Selecting people based on person‐organisation fit: Implications for intrateam trust and team performance

TLDR

Teamwork is widely adopted in organisations, yet the impact of selecting employees based on person‑organisation fit on team functioning remains unclear. The study aims to examine how person‑organisation fit used in recruitment influences team performance. Using the input‑mediator‑outcome model and value‑congruence theory, the authors built a model linking recruitment‑based P‑O fit to team performance. Across 96 firms, recruitment‑based P‑O fit positively predicted team performance, with intrateam trust mediating this effect only when the organisation’s respect‑for‑people culture was weak.

Abstract

Abstract Teamwork is widely adopted in organisations. Although much evidence indicates that using person‐organisation (P‐O) fit as a selection criterion benefits individual employees, little is known about how this practice influences team functioning. Drawing on the input‐mediator‐outcome model and the research on value congruence, this study built and tested a model that links P‐O fit in recruitment to work teams' performance. Based on data collected from team members, team leaders, human resources managers, and chief executive officers in 96 firms, we found that P‐O fit in recruitment had a positive relationship with team performance and that intrateam trust mediated the relationship between P‐O fit in recruitment and team performance. Further, this mediated relationship existed only when the organisation had a weak, rather than strong, respect‐for‐people culture. This study contributes to the P‐O fit and team literature and has practical implications for human resources practices and team management.