Goal Orientations and Innovative Work Behaviors: Moderating Effects of Person-Environment Fit

The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive impacts of goalorientation and person-environment fit on innovative work behaviors based onthe Trait Activation Theory. Employees working at various firms in SouthKorea participated in a survey to respond to the questionnaire measuring goalorientations, person-environment fit, and innovative work behaviors. Analyses ofdata showed that mastery and performance approach goal orientation wererelated positively to innovative work behaviors supporting the proposed hypotheses. In addition, person-supervisor fit significantly and positively moderated therelationships between two types of performance goal orientations and innovativework behaviors, whereas person-job fit positively moderated the relationshipbetween mastery goal orientation and innovative work behaviors. This studyprovides evidence supporting the Trait Activation Theory that explains workrelated behaviors through the interactions of personality and environment. Theknowledge from this study may help to inform the selection and trainingstrategies reflecting individuals’ goal orientations and their fit with workenvironment. This study is one of the first studies that investigate interactionaleffects between 3-factor construct of goal orientations and person-environmentfit on innovative work behavior. The findings from the present study help usunderstand how individual employees’ motivational factors and their fit withwork environment to be combined in producing innovative work behaviors.