The effects of person-innovation fit on individual responses to innovation.

Abstract

Drawing on the person-environment fit literature, we propose that cognitive comparisons between person and innovation on meaningful dimensions determine organizational members' affective and behavioural responses to innovations. Specifically, we hypothesize that two different types of person-innovation fit constructs (value fit and ability fit) differentially predict employees' commitment to implementation and implementation behaviour. The results of this study indicate that congruence between innovation values and personal values is more strongly related to employees' commitment to implementation than to implementation behaviour, whereas the congruence between required abilities and current abilities is more strongly associated with implementation behaviour than with commitment to implementation. In addition, commitment to implementation was more strongly associated with environmental characteristics (innovation values), whereas implementation behaviour was associated more strongly with personal characteristics (personal values, current abilities). This study expands the person-environment fit and innovation implementation literature by applying the fit concept to a new domain and by identifying and testing cognitive processes that determine employees' affective and behavioural responses to innovations.