TY - JOUR

T1 - The value of value congruence

AU - Edwards, Jeffrey R.

AU - Cable, Daniel M.

PY - 2009/5

Y1 - 2009/5

N2 - Research on value congruence has attempted to explain why value congruence leads to positive outcomes, but few of these explanations have been tested empirically. In this article, the authors develop and test a theoretical model that integrates 4 key explanations of value congruence effects, which are framed in terms of communication, predictability, interpersonal attraction, and trust. These constructs are used to explain the process by which value congruence relates to job satisfaction, organizational identification, and intent to stay in the organization, after taking psychological need fulfillment into account. Data from a heterogeneous sample of employees from 4 organizations indicate that the relationships that link individual and organizational values to outcomes are explained primarily by the trust that employees place in the organization and its members, followed by communication, and, to a lesser extent, interpersonal attraction. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that the relationships emanating from individual and organizational values often deviated from the idealized value congruence relationship that underlies previous theory and research. The authors' results also show that individual and organizational values exhibited small but significant relationships with job satisfaction and organizational identification that bypassed the mediators in their model, indicating that additional explanations of value congruence effects should be pursued in future research

AB - Research on value congruence has attempted to explain why value congruence leads to positive outcomes, but few of these explanations have been tested empirically. In this article, the authors develop and test a theoretical model that integrates 4 key explanations of value congruence effects, which are framed in terms of communication, predictability, interpersonal attraction, and trust. These constructs are used to explain the process by which value congruence relates to job satisfaction, organizational identification, and intent to stay in the organization, after taking psychological need fulfillment into account. Data from a heterogeneous sample of employees from 4 organizations indicate that the relationships that link individual and organizational values to outcomes are explained primarily by the trust that employees place in the organization and its members, followed by communication, and, to a lesser extent, interpersonal attraction. Polynomial regression analyses reveal that the relationships emanating from individual and organizational values often deviated from the idealized value congruence relationship that underlies previous theory and research. The authors' results also show that individual and organizational values exhibited small but significant relationships with job satisfaction and organizational identification that bypassed the mediators in their model, indicating that additional explanations of value congruence effects should be pursued in future research

U2 - 10.1037/a0014891

DO - 10.1037/a0014891

M3 - Journal article

VL - 94

SP - 654

EP - 677

JO - Journal of Applied Psychology

JF - Journal of Applied Psychology

SN - 0021-9010

IS - 3

ER -