Work Integrated Learning and Career Related Outcomes: A Person-Environment Fit Perspective

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Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy in Organisational Psychology (PhD OrgPsych)
School of Psychology
Griffith Health
The aim of this research program was to investigate how a final work integrated learning (WIL) placement for nursing students influences three variations of personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation, and person-job fit), and its relationship with career-related outcomes (viz. occupational commitment, job and organisational attraction, job and organisational choice intentions). While personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation fit, person-job fit) is one of the most commonly investigated phenomena in organisational research, limited research has investigated its causes and consequences within the WIL context. Thus, this thesis was designed in response to as yet unanswered questions concerning the causes of personenvironment fit and its consequence on career-related outcomes for the nursing profession. The focus of this thesis was Australian undergraduate nurses who completed a final WIL placement prior to their transition to practice in the workplace. Given that the nursing profession is currently experiencing a nationwide skills shortage, and high graduate turnover, this investigation was intended to offer additional understanding into graduate retention and job choice. Three studies were designed to investigate the relationship between WIL, personenvironment fit (viz. professional fit, person-organisation fit, and person-job fit) and careerrelated outcomes (viz. transition to practice self-efficacy, occupational commitment, job and organisational attraction, and job and organisational pursuit intentions). The first study was concerned with validating the measurement approach used for several constructs that have known conceptualisation and measurement limitations (i.e., professional fit, occupational commitment, transition to practice self-efficacy, social support, structured support, general self-efficacy, job and organisational attraction). The first study examined the discriminant III validity of each measure, and in