The impact of person-organization fit on the corporate brand perception of employees and of customers

One of the major problems companies face in the marketplace is a gap between corporate brand values as perceived by the customers and the corporate brand values declared as such by the management. One possible cause for that gap is the situation in which companies transfer to their customers corporate brand values that are different from their actual corporate values and culture. Such a difference is perceived by their employees as a lie that causes them to feel a lack of identification with the corporate brand and an unwillingness to support it adequately. As a consequence the customers feel a mistrust towards the corporate brand, which results in a weakened brand. So how can the organization close that gap? This research showed that Person-Organization Fit (POF) can play a significant role in closing that gap. The notion of Person-Organization Fit, i.e. the fit between organizational values and the individual values of employees, has been explored a lot and normally in relation to internal organizational aspects such as organizational commitment, organizational identification, job satisfaction, intention to leave the organization, willingness to do extra work in the organization and so on. This research examined the impact of POF from quite a different aspect, an external one, and that is the brand perception of employees and as a consequence on the brand perception of customers. The conclusions derived from this research are that employees' POF positively affects the extent to which they perceive their corporate brand values as congruent with those declared by the management, and that this brand perception level of employees positively affects the perception level of the customers. A high perception level of customers means a higher trust in the brand and in the corporate body that stands behind it, and the result is a more powerful brand. It seems therefore that HR managers have to pay attention to the POF as a means to improve the organization's performance. But a high POF may have also a negative influence because of its being an obstacle to change; a strong corporate culture, as a consequence of a high POF, might lead to a dangerous inflexibility and inability to see the urgency for change.