Career Progression and Development of Professional Staff in Higher Education

This chapter explores some of the unique issues and opportunities for career progression and development of professional staff in higher education, providing a broad overview of the existing literature in this space and discussing some of the key issues and findings that have emerged in recent publications. It then introduces the career-focused chapters of this book, Professional and Support Staff in Higher Education, situating them within a scholarly context, providing a critical exploration of their contributions to this burgeoning field, and identifying some of their implications for higher education institutions in the current climate of change

Person–Environment Fit: A Review of Its Basic Tenets

This review addresses the three basic principles of person–environment fit theory: (a) The person and the environment together predict human behavior better than each of them does separately; (b) outcomes are most optimal when personal attributes (e.g., needs, values) and environmental attributes (e.g., supplies, values) are compatible, irrespective of whether these attributes are rated as low, medium, or high; and (c) the direction of misfit between the person and the environment does not matter. My review of person–job and person–organization fit research that used polynomial regression to establish fit effects provides mixed support for the explanatory power of fit. Individuals report most optimal outcomes when there is fit on attributes they rate as highest, and they report lowest outcomes when the environment offers less than they need or desire. Linking these findings to individuals' abilities and opportunities to adapt, I reconsider fit theory and outline options for future research and practice