Resumen

WILLIAMSON, MK  y  PERUMAL, K. Perceptions of misfit: A study of South African employees. JCMAN [online]. 2018, vol.15, n.1, pp.551-579. ISSN 1815-7440.

Research into person-environment fit has focused on fit and the many positive benefits that have been associated with achieving high fit. Misfit on the other hand, has been given scant attention. To date, not much is known about what exactly misfit is and how individuals experience this phenomenon at work. Moreover, there has been a paucity of studies that have explored misfit in countries outside of North America, the United Kingdom and Western Europe. This study aimed to address this gap in the literature by exploring how South African employees perceive and experience misfit at work. The study embraced a qualitative research design using a constructivist grounded theory approach. Following a non-random sampling process, a sample of 40 employees was selected and subjected to in-depth, face-to-face interviews in which they were asked to relate their perceptions of misfit in the South African organisational context. The sample of South African employees perceived and understood misfit in a variety of different ways. Misfit was perceived as being a label attached to people, a non-conformist, an internal psychological experience or a multi-dimensional phenomenon. A novel finding related to the perception that misfit is a "state of mind" that is idiosyncratic to each individual. The participants further emphasised race, personality and gender as the top three causal factors of misfit. The findings of this study make a significant contribution to misfit research, theory and practice.

Palabras clave : Constructivist grounded theory; fit; misfit and person-environment fit.

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