A test of value congruence effects

This study investigated value congruence effects on organizational commitme nt and job satisfaction. We used the competing values framework to measure values, and response-surface methodology employing polynomial regression eq uations to investigate congruence effects. Our sample, 1,358 hospital emplo yees, made judgments about their personal preferences for the four competin g value sets-internal process, open systems, rational goal, and human relat ions. They also:rated how much the same values were operating in the organi zation. We predicted that organizational commitment and job satisfaction wo uld be maximized when a 'match' or 'congruence' occurred between the two co mponent value measures. We evaluated congruence effects using the following criteria: (1) the proportion of variance explained by the overall equation was significant; (2) the quadratic and interaction terms were significant individually and as a set, and their signs were in the right direction; (3) the implied constraints were valid; and (4) no higher-order terms beyond t hose indicated by the model were significant. The results indicated that al though quadratic and interaction components were present in all eight model s, they were weak in their support for congruence. The study's findings sug gested that congruence effects were relatively unimportant compared to main effects in explaining variance in organizational commitment and job satisf action, at least in the large organization we investigated in this study. C opyright (C) 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.