Organizational attractiveness of firms in the People's Republic of China: A person-organization fit perspective

The authors investigated factors related to firm attractiveness as an emplo yer in the People's Republic of China. The organizational attributes of typ e of ownership, nationality of the supervisor, and firm familiarity in orga nizational descriptions were manipulated and their effects were measured on firm attractiveness. In addition, the authors adopted a person-organizatio n fit perspective to investigate how individual difference characteristics moderated the effects of these organizational attributes on attractiveness. Although, in general, participants were more attracted to foreign than sta te-owned firms and to familiar than unfamiliar firms, results provided supp ort for the person-organization fit perspective in that the individual diff erences moderated the effects of the organizational attributes on firm attr activeness. For example, participants were more attracted to-state-owned ve rsus foreign firms when they were more risk averse and had a lower need for pay. Thus, the results provide initial support for the generalizability of the person-organization fit perspective to a non-Western setting.