Conscientiousness, autonomy fit, and development: a longitudinal study.

The authors examined employee development and its relationship with Conscientiousness and person-environment fit (in terms of needs and supplies of autonomy). They hypothesized that Conscientiousness would be positively associated with development but only when employees felt that the autonomy supplied by the organization did not fit their needs. In other words, whereas Conscientiousness could supply the dispositional resources for development, misfit was needed to create the need for development. The results supported the authors' predictions. Conscientiousness was positively related to development but only when employees were misfits with respect to autonomy. Employee involvement in development activities was then linked to subsequent fit.