributed with 117 useable responses (a return rate of 22%).
Those who chose to participate were requested to return the completed survey
questionnaire in the envelope provided either to the lecturer who had distributed it, or
directly by mail to the investigators whose address was given on the envelope. Return of
the completed questionnaire was taken as consent to be included in the study. No individual
student could be identified.
The data from these responses were used to confirm the model factor clusters (Lawrence
2006). However, only the responses from students from each university who were enrolled
as full-time students were used in the comparative analysis for this paper. The full-time
group from UniX consisted of 76 males (61%) and 48 females (39%) where 83.1% had
attained an undergraduate degree or higher degree; 39.5% were aged between 18 and
24 years and 60.5% were aged 25 years or more; and 77.4% had completed one or two
semesters at their current university, and 20.2% three semesters or more. The group from
UniY consisted of 70 males (60%) and 47 females (40%) where 53.1% had attained an
undergraduate degree or higher degree; 72.6% were aged between 18 and 24 years and
27.4% were aged 25 years or more; 36.8% had completed one or two semesters at their
current university, and 61.5% had completed three semesters or more.
Methodology
A confirmatory factor analysis using AMOS 5 structural equation software (Arbuckle 2003)
was employed in an earlier study to evaluate how well the specified models, as suggested by
Finegan (2000) and Abbott et al. (2005), were an acceptable fit for the personal and
organisational values of business students and the two universities (Lawrence 2006). The four
factor, 17-item solution suggested by Finegan 2000 was unsupported. Principal component
analyses were subsequently used on the 24 items of the McDonald and Gandz (1991)
taxonomy of values to explore the factor structures. Analyses and reduction of cross loadings
and redundant items supported a 13-item, three-factor solution matching the factor model of
Abbott et al. (2005) and indicated that the model was an acceptable fit for the personal and
organisational values of business students at the two universities (Lawrence 2006). A check
of the Levene statistic revealed univariate homogeneity for each of the factors (p>.05).
The first factor, labelled humanity values consisted of four items: consideration,
cooperation, courtesy, and forgiveness (alpha=.83 for personal values and .86 for
organisational values). The second factor, labelled vision values contained four items:

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305

adaptability, creativity, initiative, and development (alpha=.77 for personal values and .81
for organisational values). The third factor, labelled conservatism values contained five
items: cautiousness, economy, formality, obedience, and orderliness (alpha=.80 for the
personal values and .71 for organisational values). The following indices were used for
evaluating the fit of the model to the data: 2 /df (acceptable value, <3); goodness of fit
index (GFI), and comparative fit index (CFI), (acceptable values at least .90); and root mean
squared error of approximation (RMSEA) (acceptable values <.08) (Kline 1998). A test of
overall fit of the baseline model was carried out across organisations, resulting in the
following fit indices: for personal values, 2 =269.808, df=124, 2 /df=2.176, GFI=.90,
CFI=.92, RMSEA=.057; and for organisational values, 2 =268.778, df=124, 2 /df=2.168,
GFI=.90, CFI=.93, RMSEA=.057 (Byrne 2001, 2003). Thus, the baseline model was
considered an acceptable fit to the data. The following indices were used for evaluating the fit
of the model to the data: 2 /df (acceptable value, <3); goodness of fit index (GFI), and
comparative fit index (CFI), (acceptable values at least .90); and root mean squared error of
approximation (RMSEA) (acceptable values <.08) (Kline 1998; Byrne 2001, 2003). The
standardised regression weights (factor loadings), Cronbach alphas, model of fit indices for
personal and organisational values of all respondents are reported in Table 1.
Table 1 Standardised regression weights (factor loadings), Cronbach alphas, model of fit indices for
personal and organisational values
Personal values

Organisational values

UniX

UniY

UniX

Factor

Value

Humanity

Consideration

.798

.828

.820

.837

Cooperation

.789

.841

.832

.831

Courtesy
Forgiveness

.791
.584

.753
.652

.771
.676

.818
.717

Vision

Conservatism

UniY

(.82)

(.85)

(.86)

(.85)

Adaptability

.641

.534

.676

.750

Creativity

.724

.653

.783

.758

Development

.800

.777

.719

.709

Initiative

.652

.534

.669

.640

(.79)

(.70)

(.80)

(.70)

Cautiousness
Economy

.680
.597

.717
.686

.617
.555

.598
.263

Formality

.718

.520

.599

.304

Obedience

.803

.648

.645

.629

Orderliness

.591

.610

.686

.723

(.81)

(.78)

(.76)

(.78)

Model of fit indices

2 /df (df=62)

2.659

1.691

2.756

1.578

GFI
CFI

.912
.919

.885
.921

.903
.924

.881
.944

RMSEA

.083

.077

.085

.071

GFI Goodness-of-fit; RMSEA Root mean square error of approximation; CFI Comparative fit index
n=244 for UniX, and n=117 for UniY. Cronbachs alphas for each value factor are reported in brackets in bold

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To allow comparison of each university and the extent of individual organisational

value congruence, the reported variables were retained for both personal and organisational
factors and separate analyses were conducted for each university. Scores were computed for
each personal and organisational value factor and the commitment scale by taking the
arithmetic mean of the items contained in each of these factors to maintain
comparability across factors (Abbott et al. 2005). Higher mean scores indicate higher
importance. Descriptive statistics, inter-correlations between the factors and affective
commitment, and Cronbach alpha reliabilities for the two groups of respondents are
reported in Table 2.

Results
Personal Values Hierarchies
It was hypothesised that students from both universities place more importance on personal
humanity and vision values than on conservatism values i.e. have value hierarchies whose
rank order is consistent with Schwartz and Bardis (2001) major pan-cultural values
hierarchy (H1a). There is support for this hypothesis, as the rank ordering of these three sets
Table 2 Descriptive statistics and inter-correlations among value clusters and affective commitment for students of
Uni X and Uni Y
Factors

Uni X N=124 Affective Commitment

(AC)

UniY N=117

Mean SD

4.71

Mean AC
rank

1.12

PH

PV

PC

OH

OV

OC

Personal Humanity (PH)

5.76

.92 1

.399a 1

Personal Vision (PV)

5.66

.96 2

.291a

.690a 1

Personal Conservatism
(PC)c

5.14

.99 3

.419a

.567a

.571a 1

Organisational Humanity
(OH)c

5.39

1.11 1

.565a

.442a

.458a

.551a 1

Organisational Vision
(OV)c

5.37

1.08 1

.490a

.408a

.544a

.520a

.814a 1

Organisational
Conservatism (OC)

5.16

1.05 3

.496a

.344a

.435a

.564a

.746a

Affective Commitment
(AC)

4.57

1.06

Personal Humanity (PH)

5.79

.93 1

.225b 1

Personal Vision (PV)

5.70

.80 2

.229b
a

.551a

.445a 1

.799a 1

.576a 1

Personal Conservatism
(PC)c

4.86

1.01 3

.434

Organisational Humanity
(OH)c

4.94

1.27 3

.391a

.394a

.367a

.342a 1

Organisational Vision
(OV)c

5.03

1.15 1

.461a

.387a

.422a

.436a

.765a 1

Organisational
Conservatism (OC)

5.06

.95 1

.306a

.462a

.434a

.285a

.541a

Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed)

Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed)

indicates a significant difference between groups in an independent samples t-test

.514a 1

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307

of values, based on mean scores, is consistent with the pan-cultural values hierarchy.
Personal humanity, vision and conservatism values were ranked from highest to lowest in
that order. Results of independent samples t-tests for both groups reported in Table 3
indicate that there were no statistically significant differences between the two groups of
respondents for their personal humanity values and vision values. However, there were
significant statistical differences between the scores for their personal conservatism values.
Students at UniX rated themselves as having higher levels of conservatism values than
UniY students (p=<.05).
University Values Hierarchies
It was hypothesised that students from both universities will perceive that their university
places more importance on organisational humanity and vision values than conservatism
values (H1b). There was partial support for this hypothesis. The rank order for theses values
for UniX respondents was consistent with the pan-cultural hierarchy i.e. organisational
humanity and vision values were ranked higher than conservatism values (Table 2).
However, this hypothesis was not supported for UniY where organisational conservatism
and vision values were perceived as more important and ranked above humanity values.
In addition, UniX was perceived as having higher levels of organisational humanity
values (p=< .001) and vision values (p=< .01) than UniY. There were no detected
differences between the groups for perceived organisational conservatism values.
P-O Value Fit and Value Congruence
It was proposed that there would be person-organisation fit (P-O fit) between the students
values and the universitys values, i.e. that there would be no difference between the
students values and their perception of the universitys values (H1c). This hypothesis
was unsupported for two of the three sets of values. Results of paired sample t-tests
presented in Table 4 reveal statistically significant differences between the students
personal values and their perception of their universitys values. Both groups rated their
own humanity and vision values as higher than their universitys values (p=<.01)
suggesting a degree of lack of P-O fit between these values. However, there was no
detected difference between personal conservatism and organisational conservatism
values for either group.
Table 3 Independent samples t-tests for affective commitment, personal and organisational values UniX
versus UniY
UniX, n=124

UniY, n=117

SD

SD

t-test (2 tailed)

Affective commitment

4.71

1.12

4.57

1.06

t (239)=.966, p=.33

Personal humanity

5.76

.92

5.79

.93

t (239)=-.241, p=.81

Personal vision

5.66

.96

5.70

.80

t (239)=-.419, p=.67

Personal conservatism

5.14

.99

4.86

1.01

t (239)=2.159, p=.03

Organisational humanity

5.39

1.17

4.94

1.27

t (239)=2.875, p=.00

Organisational vision

5.37

1.08

5.03

1.15

t (239)=2.377, p=.02

Organisational conservatism

5.16

1.05

5.04

.955

t (239)=.911, p=.36

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A. Lawrence, P. Lawrence

Table 4 P-O Fit: Paired sample t-tests- Individual versus organisational values for two universities UniX
versus UniY
Value congruence

UniX (n=124)

UniY (n=117)

SD

t-test

SD

t-test

Humanity (PH)

5.76

0.92

t(123)=3.67, p=.000

5.79

0.08

t(116)=7.38, p=.000

Humanity (OH)

5.39

1.17

4.94

0.11

Vision (PV)
Vision (OV)

5.66
5.37

0.96
1.08

t(123)=3.23, p=.002

5.70
5.03

0.07
0.10

t(116)=6.72, p=.000

Conservatism (PC)

5.14

0.99

t(123)=-.319, p=.750

4.86

0.09

t(116)=-1.73, p=.087

Conservatism (OC)

5.16

1.05

5.04

0.08

Affective Commitment and Personal and Organisational Values

It was proposed that affective commitment would be positively related to the students
perceptions of organisational humanity and vision and conservatism values (H2a) and to
their individual humanity and vision and conservatism values (H2b). The pattern of
bivariate correlations indicates that all three sets of organisational values were positively
related to affective commitment (Table 2). In addition, all personal values were related
positively to affective organisational commitment. These relationships ranged from small to
medium (Cohen 1988). Independent samples t-tests revealed no difference between the
groups for the levels of affective commitment (Table 3).
Hierarchical regression analyses investigating the relationship between the value clusters
and affective commitment including indicators of P-O fit were performed separately for
each group. In accordance with the methodology suggested by Edwards (1994), and
employed by Abbott et al. (2005), the raw value scores were centred before entering the
regression. The first step in the model included tenure, as a control variable, as length of
time in the organisation has been demonstrated to have a moderating effect on
organisational commitment and the organisational and personal values (Mathieu and
Zajack 1990; Wright and Bonett 2002). The second step included the organisational and
personal values, indicators of person-organisation fit, i.e. the interaction between the
personal and organisational values and quadratic terms to allow for non-linearity. The
results of the regression analyses are presented in Table 5.
Support was found for Hypothesis (H2a) in UniX. When tenure was controlled for,
all three values, organisational humanity, (p=<.001) vision (p=<.001), and conservatism
(p=<.01), were significant predictors of affective commitment. However, in UniY, there
was only partial support for this hypothesis, where only organisational vision values
(p=<.001) were significant predictors of organisational commitment.
It was also hypothesised that affective commitment would be positively related to
students individual values (H2b). There was only partial support for this hypothesis in both
organisations. Findings indicate a positive and significant relationship between personal
conservatism values and affective commitment (p=<.05) in UniX, and between personal
conservatism values and affective commitment in UniY (p=<.001). Furthermore, at UniY,
Tenure length of time with the university was negatively associated with affective
organisational commitment when personal and organisational values were held constant.
No interaction effects were found for either group. None of the quadratic terms were
significant, indicating that the relationships observed were linear.

Values Congruence and Organisational Commitment

309

Table 5 Hierarchical regression analyses. Predicting affective organisational commitment by business

students in two universities from personal and organisational value types
Values

Humanity

Vision

Conservatism

-.49

-.07

-.04

UniX, N=124
Model 1
Tenure

.48***

Organisation
Person
R

.19

.35

***
***

F
Model 2
Tenure

.48***

.38***

.04

.20*

***

.28***

***

15.25***

.25

21.48

13.02

-.49

-.06

Organisation

.49***

Person

.179

-.02

Organisation

.53***

-.04
.34**
.27*

.08

.01

-.00

-.06

.09

-.19

Person X Organisation

.05

-.22

.13

.01

.01

.02

.35

.72

.91

-.20*

-.21*

Person

F
UniY. N=117
Model 1

-.20*

Tenure
Organisation

.31

Person

.08

.20

***
***

9.15

Model 2
Tenure

-.20*

***

.42

.18*

.01

.35***

***

.27***

***

13.57***

.25

12.41

-.19*
***

-.20*

Organisation

.03

.45

.18

Person

.23

.02

.39***

Organisation

.01

.04

-.02

Person

-.07

.34

.11

Person X Organisation

-.02

-.35

.04

.01

.01

.01

.21

.56

.55

R
F
*

**

p<.05,

**

p<.01,

***

p<.001

Discussion
This study has provided some insight into the personal (individual) value hierarchies of
business students and their perception of their universitys values, the levels of P-O fit, and
the relationship between these individual and organisational values and affective
commitment. The strong emphasis on personal humanity and vision values indicate that
these respondents from two different universities self-reported personal values hierarchies
consistent with the top ranked pan-cultural values of benevolence and universalism, and
self-direction (Schwartz and Bardi 2001).

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A. Lawrence, P. Lawrence

Both groups of respondents placed highest importance on humanity values. These values
are consistent with benevolence, values that promote tolerance and positive social relations
with others outside the group, and universalism values, consistent with social justice and
equality and indicative of a strong ethical orientation (Schwartz 1992; Schwartz and Bardi
2001). Following these values in importance are individual vision values, congruent with
Schwartz and Bardis self direction values. These satisfy self-oriented needs and motivate
individuals to work productively, thus placing more importance on self-directive
behaviours. The mean scores on personal conservatism values that endorse obedience to
social expectations and are consistent with conformity values (Schwartz 1992; Schwartz
and Bardi 2001) are lower than humanity and vision values. The scores indicate that
conservatism values are still rated as relatively important for both groups. These findings
may be explained in part by the nature of the respondents and their voluntary participation
in university education programs. The vision and humanity values are congruent with the
development of group and team skills, innovative, self-directive behaviour, and ethical
behaviour that are key learning objectives of their educational programs and also the
demands of the corporate sector, as well as being basic psychological needs and a source of
satisfaction (Abbott et al. 2005). The conservatism values that focus on meeting social
expectations and assist in avoiding conflicts are also crucial in both private and business
life.
It was also proposed that each educational institution would support the major pancultural values as their espoused values included innovation, life long learning,
responsiveness, relevance and equity. The differences in rankings and the ratings for
values between the two groups indicate differences in the culture of each organisation. The
perceived values and culture in action in UniX was consistent with the pan-cultural values
hierarchy. By contrast, the perceived values and culture in UniY was slightly more
conservative and less people orientated. Organisational conservatism values were most
important at UniY and least important at UniX.
When differences between the students personal values and the perceived university
values were explored, it was revealed that both groups of respondents rated their own
humanity and vision values as higher than their universitys values. This is an important
finding in relation to (P-O) fit. There appears to be a small lack of P-O fit between the key
values that underpin both an ethical orientation and innovation and learning, but no
incongruence existed between personal and organisational conservatism values in either
group.
This study also provided support for the Abbott et al. (2005) findings that indicated
perceived organisational vision values predict affective commitment. This was evident in
both universities. In addition, findings indicated organisational humanity and conservatism
values predicted affective commitment in Uni X. There is also support for Abbott et als
finding that perceived organisational values alone did not predict affective commitment and
that affective commitment could be predicted from personal conservatism values. This
effect is stronger in UniY than in UniX. However, the nature of this effect maybe contextual
and influenced by the characteristics of the group of respondents (Wright and Bonett 2002;
Abbott et al. 2005). There was a significant negative relationship between tenure and
affective commitment for UniY across all value clusters, suggesting that students who had
spent more years at this university reported lower levels of affective commitment than those
students who had been enrolled with the university for shorter periods. This was not the
case for UniX where no effect was evident.
The incongruence apparent between these individual and organisational values may
create some challenges for both the person and the organisation and may have a negative

Values Congruence and Organisational Commitment

311

impact. While these respondents report high importance on individual values that underpin
ethical orientation and learning and development, key objectives for both the educational
institution and possible future employers, these students may find it more difficult to be
flexible, creative and innovative and engage in effective teamwork, or behave equitably
towards others if these are not perceived to be the values in action or rewarded in their
universities. Perception of core values misalignment may negatively influence student
learning outcomes as well as impact upon the levels of motivation, satisfaction,
organisational commitment, and effectiveness. These respondents may also experience
higher levels of unnecessary conflict and stress in an educational institutional culture where
there is a clash of core values (Chatman 1991; McDonald and Gandz 1992). Incongruence
between individual and the universitys rating vision and humanity values particularly
may lead to loss of talented students to the universitys competitors or a failure to attract
students in the future. In addition, it may also impact upon the institutions through loss of
return on investment on student recruitment and development costs, regrettable turnover
and loss of intellectual capital of its employees.
The fact that conservatism values are perceived to be more important to the institutions
than to the student body maybe related to the different roles and goals of individuals and
organisations. A key role of organisations, including educational institutions, is to meet the
needs and expectations of their multiple stakeholders and the expectations of good
corporate governance and control. For the organisations juggling these needs and the
different values underpinning them this is a difficult balancing act. Nevertheless
organisations must pay due regard to the congruence between their core values and those
of their constituents.
To gain the benefits outlined earlier from P-O fit and organisational commitment it is
essential that organisations pay attention to congruence between core values by ensuring
that there is a closer fit between the values that their constituents see as most powerful and
important for private and professional life: in particular, lifelifelong learning, development, innovation and ethical values. To avoid the cynicism and conflict that may arise when
there is a lack of fit between values, organisations (including educational institutions) must
address and manage the perceived tensions that may exist in their organisational culture,
particularly where espoused organisational values which have attracted students (and
employees) do not match the reality of values in action. Considerable effort is necessary
to ensure that the organisational structures, systems, processes and culture, and the core
values that underpin them, whether implicit or explicit, are integrated and congruent. The
flow on from this value congruence is more likely to provide a sustainable competitive
advantage from more effective organisational performance through higher levels of
commitment, motivation, satisfaction, engagement and student (and employee) retention.
This study offers some progress in the examination of the link between organisational
commitment and values and PO fit and supports the earlier findings by other researchers.
However, it is not without its limitations. The use of a small convenience sample of
business and commerce students from only two universities as a comparison is a limiting
factor. As with any study where respondents are asked to rate themselves, there is the
possibility of social desirability bias and may reflect aspirational values and have had
an impact of the higher levels of selfreported scores. Moreover, additional
instruments from the research could be used to get a deeper understanding of the
levels of personal and perceived organisational ethical orientation values. Therefore,
the findings in this study should not be generalised without validation on a much
larger and more broadly based sample from the educational sector. Future studies
should address these issues.

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