Why fit doesn't always matter: The impact of FIRM and cultural fit on job involvement of Kenyan employees

The study investigates whether fit of human resources management (HRM) poli cies with employees' preferences in developing countries of sub-Saharan Afr ica, with specific reference to Kenya, impacts on levels of job involvement . We argue that the contextual variables in developing countries are varied and complex to the extent that organisations operating in these milieux mi ght find that 'fit' as presented in the literature from developed economies does not matter. Further. we examine the role of individual value orientat ions and organisation value fit to look for a link with job involvement. Th e study contends that the use of simple difference scores to measure fit is inadequate, and adopts Edwards' (1994) regression technique to analyse fit . Overall, the results indicate that the person-environment (HRM preference with actual policy practice) fit model can partially predict job involveme nt in a developing country context, but in a way that is not consistent wit h theory. However, job involvement is not related strongly to either the co nvergence of an individual's values with those of others in the organisatio n, or convergence of HRM policies with individual preferences. It is the va lues themselves-not their fit-that are most predictive of job involvement.