Research On The Coping Mechanisms For Employees’Interest Incongruence

Vocational interests affect their career choices,work attitudes,and work behaviors.However,the overall situation of the match between employees’vocational interests and their work environments in China is still at a relatively low level.People often find that when they actually step into their chosen career as a new employee,their work environments can not satisfy their vocational interests.In the long term,the experience of interest incongruence,or the lack of interest congruence may be related to adverse work outcomes,such as high levels of turnover intention and low levels of job satisfaction and job performance.More importantly,in today’s changing and uncertain career environment,interest incongruence has become an increasingly common phenomenon in organizations due to individuals’insufficient understanding of jobs,the weak labor market,and organizational changes.Therefore,considering the negative impact of interest incongruence on personal development and organizational success and its prevalence in the workplace,it is necessary for practitioners and researchers to figure out how to help employees cope with this situation effectively.Concerning this issue,interest literature has also provided relatively limited theoretical guidance.Although vocational interests and interest congruence has re-emerged as a hot topic in the field of organizational psychology in recent years,there is still a lack of in-depth research on the coping mechanisms of interest incongruence.To solve this problem and fill the gap in existing literature,this thesis focuses on employees’proactive strategies(job crafting),contextual factors(autonomy support),and personal characteristics(positive affect)from a resource perspective.Through three studies,this thesis explores the moderating mechanisms of the relationships between interest incongruence and employee outcomes,and the promotion mechanisms of perceived interest fit.Specifically,the following research questions are included:(1)Study 1(Chapter 3)considers the combined roles of contextual factors and individual proactive strategies in coping with interest incongruence,and explores how autonomy support mitigates the adverse effects of interest incongruence on job satisfaction and absenteeism through job crafting;(2)Then,to explore how personal characteristics buffers the detrimental consequences of interest incongruence and how the effectiveness of job crafting strategies can be further improved,Study 2(Chapter 4)provides an in-depth examination of the three-order moderating roles of job crafting and positive affect in the relationship between interest incongruence and job performance;(3)Based on the identification of job crafting as a core coping strategy(Study 1 and 2),Study 3(Chapter 5)focuses on three strategies of job crafting(i.e.,task,relational and cognitive crafting)and two dimensions of person-environment fit(i.e.,perceived interest/ability fit),and examines the promotion mechanisms and boundary conditions by which different strategies of job crafting affect person-environment fit and job satisfaction.Based on the above statements,this thesis draws the following main conclusions by analyzing the data from multiple sources at multiple time points:(1)The negative relationship between interest incongruence and job satisfaction and the positive relationship with absenteeism are shaped by the combination of employees’perceived autonomy support and job crafting behaviors.Specifically,autonomy support mitigates the negative effects of interest incongruence on job satisfaction and absenteeism by encouraging employees’ job crafting activities;(2)Job crafting and positive affect moderate the relationship between interest incongruence and job performance,separately and interactively.The effect of interest incongruence on job performance is weakened when employees are more engaged in job crafting activities,or for employees with high levels of positive affect.More importantly,the negative relationship between interest incongruence and job performance is especially mitigated when job crafting and positive affect are both high;(3)Perceived interest fit and perceived ability fit play different mediating roles in the relationships between three job crafting strategies and job satisfaction,and employee age moderates these mediating relationships differentially.Task and relational crafting foster job satisfaction via both interest fit and ability fit,whereas cognitive crafting only indirectly affects job satisfaction through interest fit.Moreover,employees’age weakens the relationships between two forms of job crafting(i.e.,task crafting and relational crafting)and interest fit as well as ability fit,respectively,and strengthens the relationship between cognitive crafting and interest fit.In sum,this study explores the coping mechanisms of interest incongruence comprehensively,and has contributes to interest congruence literature,and more broadly,to person-environment literature in three main aspects:(1)By considering the supportive climate of autonomy in the work environments and employees’ job crafting strategies from both organizational and employee perspectives,this thesis identifies the core strategy and the prerequisite for mitigating the negative effects of interest incongruence on employees;(2)Focusing on employees’ job crafting strategies and positive affect,this thesis argues that in addition to employees actively shaping their jobs,their perception of interest incongruence and the effectiveness of coping strategies may vary with the individual,which deepens our understanding of the buffering factors of the relationships between interest incongrunce and employee outcomes;(3)This thesis emphasizes job crafting not only buffers the negative effects of interest incongruence,but also directly promotes employees’ perceived fit with their jobs,clarifying the relationships among three strategies of job crafting,two dimensions of person-environment fit,and job satisfaction.Moreover,the results of this thesis have provided practical implications for organizations,career counseling,and personal development:(1)Managers should pay attention to the essential role of interest congruence in the process of selecting and hiring employees,and improve employees’ work experience by creating an autonomy-supportive work environment,encouraging and guiding employees to craft their jobs,and fostering employees’positive emotions;(2)Career counselors should not only accurately assess individuals’ vocational interests when making career decisions,but advise employees to utilize appropriate job crafting strategies and foster their positive emotions in the workplace;(3)Individuals should review and summarize their own interests and work environments comprehensively in the process of the choices of career.Meanwhile,they should try to adjust themselves and actively adapt to their jobs so as to achieve better career development.